SUPER Stealth Christmas Sale.

Prices for passwords are about to go up.   Have gone up.

The sun is setting on the old prices.

These will be the new prices soon. As you can see prices are going UP. Use the buttons below to lock in your discount.

 New Prices:

Password Options:

Sitewide Trial $19.99 USD     Sitewide 6 Months $27.99 USD     Sitewide Annual. $49.95 USD     P/T Training ONLY $49.95 USD     Sitewide + P/T $79.95 USD     Lifetime Pass $249.00 USD

$20 A sitewide trail will last about 30 to 90 days and gives you access to everything but the training page. Anywhere it asks for a password other than the training page this password is it.

$27 or $49 A Sitewide password can be bought for 6 months or a year, it expires after one year unless you get a lifetime password which gives unlimited lifetime access to everything via two passwords. Up from $24.

$49 A Training password is only good on the training page, but that one page has hours of training on it...and more will be added. It is good for one year.  Up from $15.

$79 You get both passwords if you buy them together for one low price...sitewide and training...will also offer an installment plan for this so you can make payments. Up from $39

There will be a few more password pages added soon too, geometry and some calc. Plus there are additional vids and pages added to the ones already there.

$249 is the new price for a lifetime password...you get both passwords and they never expire...will also offer an installment plan for this so you can make payments. Up from $100.

Those prices are a still a GREAT DEAL. People are constantly blown away by how much they get for so little money when they are used to paying a lot more for a lot less when it comes to math curriculum for homeschooling. I've been told the training page ALONE  is worth the price of a lifetime password all by itself. I've been told the same about the value of  just a few pages like percentages and sample lessons combined with Raymond's page, Dboyz' page and Sarah's page. There are a whole lot more passwords pages than that, some with books/pdfs too. I've also been told mine is about the best FREE site out there when it comes to explaining math and explaining how to teach math...don't forget you get tons of FREE stuff.

Take advantage of these prices for a few more days.

Not to mention there are several manuals and books there also--all for ridiculously low prices (and some are FREE like this.) 

These LOW PRICES will end SOON

so take advantage of them NOW:

SALE PRICES

Sale is over.

Too funny. I am getting emails asking if the Lifetime Pass really gives a lifetime of Access to  BOTH  Passwords.  LOL! The answer is YES. And yes, it is quite an outrageous deal.  People are thinking it's 100 bucks for a lifetime pass to either the Sitewide Password Pages OR 100 bucks for life time access to the teacher training.  For 100 bucks you get BOTH, as in two passwords. Sale is over.

People always ask me what should I get? GO HERE.


Prices even when I have sales will never be this low again.  Even when I have a 50% OFF sale, half off will still be more than these "stealth sale prices" which are the current prices you have been enjoying.  I'm not kidding: these prices end SOON. You will start seeing the buttons on my site and blog change...and shortly this page will be the only place to get the low prices.

*I can't put the plastic on sale because I don't own the plastic. I expect prices will go up again eventually on books and blocks especially as shipping prices continue to increase. A lot of you are waiting for a sale on those...lol...I will let you know if they have a sale and when i tell you it's a real sale for a limited time perhaps this time you will believe me.

**Have a few password protected pages to build vid is already shot and edited and mostly uploaded just have to build the pages one for subtraction to go with the new manual, one on geometry and another on pre calc, and also one on derivatives. Also Series C, Supremely Simple Subtraction will be IS out SOON, it is almost done, just have a few simple edits to do...a full color, easy to understand subtraction manual. 

More on what you get for a password.

Yet more explanation of passwords and training and stuff.

