Great Courses: Mathematics, Philosophy

28 Jan 2017

[rey]

Is anyone familiar with the Great Courses, particularly Mathematics, Philosophy, and the Real World?

I have Building a sentence and Shakespeare word and Action. They are ok. I am using them with my home schooler. My library book store has the Mathematics and Philosophy one for $30. Curious if anyone is familiar with it and if this is a good deal. Thanks

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Why make a pointless “BFL” post for all to see? Why not just bookmark that page in your browser? That way your bookmark is private in your world, not public.

[Jane Long]

(Book)mark for later. LOTS of Freepers do this, to mark on their own posts page.

[raybbr]

It’s the lazy man’s way (or lazy woman’s way) of bookmarking in FR rather than creating a bookmark in his or her browser. By doing it in FR, hundreds of thread-reade

I do it if I'm at work and I don't have time to read and don't want a bookmark on my work browser.

But, being an arrogant A@@, you would prefer to try to belittle people for something like that.

[Elvina]

We did the month free trial of Great Courses Plus, but we didn’t keep it. I think it would be good for older kids. While I was subscribed I got a survey from them that indicated they were planning on expanding offerings for younger grades.

[stylin19a]

ah, no.

Great courses - bucket list :

St. Andrews
Augusta National Golf Club
Pebble Beach
Cypress Point
Pinehurst

[Rome2000]

Har!

Good one!

That aside, Philosophy is War and Peace defined.

[Excellence]

It means bump for later. It bumps the thread to the top if you’re on post view, plus now It’s in your comments page.

[JGT]

I would highly recommend “The Socratic Dialogues” by Dr. Michael Sugrue. He is an excellent instructor and does not have any ideological biases.

[Hostage]

Don’t know how old your homeschooler is.

But as SUPPLEMENTS for mathematics meaning arithmetic, algebra, trig, you can buy for all those subjects workbook supplements by Keedy-Bittenger.

Here’s one of their algebra books for $2.50 on ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/262592582466?lpid=82&chn=ps&ul_noapp=true

Others are listed at that link for 99 cents. Make sure they are clean and not marked up.

Keedy-Bittinger are basically boot camp for math. Drill Drill Drill and your homeschooler will be able to do those subjects in their sleep. The texts are problem after problem after problem, repetition with very gradual increasing difficulty.

Have your homeschooler take a pad of paper and work the problems by hand. The motor skills of writing along with thinking and solving allow the memory to settle into mind and body similarly to a ballet dancer learning how to move the body to a beam in a studio. I’m not a fan of computer math instruction especially if there are lots of distractions with cartoons and such. Best to get pad and pencil and get busy drilling.

All the answers to Keedy-Bittinger problems are in the back of the text so your homeschooler can check their work. The problems and answers are designed to build confidence and to master a class of problems before moving to the next.

If your homeschooler pursues computer science, engineering, physics, chemistry, they will thank you for Keedy-Bittinger.

Philosophy for homeschoolers should center on ethics, reasoning, and logic. If your homeschooler ever thinks of being a lawyer one day, do get a text on Symbolic Logic with plenty of problems and word problems. They will go far on that alone.

Good luck!

[21twelve]

I just realized the other night that it was really good that my kids went to grade school in a very liberal area. The discussions we had over the dinner table allow them to hold their own now that they are in college.

My daughter was talking to a friend at her college.

Friend: “It’s tough being in such a liberal place.”

Daughter: “Huh? I’m guessing it is 30% conservatives here? There were maybe six of us in my high school of 800! This place is great!”

[ProtectOurFreedom]

I’m just pointing out so many articles are cluttered up with BTTT, BFLR, BFL responses that are just junk for everybody else. If you can’t bookmark at work, why not send yourself a text msg or mail w the URL? That way it keeps,your “bookmark” out of the news article.

Sorry I bugged you, Ray. Have a nice day.

[RoosterRedux]

For mathematics and some other courses, here is the best site on the interweb for homeschoolers...

khanacademy.org

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Why make a pointless “BFL” post for all to see? Why not just bookmark that page in your browser? That way your bookmark is private in your world, not public.

There are threads which I find significant, which I bookmark in FR. Typically when I do that, I acknowledge the poster of the thread by posting, “Bookmarked.” And I often will direct that reply not only to the thread originator but to anyone else who I think will be interested in it.

It also inherently bumps the thread, of course - just as a complaint about someone else bumping the thread does. Not to mention any complaints which might be provoked by a complaint about a bump.

FYI, rey, the button to bookmark a given thread in FR always appears just above the first (originator’s) reply on that thread. You can inspect a given FReeper’s bookmarks by clicking on that FReeper’s screen name, then clicking on “Links” in the header bar of the FReeper’s home page. So in that sense a given FReeper’s bookmarks are a public expression of his/her interests within the FR context.

[upchuck]

Good points.

A BFL post is sorta like a BTTT post.

[cantfindagoodscreenname]

I can’t speak for that particular course and I didn’t use them when I homeschooled my children, but my husband has never gotten a bad course from them. He has taken everything from history courses to math courses to music courses, etc. We get together with friends every week to watch one on the French Revolution. Those courses are amazing!