Have your daughter or son study with Don!

Students who have or are coming to Champaign, IL to work with Don on his calculus for young people program or are doing this using his Math By Mail/Email (with instant Messenger):

  Bring from afar, your daughter/son to Champaign for a week to study with Don in his Calculus For Young People program. Don will accept no more than 10 students in this program. Call toll-free 1.800.356.4559 or email Don for more information. Nanako, Natalie, Toshio, Reiko and Andrew, who came to Champaign to study with Don:

Summer 2008 Nanako came back from Japan for a week. 

Summer 2007 Nanako came from Japan for a week.

22 May 2008 From Elizabeth in Rock Island, IL, after her 2 days observing, working with some students, and studying with Don: "Dear Don and Marilyn, Thank you both so much for your generous hospitality during my visit. I am so excited to get to work on the workbook and also to show my children what I have learned. I believe that children need to see their parents learning, too..". Elizabeth, it was wonderful that you could come to Champaign, leave your family behind, meet some of my parents and work with some of my students. You did very well, had some fine ideas that we share, and even figured out the area and perimeter of the snowflake curve, using infinite series- not an simple task!
27 December 2007: Marie, one of Don's students for about 3 years (~1980 in HS), stopped in to talk. She lives in Baton Rouge, LA. She was in Champaign to help her brother get his house ready for sale and has applied to Wolfram Research Inc. for a job. What a nice surprise! 

One summer when Marie was Don's student, he asked her to help him teach youngsters at Mt. Olive Baptist Church in Champaign. She did a fine job. Don still hears from former students in that summer class. Marie has kept in touch as she went on to graduate UI (with her Mom!), a Math major & Physics minor. Then went to work for Delco in IN, She got an EE degree at NC A&T State U, then her MBA at Tulane in 2006 She worked for Dow Chemical in LA and the United Way and Motorola in Champaign, now at Caterpillar in Peoria.

In 2006 she was going to Tulane U in New Orleans, cramming for exams, when her Dad called to tell her Katrina was on the way and she should IMMEDIATELY leave and come home to Champaign. She made it out, but lost everything, including Don's painting he had given her. Don gave her a new painting this day and his 2-disc CD set.

13 August 2007: After months of planning with Maura (Mom), she, two remarkable, very bright  young men, Jonty, age 12 and autistic (talks very little-maybe 2 words in an hour, doesn't write, but understands everything and communicates by pointing to a board with letters and numbers) and George, age 10, and a care giver Shawna, came from Minnesota for 3 days. They and Don worked together for about 8 hours of math sessions. Their work is on this page. See below for emails from Maura following their work.

On 15 August 2007 Don received this email from Maura the evening before they left to go North to the Wisconsin Dells:

"Hi Don:  I want to thank you and Marilyn and your family for being so nice to us while we were here.  I honestly never tasted better Chinese food than that at the Rainbow Gardens- all courtesy of you and Marilyn. The boys (and Shawna and I !) learned so much in the short time we had and we all enjoyed it so much.  Your work with kids and your worksheet book have no doubt changed hundreds if not thousands of people's lives.  If possible, I think both my boys love math even more after having worked with you. 

Maura, Jonty, and George"

On 19 August 2007after staying at the Wisconsin Dells for a few days, Maura wrote: "Thanks again for everything.  We talked about all the things we learned on the way home today.  It was not only a wonderful experience, but something they will take with them throughout their lives"

 

Natalie, a 7 year old, came from California for 5 days during the summer of 2000 and continued in Don's Math By Mail/Email program during the school year.

See Natalie's summer 2000 work with Don.

The following is an excerpt form Natalie's letter to Don sent after she got back home to California (the typing takes away from her writing, drawings and math problems in the margins, however):
"Dear Donald Cohen, What I liked about your class most is your creativity. I had lots of fun because it was hard. (Are there any tornados?) I think kids in my old school would be amazed at what you do. I had a fabulous time with you. I hope every thing is going well. Are you having a good time? I hope you are !! Your student, Natalie"

Natalie's Mom wrote in an email to Don after she returned to CA: "I personally believe that you are one of the rarest teachers on earth. Thank you for being."