A few testimonials:

"By the way, YOU ARE AWESOME! I actually clapped for you when you explained some concept soooo simply and clearly.It is fantastic!" ~K Ontario, Canada.We are excited for math today!!!  ~amazed parents from all over the globe.First, I wanted to thank you for being out there and for introducing me to the Mortensen Method. I'm a new homeschooler who's been searching for Math under every nook and cranny of the globe. Worksheets I can make. Flashcards I can draw. Concepts and vision...now THAT'S something to pay for.
EDIT
Also, as a believer in the separation of church and state from an educational standpoint, I felt really at home at your House. Thank you for that, too.
EDITFinally, thank you, thank you, thank you for mentioning somewhere, somehow, in some side comment that I can no longer find in your fantastic maze of a world the work of Liping Ma. I immediately bought her Knowing & Teaching Elementary Mathematics and have been forever changed as a result. It made me rethink the way EVERY subject is taught, learned and subsequently taught again. I never would have even heard of her if it weren't for you. EDITI am extremely eager to start having my "oh, I'm just not good at math, never was" mind blown. ~PF USA

"I've paid a lot more for a lot less." ~amazed parents from all over the globe.

"Ps. Your parents teacher training is great!" ~EM, UK

"The training is crazy. No one is offering anything like it that I know of...and your price is crazy too." ~JC, CA.

"The amount of stuff you get for the money is crazy."~JJ, New Hampshire.

"Just got the Parent/ Teacher Password.CR wasn't lying when he said 1 page was worth the price. Get it for yourself to learn how to think math." ~KY, USA.

" I really like how you do math. My kids do too! We were having problems and you made math good and happier for us. I sincerely say Thank You from the bottom of my heart." ~CS, Ohio. 

"So, I am absolutely flabbergasted by the stuff I am learning just hanging out in the House of Math like four to five hours (literally) per day! Before the little one gets up, I'm on. Nap time, I'm on. After bedtime, I'm on with toothpicks bracing my eyelids. Even before purchasing the passwords! It's like a crash course re-education, and I am infinitely grateful..."

More Compund Lessons With Base Ten Blocks

Part of what makes this method so effective is the idea of compound lessons. Why learn "one thing at a time"? One thing at a time is great when introducing concepts...but once concepts are understood it's more fun to practice more than one thing at a time, which is why I emphasize compound lessons.  And as you can see using base ten blocks to do it makes math fun.

A six year old factors x² + 11x + 30 all by himself and celebrates with his magical math microphone.

People ask me what they should get. Get a combo kit. A set of Multi-Tens and a password or both passwords...and you are good to go. Seriously.  That's it.

In this hour we practiced mostly addition and multiplication but we did activities that were fun to practice them rather than doing worksheets over and over again. Using worksheets to memorize multiplication facts becomes counter productive at some point.

Just building addends over and over again would make math anything but fun. So even with this activity which by itself many kids find fun, we spice it up by racing your brother or mom or who ever happens to be around.  Then we build some pyramids. All kids can benefit from building pyramids, the benefits are manifold. You get fine motor skills, addends which naturally include addition and subtraction skills, and the all important repetition which puts the facts in the memory for instant recall later... 

Here the older boy is feeding his mother and brother combinations for their pyramids. and supervises the construction. They are building 11's, later we could build and find patterns with 11's.

Pretty soon he gets in on the base ten block building action. And his little brother hands over some combinations...sometimes we build all 45 addends at one sitting but today we just did all the ones from 8 to 10 and then 11's and 12's. How many math facts is that?

Children are always quite pleased when they complete one of these...or several of these. Sometimes we build towns or cities or temple complexes or moon bases (or whatever is in their imagination), made entirely out of pyramids built using base ten blocks, but today we played algebra which will give us addends and multiplication too. Started out with problems like x² + 7x +12 and worked our way up. We started there because he already has some experience factoring polynomials and I wanted to start easy...then we went on to x² + 8x + 12, and x² + 8x + 15,  x² + 8x +16...Went thru several with 9x then on to 10x,  those polynomials have lots of combinations.

x² + 9x + 8  you get addends for 9, 1 and 8, and 1 x 8 = 8.
x² + 9x + 14 you get addends for 9, 2 and 7, and 2 x 7 = 14.
x² + 9x + 18 you get addends for 9, 3 and 6, and 3 x 6 = 18.
x² + 9x + 20 you get addends for 9,  4 and 5, and 4 x 5 = 20.   

