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Dear Paul,
I have been wanting to write for some time now, but as a "green" teacher, I have had much on my plate. Now that things are getting more settled, I wanted to talk to you about your curriculum. First and foremost. I love it! We introduced math the third day of school, explaining how it would work, etc. About half of our twenty students made comments like "I hate math!...ooohhhhh, do we have to?" The one student that was the most vocal is the furthest ahead now in her group of students. Almost impossible to get her to do something else sometimes. When I jokingly asked the class to remind me what she had said about math she just laughed. "Oh, oh I know, but I like it now."
As a teacher, I am truly enjoying being able to understand it myself and help the students myself. If not, some of the other students who have done the previous lesson can fill me in, and it makes sense immediately most of the time. Some of the girls think that they really can't do it, and then they whip out an assignment in minutes sometimes. So fun to watch. I have added to my own learning so much. I have been reading a book about the "human calculator" and we are incorporating some of the other methods he uses for times tables, and fractions and it has really helped me to get a greater understanding of some basic principles.
One of my favorite parts of your system is how practical it really is. I started to see from the beginning that it was real math with real application. I could also see how you set it up literally line upon line and precept on precept. Which fits so well with the goals we have for the school to build a foundation of understanding and learning. We have moved several of the older kids into Math Rescue because most of them should be in algebra, but the foundation is so important that I am having them do that first. They are moving pretty fast, sometimes several lessons a day. The method we use in the class is referred to as mastery.
They self check their work with the answers and just a red pen or pencil, and then they have to go back to their desk and correct the problem areas. Then they have to explain to me where they went wrong, and show me how they refigured it before they can move on to the next lesson. Overall, I am seeing the lights go on in their heads. Very exciting.
Anyway, thank you for developing this system. It is a joy to work with and see the students actually comprehending the stuff they are doing.
Thank you again,
CornerStone Academy
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This is the last module in the Level 7 series. It has 24 DVD lessons. This module covers some of the things that are usually tested for on standardized tests at this level. We start off by covering Roman numerals, and point out the shortcomings of a system like that. We develop an algorithm for adding and subtracting Roman numerals to give an appreciation for our Hindu Arabic system. Moving on, we go into the binary system used in the basic computer operations, and then on to base eight and base sixteen, both used in computers. We also talk about incorporating letters into the numbering scheme of things like serial numbers and license plates. Then we calculate the number of combinations that are available under these schemes. The module ends with the covering of set notation, including Venn diagrams. 
Building Number Systems Final Test