Natalie returned in August, 2001 , at age 8, to work with Don again!

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Toshio (age 9) and Reiko (just 8)  came to Champaign (from Japan! via Minnesota) for 6 days in the summer of 2001 to study with Don. Their Dad had studied the Japanese translation of Don's book in Japan. Mom had to translate between the children and Don while they were here. Upon leaving their Mom left this note:

  Dear Don and Marilyn:

   Toshio and Reiko will treasure their wonderful experiences with Don (what an affectionate gentleman!) and Marilyn (what a tender-hearted lady!). We are really thankful to you for this.    These six days have flown by.    They say that they would like to come back to you again if they have a chance. I'm happy to hear that.    We won't forget what we learned with both of you. We thank you again for all you did so special.

                             Sincerely,

                            Yoshiko L.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Barb brought her son Andrew at age 7, to Champaign from Idaho to work with Don March 11-16, 2002. 

"We had a great time working with you." -Barb. 

On Feb. 22, 2003, 9 AM, almost a year later, Don received this email: ".. I continue to go back to your own book for inspiration and specific ways to approach thinking about math. Just wanted to say hi and let you know how much it has meant to have your materials and you! Barb'
6 September 2004:  From the mother of Erin (7 yo) in ID, after working with Don 5 months: "I believe that this is how the conversation at school went. Teacher: What is math like to you?

Erin's reply: Math is like the forest outside of our cabin.  Every time I go exploring I find something new".

20 October 2005
'I have incredible news.  I just had to MAKE Savannah go to bed.  We started working on the first problem tonight a little after 8.  She enjoyed it so much that I just got her to quit and go to bed.  It is 10:57pm!  She was having such a good time identifying patterns and coloring the 8x8 square; she wouldn't quit until she got all but a quarter of the very last little square was colored in.  At the partial sum 63/64 she realized she could just double the denominator and the numerator would be one less so, she started figuring the sums that way.  She is excited about doing more tomorrow.  I'm sending the work so you can see'.- Savannah's Mom, from OK. Mom started working in Ch. 1 from Don's website; he has looked at her work and emailed her about only one error.  Don will work with Savannah once a week via Yahoo IM starting  24 Oct. 2005.

7 July 2004 "Dear Don: 

Sorry for the 'contact loss' this year. I wasn't sure to start or not the lessons again.

I want to restart the class, but I had a lot of homework, that is why I don't come to the classes.

Now I'm sure that I want to restart the classes.

May be, if you can, on Mondays at 6PM (Argentina), this is 1 hour late than last year.

Bye, Tadeo".

Tadeo worked with Don in December '03 and January '04, then took a break until now. His Dad waited for him to say he really wanted to work with Don again and was very pleased Tadeo wrote to Don himself, and in English!

25 April 2004: Hi Don,

the kids, David, Michael and James just want to say hello, and hope you and your family are well.  We stopped by your website and notice you have a homeschooling webpage now and another great grandchild! Is Tessa still playing soccer? and are you still painting?

I can't believe it is three years on since they took a lesson with you, as "Don" is still referred to actively in this house.

cheers, Carolyn (in Tasmania, AU)

 

22 March 2004: Don started working with Donald, a 4, almost 5 year old, from NY, via IM! On May 7, he shared 5 cookies between 3 people and each person got 1 + 1/2 + 0/4 + 1/8 + 0/16 + 1/32 + 0/64 + 1/128 + ... cookies! He saw patterns in the top numbers and bottom numbers of the fractions.