 

You don't have to do every single one in order...mix it up and have fun.  I did a couple with 10x like x² + 10x + 16 and then x² + 10x + 24...didn't do x² + 10x + 25...which is a good place to start if you want to go down the square numbers and square roots path which are made plain and EASY with base ten blocks.  I had a mom tell me they completed the square with 24 once. I said go back and take a look at that...24 will complete a rectangle but certainly doesn't complete a square. 25 would complete a square...and completing the square is quite a useful skill to have later on when you are graphing polynomials and want to easily convert to vertex form.

Playing with squares and radicals are also fun math activities where you can compound the lessons and learn algebra, addends, multiplication, square roots and more. You decide the emphasis depending on the student. For some older students who are supposedly past addition and multiplication because of their age you can use these techniques for remedial math without them even knowing it.

Instead I gave him x² + 10x + 24 which he got pretty easily but then I gave him x² + 11x + 24, which is a challenge at this age when they are still learning their times tables.  You can see he figured out he needed 8 and 3 to make it work.

Then I gave him a challenge.  x² + 11x + 30...the dilemma after he figured out it was going to be (x+5)(x+6) was finding enough fives or sixes....they were being used in the pyramid...and he found that he could count by 5's but not by sixes as easily...remember this boy is 6 years old, he hasn't mastered his 6 times tables yet but he will....and there won't be tears or frustration. It will be part of fun memories spent playing with his mom instead of being angry at his teacher because of yet another worksheet.

After a little fooling around he decided to make 30 with 6's...which meant he was going to have to bust up his pyramid.

 

Completing the corner was important to him, later you will find students especially older students who know their times tables skip putting the units in because they already know 5x6...and that 5x6 is the same as 6x5...when they are younger this is still a fun discovery.

Challenge completed! It's time for some celebration which is where we came in. Also some high fives with mom never hurt nothin'.

This lesson took place way back in the beginning of October. Just got around to finishing it here.  In this hour we basically practiced math facts in a very disorderly fashion...we didn't just do a bunch of addition or subtraction for an hour. We did both AND we did multiplication and some division AND we factored polynomials but the algebra was just along for the ride...as you can see it wasn't scary or hard and I used it to teach concepts and facts...most teen-agers I know FAIL algebra right at this point because they don't understand the distributive theory and never saw a polynomial until they were 12 or 13 years old...

Positive memories and positive associations with math are so important i don't have words. Wouldn't you rather have your child's or student's early childhood math experience be like this instead of rife with tears and frustration? They won't all be diamonds but more often than not you will find YOU the parent or teacher can make math fun and teach a whole lot of math all at once in compound lessons like this.

Want to get the materials you see in this blog post? GO HERE.

Want a FREE PDF of the polynomials that cover the 45 addends and the multiplication facts that go with them?  Click here: POLYNOMIAL PDF

Vernon Jerry Mortensen. Obituary. From The POV of Crewton Ramone.

26Oct1944 - 13Nov2014 Vernon Jerry Mortensen

Died of a massive heart attack. Survivors uncertain. He had 2 sisters, one of which I knew, and three brothers none of whom I ever met. He had 17 nieces and nephews and they had last I knew, 48 kids between them. He was kind of the black sheep of a rather large family, you could say. He had lots of aunts and uncles on both sides mostly deceased by the time I met him, I know his mother was one of 13. I don't know about his father...his mother was 93 when she died and his father 82. I remember distinctly him saying he never wanted to get that old. He owned a shit load of land, and stuff, proving once again: he who dies with the most toys still dies. His math legacy is still uncertain. People may one day remember the name Jerry Mortensen but if they do it won't be because of land and timber and cows.

Here is a standard Obit. I know exactly who wrote this:

It's a good picture of him. That's the guy I knew. Regular obituary over, believe it or not, what follows is the short version.

