inspiring maths, and science kits

[HighFibreDiet]

I have a 9 yo ds1 who is fairly proficient at maths but resistant to anything resembling 'the boring stuff they make us do at school' i.e. worksheets and textbooks.

I have taught maths to a variety of people from about age 7 to university level and know a fair bit about teaching him maths through card and board games etc., or responding to his questions as they come up BUT I live in Sydney, Australia and have 1 week to provide an 'educational program' to be approved by the Board of Studies. So I'm looking for some really fun maths resources that will not only inspire him but also appear to fit their requirements. He already uses Mathletics and other internet-based maths games but I don't want him to be sitting in front of the computer all the time! Plus it would take me ages to work through the whole NSW curriculum and write up which websites we will visit for each 'learning outcome'. Ideally I'd like something that appears to cover everything and I can just say 'we're working through this book with supplementary activities from the internet'. Am I asking for too much??? Recommendations welcome...

I also think someone on here (ages ago) recommended a company that send out science kits (perhaps electronics kits actually) that your child can complete in their own time. I looked into it at the time but haven't bookmarked anything. It wasn't cheap - perhaps £300 per year - but looked really good and got great reviews. Does that ring any bells with any of you?

Thanks so much :)

www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mep/default.htm

pgcounty.scottforesman.com/

Thanks PurpleRayne, do you use these yourself? If so, do you use the free internet resources only or do you have the books as well? The Scott Foresman book + CD-Rom looks as if it could be good.

I use the cimt books for grandson. Excellent and good price. I also use Mathletics and MathMammoth. Books at the moment are around £2.20. American site so have to be careful with the spellings in the maths books.

Marjorie, I'm really interested in the mathletics as it goes right up to Year 12 so even DD1 could use it for her AS level work (and we're going to need all the help we can get ). Also, I would like DD2 to be able to work on her maths without quite so much input from me in explaining it all.

Do you have to work through it in a set order? I wondered how much flexibility it gives you to choose your topics etc. Or does it decide what you cover? If we chose Year 8 for DD2 and that was too easy (or too hard even for some topics) could we change that?

It looks really good but I can't find any FAQs on the site and for two of them, it'll be £70 so I need to be sure. Is there any sort of trial you can do?

Thanks!!

posy, with Mathletics, you go have a parent sign-in and a child sign-in. I sign in and tick the tasks I want him to do. He then signs in and he can see the tasks he has to complete and he can't go any further until he completes them.
I pay £25 for the whole year for Mathletics and £20 for Spellodrome. The £25 price is the price for home educators.
I rang them up and had a chat with them. I spoke to a really nice lady who took me through it. I think you can 'add a child' too and it's not the full price. I also get weekly reports by email.

Yes, you can change the levels too.

Ooh, thank you for that. The £25 sounds better than the £39 they have up there. I'll contact them. :)