16 January 2004: Don started working with Thomas, age 8, from Idaho, via IM.  See Thomas' work.

9 March 2004: Don received this email from Dana in FL: 'I do not know if you remember my son, but he worked through a few exercises in your book back in 2002.  To bring you up to date, he is now 7 years old and in the third grade.  He skipped Kindergarten and second grade.  He is pulled out for math which he does through EPGY.  He is currently finishing the 6th grade program on EPGY.  He gets pulled out five days a week and essentially does his work in the principal's office.  I would really like to get him more interaction for at least part of the time as it takes some of the joy out of math when there is no one but the computer to chat to when you have one of those "aha" moments when everything clicks.  I also think that he has mastered how to get through the EPGY levels without always having explored certain topics in much depth.  I think at the elementary level that poses few problems, I am worried about next year when he starts pre-algebra, however.

I was wondering if there was a possibility of arranging something with you (maybe one day a week).  He has his own laptop which he brings to school each day so we can add whatever hardware/software may be required.  I do not have his schedule in front of me so I do not know his math schedule each day, but I wanted to check first to see if this is something that is even viable.  Right now he plows through math on his own, but I don't see the same spark from him.  Further, he tends to be a perfectionist so I thought exposure to you and your philosophy might help him worry less about right answers and enjoy the process again.  Any suggestion you have would be greatly appreciated'.

26 January 2004: Valerie to Don (after working for a month with Valerie, who worked with her son Justin, age 6, in The Marshall Islands):

Dear Don,

            Thank you so much for all of your support and suggestions during the past month.  You have expanded our horizons and Justin has fallen in love with whole new areas of math that I had no idea he was ready for.  At this point, I would like to stop our email studies with you until we are able to find a way around the internet difficulties on our end or until Justin is able to communicate with you more directly.  I am most appreciative of the time you have put into helping us and hope we will be able to work together in the future.  I am particularly interested in trying to schedule a trip to IL so Justin could work with you directly.     

            Thanks again,

                        Valerie (See Justin's work and Valarie & Don's discussions)

On 24 December 2003 Don received this email: "Hi Don,
We bought a new computer for Thomas [age 8] to use for this, and we will set it up this weekend.  Quest is coming out on Tuesday of next week to set up our DSL line so we will have faster internet access.  Will you be around next week?  If so, maybe we can test our connection on Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday.

We also received the books and materials you sent us -- they are great!  Thomas is very excited to get started.

Thanks for checking in.  I hope you are enjoying the holidays!
Jacque".  [a friend of Barb's, who brought her son Andrew to Champaign to work with Don for a week, also from Idaho]

Jacque arranged with Don to work with Thomas on Friday mornings, starting 16 January 2004 ! See Thomas' work.

On 4 December 2003, Don received a call from Judy, a co-worker of Don's friend Debbie (now with a Ph. D. in Computer Education, who used Don's worksheet book as a teacher in Iowa). Judy wants Don to work with her 10 yo daughter Deryn via Instant Messenger; she would order Don's worksheet book and agreed they would start 12 December 2003. See Deryn's work.
On 10 November 2003, Don met, spoke with and saw on their webcam, Tadeo (age 9), his bother Pablo, and their Mom and Dad, who all live in Argentina. Don will be working with Tadeo once a week in his worksheet book via Yahoo Instant Messenger. He and his Dad (who translated the question section of chapter 1 into Spanish for his son), have been working in chapter 1; he's done a fine job! On 17 November 2003 Don started working with Tadeo on graphing linear equations. He came up with a couple of interesting patterns! He has taken a summer break; we'll see if he returns.
On Wed, 3 September 2003 Don received as an attached file via email, the Spanish translation of Chapter 1 Questions section of Don's worksheet book,  from a Dad in Argentina! He is working with his son who speaks only Spanish.
On 4 November 2003 Don received this email: 'Dear Don, Just a note to let you know how helpful I continue to find your book and workbook.  Watching you work with children in person has increased my understanding of how math can be approached in a different and more meaningful way.  The way you interact with kids is truly masterful.  Math is more than just memorizing ways of doing problems and you are living proof of the excitement and stimulation that lies ahead for those who are fortunate enough to have contact with you'. 'Barb M., who brought her son Andrew to Champaign from Idaho, to work with Don for a week.
One of the most exciting things to happen to Don recently, is that a Juku teacher, after studying Don's Japanese books, came from Japan to Champaign to study with Don, for the whole month of September 2003!
Chris, who will be a college junior taking calc 2 in September, started reviewing his trig, logs, infinite series and the binomial expansion, so far, with Don via IM in July & August, 2003. 
on August 25, 2003, Johann came from California to Champaign with his Mom and baby sister to work with Don for a week
Tim, a 50 year old M.D., wanted to learn calculus for work he is doing. He started studying with Don in his worksheet book on February 9, 2003 and as of January 2004, he was working on derivatives! In March 2004 he was also working on changing shapes with matrices.
 January 6 & 7, 2003: 4 year old Johann began to work with Don, through help from his Mom, by email, fax and IM. Johann at 5, came to Champaign for a week at the end of August 2003 to work with Don.