I found out about it on Tuesday the 18th of November by phone with his ex-wife. He died in a room I had slept in on many occasions. He knew (for months) he should go to a doctor if he wanted to live but he absolutely refused. We lost so much that night. So many things in various stages of completion, none complete. I know for a fact he didn't care. I also know he wanted his body burned. "Get rid of it, cheapest way possible." I concur.

There was one who could make the Mathematics beautiful.

The first thing he said to me in person was, "Great! Nice to meet you...where's your father?"

In 1990 I went to visit Jerry in Idaho for 2 weeks and didn't come home for 10 months.

Then 15 years of life happened. Truth stranger than fiction. I don't believe half the stories...and I was there in person for many of them. I watched him feel bad for people who had tried to take advantage of him successfully or unsuccessfully...and then turn right around and take advantage of people (usually quite successfully), he was particularly fond of playing off people's greed. He'd tell them he'd make them wealthy if they'd just fill their garage with his math kits...or do this real estate deal, or timber deal, or cattle deal or what have you.

To call him "multifaceted" would be quite the understatement because if you do the math you can only cut a diamond to produce a finite number of faces. He had many faces he'd show the world and there were many sides to those faces, and any one of those wore several hats. I choose to get know "the math guy" the most, although I spent time with the real estate guy, businessman, cattle rancher, horseman, logger, farmer, and heretic too.

Even the math guy had several different hats, and each one of those had several...uh, personalities. Marketer, salesman, wheeler dealer...teacher, actor, producer, product creator, writer, author. He'd go from impossibly patient mentor/teacher to incredibly impatient mentor, from overly generous marketer to screwing all the distributors at once with a pen-stroke. He'd send me into situations where his 'business partners' were so mad at him they wanted to kill me just to piss him off...and then he would laugh when I told him some of the solutions I'd hammered out. Then half the time he wouldn't keep all the agreements. I watched him let Math U See go and build a company, and I watched him utterly destroy EZ Math, both in a court of law and in the market place. Of the two EZ Math was the far better funded and had a marketing arm already in place. MUS had to start from much more humble beginnings. There were/are others.  You/we are all off the hook. Mostly.

I remember sitting in a hotel in Nampa Idaho for three days before an older gentleman would even sit down with me. He apologized for keeping me waiting but said, "it took me a week to get the mad off and then another two days when I found out he wouldn't come face me in person."

Jerry: "It's not even $100,000.00, just go take care of it." As an aside he taught me to forge his signature and gave me a book of checks so I could easily write checks and (rarely) sign contracts where time was of the essence and we didn't have time to drive them from CDA to Sand Point or Bonner's Ferry or where ever the heck he was...some people liked it when they got a check from me better because they knew I didn't hand out a check unless there was money there to cover it...unlike some other people who worked for him and Jerry himself. Jerry enjoyed flying kites. Sometimes those kites crashed, hard, but it was a whole lot rarer than it should have been. Once in a while it landed him in court and it was there that he really enjoyed himself although he'd say he didn't. Looking back at land deals and some of the court cases I sat in on, he really was crazy like a fox--a no money down king, surrounded by spinning plates with only a very few of them broken on the floor to use yet another metaphor. Breaking a few plates was to be expected and didn't bother him much. They weren't really his plates, after all. Although if you talked to the other half of the party whether they owned the plate or not they were rarely so forgiving.

He only broke his word to me once outright. It was more times than that but I forgive the other ones because they were situations that spiraled out of his control. Only once did he actually break his word and I never forgave that because he did it on purpose, and it wasn't about the money it was about the simple concept that a man's word is his bond and no paper can hold the force of that bond. We did all of our business like the men of yore. No paper work. We shook hands. Spoke plainly. Said what we meant. Meant what we said. Understood each other: handshake. You will find no contracts or any document of any kind for that matter with both of our signatures on it. If you can't keep your word or think things might go in such a way in the future that you can't keep your word even through no fault of your own, don't give it. Very, very simple. Future very hard to predict, though. All our agreements have now formally ended, save one. I may break that one, on purpose, and call it even.