Chris, an 8th grader in Iowa, has been working with Don since August, 2002. See his latest work on iterating a function using negative numbers.

Email from Grace June 12, 2002-  Hi Don, How are you? I'm fine. You know what? I got a 500 in the SAT in the mathematics section! So I got a scholarship to the 2002 Young Scholars Program (for the month of July 2002!). I hope when I am in eighth grade, I will be able to get a total of 1400 points on the SAT. Thanks for all your help, Grace 

Grace,  in Chicago, has been working with Don via AIM in his Math By Mail/Email Program since August 28, 2001, starting as a 6th grader. Grace and her two brothers also came to Champaign for two hours on September 22, 2001 and again Dec. 2, 2001.

On Feb. 2, 2002 Don received this email from a mother in Idaho: Dear Don, I bought your books last year and have done some of the exercises with my son, Andrew, who turned seven in December. They are fantastic! He is very gifted in math and has finished most of our district's 6th grade math curriculum.  I go to school with him each morning and do his math with him so that he has an alternative to 2nd grade math (he skipped kindergarten).  Is there any chance we could come and do some math with you?  He loves to find patterns and analyze problems and work with other people in math.  What do you suggest?  I am groping around to try and find some exciting alternatives for him. Thank you. Barb

Barb brought Andrew to Champaign from Idaho to work with Don March 11-16, 2002 !! 

"We had a great time working with you." -Barb. 

On Feb. 22, 2003, 9 AM, almost a year later, Don received this email: ".. I continue to go back to your own book for inspiration and specific ways to approach thinking about math.
Just wanted to say hi and let you know how much it has meant to have your materials and you! Barb
On March 6, 2003, 10PM, Don talked with Barb about her upcoming work with Andrew and a few others at his school. Barb has retained  Don to help her with any suggestions he has and ways to work. She will use Don's worksheet book and Jacob's book as a base for the children's work and Yahoo IM to communicate with Don verbally and visually. Andrew is still working in Don's book and he is waiting for Barb's statement of what he has done recently.

James , a 9 year old in Tasmania,  worked with Don via AIM in his Math By Mail/Email Program from June 14, 2001-Dec., 2001.

Emily, a local 7th grader, started coming to Don 9/14/00, came all during the '00-'01 school year, has come during the summer of '01 and is coming during the '01-'02 school year with her brother and sister! Before she came to Don, Emily had started working on infinite series in Ch. 1 of Don's worksheet book. She had figured that 1/2 + (1/2)2 + (1/2)3 + (1/2)4 + ... -> 1 and 1/3 + (1/3)2 + (1/3)3 + (1/3)4 + ... -> 1/2. She graphed the partial sums at home for the infinite series 1/4 + (1/4)2 + (1/4)3 + (1/4)4 + ... Emily realized that 1/3 = 5 1/3/16 and the partial sum  5/16 (1/4 + 1/16 = 5/16) can be written as 1/3 - (1/3)(1/16) = 5 1/3/16 - (1/3)(1/16) = 5/16.  Each partial sum then, can be written as 1/3 - (1/3)(1/4)n and as n->infinity, (1/4)n goes to 0, and 1/3 - (1/3)(1/4)n   goes to 1/3. So the infinite series 1/4 + (1/4)2 + (1/4)3 + (1/4)4 + ... goes to 1/3. Emily saw the pattern of the other infinite series and this one, and generalized that the infinite series 1/n + (1/n)2 + (1/n)3 + (1/n)4 + ... goes to 1/(n-1).