I remember one time we shook hands and he said, "...don't screw me."

And I said, "Don't screw me." And we laughed.

"So the deal is, we don't screw each other."

"No, the deal is WE teach math."

"No the deal is YOU teach math...I'll help a little bit. Maybe. If you need it. But you don't need it."

"Goddammit. That means you're not helping."

"That means you don't need my help."

"Then stay out of my way."

"Count on it." And yes, there's an inside joke there. I knew better than to count on Jerry, but he knew if push came to shove he could always count on me. That doesn't mean he wasn't a loyal friend, because he was, and there are companies that are wrecked because of that loyalty, but my mother didn't raise a fool, despite appearances.

One thing I was pretty good at doing and Jerry hated to admit it, was predicting what would happen with certain "deals" or "situations" because of the personalities involved. Like when he sold the company, myself included, to a seminar company owned by unscrupulous Mormons. It ended badly. Or when he sent me to Nebraska to open a "Mortensen Math Center"...or Colorado, or South Carolina, or Utah or Idaho, Or Florida, or Texas...that's the short list. He sent me off on the road for weeks and months at a time, for years. We made stupid amounts of money and most people still have no idea what Mortensen Math is.

"Hey, I just wanted to thank you for sending me to a place where they still have 'Nigger On A Stick' on the Menu in most of the local restaurants." Me, calling to check in from the Texas Panhandle. We laughed about that for years and years after.

There were women, but I'll leave that part out.

One of the last places I saw him was at an office building he had that we called Three Mile, because it was at a place called Three Mile, north of Bonner's Ferry, the area where Highway Two splits off Highway 95, you can drive all the way west to Seattle or east to Duluth and beyond on 2. The last thing he said to me in person after handing me an envelope of $100's which brought us even and our last agreement to a close was, "I consider you a friend." and we shook hands and I said, "I consider you a friend, also."

There were the 10,000 words, right there. He nodded, I nodded...there was nothing else to say. I had planned to be back the next spring. That would have been the spring of 2006. I'd go home to Maui for the winter...I was famous for saying I'd be back when the grass was green and the snow was melted. There was always gonna be that next time.

Then nine more years of life happened.

He rarely returned my phone calls. The last email he wrote me was February of 2013.

"Good to hear from you even if it was only a "Hi Jerry". I have been busy studying languages. I read novels in Spanish at a rate of about one per week. If I recall you had a girl friend, Gabby, I think that was her name. You mentioned your trips with her to Mexico. I suppose you learned some Spanish during that era. I tried unsuccessfully to connect to the link you sent me. Help! I'd like to know what you were sending me. Take care! You are a unique and exceptional person. I would love to see you some time and catch up on all that you have been up to during the years we have been out of touch. Your friend, Jerry Mortensen"

Since then I wrote him and called him a few times around this theme:

"...Would like to do some "expert" interviews with you and make some audio  programs for sale. People have asked me for them and would buy them. Basically we just do a few 1 hour sessions and talk about math...history of the company...some stories about teaching...like the ones you used to tell about your various teaching experiences as you traveled around...how you got the company together...trips to Australia and Alaska teaching aborigines...we could easily fill up several hours just talking about math. Turn it into an audio program package it and then sell it...as an actual cd product and as a set of downloads...my number is the same, call me..."

And then less than two years later, he died. For almost a year of it he knew he should go see a doctor about his heart.  He never got around to that or to calling me back.

I know "the estate" is going to be a complete and utter mess. A maze of mortgages, court documents, and contracts several feet thick and several feet high, unknown properties and bank accounts and storage units...here, and in other countries. I was one of the rare ones to whom upon death he owed nothing physically...but he did owe me (and my sons) some math...or maybe I owe him some math. Time will be the teller of that tale.

When great men walk among fools, the fools know him not. This one came in clever disguise and relished in acting the part of and playing right along side the fool(s).

Saṃsāra.