Note: Emily and her Mom tore out the perforated, 3-hole punched pages in Don's worksheet book and put them in a 3-ring notebook. She is putting her work between the book pages and using the book pages as well.

See Emily's fine work on the snowflake curve and radicals, fractional exponents and logs. Emily was also accepted into UNI high school for the '01-'02 school year. Congratulations Emily! Emily and her brother and sister have come through the summer of '02 and are continuing into the '02-'03 school year. And Emily has been getting an A in math. What a pleasure they all are!

Natalie, a 7 year old, came from California for 5 days during the summer of 2000 and continued in Don's Math By Mail/Email program during the school year. The following is an excerpt form Natalie's letter to Don sent after she got back home to California (the typing takes away from her writing, drawings and math problems in the margins, however):

"Dear Donald Cohen, What I liked about your class most is your creativity. I had lots of fun because it was hard. (Are there any tornados?) I think kids in my old school would be amazed at what you do. I had a fabulous time with you. I hope every thing is going well. Are you having a good time? I hope you are !! Your student, Natalie" See Natalie's summer 2000 work here.

Natalie returned in August, 2001 to work with Don again!

Ashley, age 7, came to Champaign from MO to study with Don in August 2001.
See Toshio and Reiko's work when they were here for 6 days to study with Don, in the summer of 2001!
Natalie M. came to work with Don during a trip to St. Louis, in the summer of 2001. Also see her sister Wendy below.

Ryan, an 8th grade homeschooler, came from western IL, one day a week during the 2000-2001 school year.

Katie C., came for 5 days during the summers of 1996 and 1999. Click here to see what KatieC did with Don in 1999

Jonathan, at ages 7 and 8, came from Connecticut for a week in the summers of  '89 and '90. His work is in Don's worksheet book and he is in both of Don's videotapes. Jonathan, now 21, is now a senior at Cornell, majoring in Physics and Math and his brother at 19, is a sophomore at Cornell majoring in Math (as of January 9, 2003). From Jonathan's Mom and Dad  in 1999:

"..We really want to thank you for your help in getting Jonathan started on a successful path in mathematics. As you can see [8 pages of his awards and records in HS] it has led to an exciting future career. He thinks that he might be interested in proving or disproving "string theory", but is open minded and wants to learn about all branches of physics when he starts out at Cornell. Your enthusiasm for math has set such a shining example for Jonathan and our whole family as you have pursued a life long love of mathematics and learning. We greatly appreciate your interest in Jonathan and your help over the years".

Grant K., starting at age 11, worked with Don in his Math By Mail program for two years and came from Oklahoma twice during the summer between. Grant is now in medical school and some of his work is in Don's worksheet book.
Wendy, at age 12, came from Minnesota for 4 days during one summer, after earlier having worked with Don in his Math By Mail program for about 8 months at age 5. This was no surprise since Don had Wendy's Mom as a 7th grade student! Wendy is Natalie M's sister mentioned above.

Costs

To work with Don here in Champaign, the cost  would be $1200 per 5 day week or other amount, depending on the arrangement, plus materials, plus room and board, plus travel. That would include daily individual sessions with Don.

Call Don toll-free at 1-800-356-4559 or email doncohenmathman@gmail.com  for more information.

To order Don's materials
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