April 23, 2010

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In grade school, I saw a display of “Bonkers” marked down to $0.10 each, since the candy was being discontinued.  The going rate for a candy bar was $0.25 at the time.  I went home, got every cent I had saved, $20, and bought 200 of them.  I took them to school and sold them for $0.20 and doubled my money.  As a kid, I had already come up with ideas about making a profit while also pricing my product under the competition. 

I loved this talk by Cameron Herold with great ideas to encourage our kids to be entrepreneurs, to be innovative, leaders, problem solvers, business founders instead of employees.  If you have a kid with an interest in business, making money, being a leader, go grab him or her and spend 20 minutes enjoying this video:

Posted under Math Curriculum

February 2, 2010

photo by woodleywonderworks

The idea that you simply add a zero to a number when you multiply it by 10 is probably one you already know, but it’s a fun one to teach beginners.

After that, however, did you stop to think that just as 5 is half of 10, when you multiply a number by 5, it is half of what it is when it’s multiplied by 10?

Here’s what I mean – something like this:

• 5 x 5 . . . I know 5 x 10 is just 5 plus a zero on the end = 50, so 5 x 5 is half of 50 = 25.
• 7 x 5 = half of 70 = 35.
• 16 x 5 = half of 160 = 80

Or you can think of it this way – divide the multiplicand in half and then times 10:

• 5 x 5 = half of 5 is 2.5 . . .2.5 x 10 = 25
• 7 x 5 = half of 7 is 3.5 . . . 3.5 x 10 = 35
• 16 x 5 = half of 16 is 8 . . . 8 x 10 = 80

It is an extra step, but it’s definitely faster than counting by 5s on your fingers to get to the answer.  Plus, it’s a big help once you move up into the bigger numbers you don’t have memorized.  It also help teach relationships between numbers, another fun trick.

Enjoy!

P.S.  Here are some previous tips and math reviews:

• Tips and Tricks for 9′s
• Tips and Tricks for 6′s
• Timez Attack
• Dojo Math
• Favorite Math Curriculum
• Memorize in Minutes: the Times Tables

Posted under Math Curriculum

January 28, 2010

photo by pshutterbug

I don’t know about you, but when I memorized addition and multiplication facts as a kid, it seemed that the 6′s, 7′s, and 8′s always seemed the hardest to remember.

Well, here’s a fun trick to help remember the 6′s:

• When multiplying 6 by an EVEN number (sorry, it doesn’t work on the odds), the answer ends in the same final digit.
• Some examples:  6 x 2 = 12, 6 x 6 = 36, 6 x 8 = 48, 6 x 12 = 72 and yes, even 6 x 472 = 2,832 if you really wanted to know. 

Hope that helps a few of you out there.  Do you have any math tricks that helped you memorize the facts?

P.S.  Here are some previous tips and math reviews:

• Tips and Tricks for 9′s
• Timez Attack
• Dojo Math
• Favorite Math Curriculum
• Memorize in Minutes: the Times Tables

Enjoy!

Posted under Math Curriculum

January 15, 2010

Make the times tables a little fun for little ones with this ‘handy’ trick for doing the 9′s:

1. 9 x 6 =
2. Hold up both hands, 10 fingers, starting at the left, bend down the 6th finger.
3. Count the numbers to the left of the bent finger = 5, and the fingers to the right = 4 and you have your answer = 54.
4. This works for multiples of 9 up to 10.

For the ‘do it in your head’ crowd, try this:

1. 9 x 6 =
2. Take the multiple (6) and subtract 1  . . . 6 minus 1 = 5
3. Then figure out how much you need to add to the 5 to get up to 9.  5 + 4 = 9.  There’s your answer = 54
4. Again this works for multiples of 9 up to 10.

If you’re looking for some fun free games to practice multiplication, try these:

• Timez Attack
• Dojo Math
• Multiplication.com games

Enjoy!

Posted under Math Curriculum

September 9, 2009

photo by Jo Jakeman

Math is supposed to be fun, right?

At our house, math work seems to inspire the most creative moans, physical contortions, and excuses why it doesn’t need doing.    So, we’re always looking for new ways to play the old math game.

Here’s our new twist on a math curriculum:

Internet 4 Classrooms has gathered TONS of links to website resources for teaching, and their math section is awesome!

Here’s what we’re doing:

1. Go to their math page.
2. Click on appropriate grade level under “State Assessed SPI’s”
3. Tadah!  You’ll now find every state required math skill sorted and listed down the left side of the screen and to the right are lots of links directly to websites with games, lessons, and more that teach that exact skill.
4. Have your kids either work on a certain number of skills, just ‘play math’ for a length of time, or join in and encourage their interest until they get so involved they forget they are doing MATH!

Even if you already have a math curriculum, this site can give you some fun online games to help drill play with a math concept that is particulary difficult.

I’m also looking for good math websites to compile a free E-Book Math Guide to the Internet, so I’d love to hear (in the comment section) what your favorite sites are. 

Please share!

Posted under Math Curriculum, Math Websites

June 24, 2009

Venn diagrams sound like a fancy and difficult math concept, but instead they make a great math activity for toddlers and up:

1. Grab a handful of candy, colorful cereal, a set of toys, or anything else you can think of that can be classified into groups.
2. Make two circles with shoelaces, cut-out from card stock, chalk on the sidewalk, etc.
3. Have your child start describing characteristics of your set:  colors, sizes, shapes, number of legs, clothing, etc.  Pick two.  Then start sorting them into the appropriate circles, with items that have BOTH characteristics in the middle where the two circles intersect.

Here are a few examples:

• Colors:  Blue candy in the left circle, red candy in the right circle, purple candy (it is BOTH red and blue) in the center where the circles intersect.
• Shapes:  Shapes with straight lines in the left circle, shapes with curved lines in the right, a shape like a heart that has both in the center.
• Toy animal:  Animals with hooves in the left circle, animals with tails in the right, and animals with both hooves and tails in the center.

More fun ideas:

• Eat the ones in the middle when you’re done.
• Close your eyes and the other person moves one item to the wrong section – see if you can figure it out.
• Sort without telling the other the criteria and see if they can guess your sorting rules.
• Add a third circle to make it more tricky.

Enjoy!

Posted under Homeschool Activities, Math Curriculum

May 28, 2009

I personally really liked Math-U-See, but couldn’t get any of my kids to enjoy it for more than a few weeks or a month at the most.  I also will on occasion pick up my worn copy of Home Learning Year by Year, (that I reviewed here).  I’ll grab one of the kids, find their grade in the book, and we’ll run through all the things they are “supposed” to know and see if there are any gaping holes – like when I realized that since I rarely use a calendar, my kids didn’t really know much about dates and months either. 

But, for simplicity, cost, and mostly painfree math, we keep coming back to a nice set of inexpensive workbooks called Math Made Easy. 

• The price – around $10
• The workload – there are usually an appropriate amount of problem to learn a concept without overworking.
• Easy reward system with a chart and star stickers for each page completed.
• Colorful fun pages with Diego for the little ones and superheroes for the older kids.
• Workbooks for K through 5th which fits with our family
• Covers the important math concepts for each grade with a balanced level of repetition. 

I don’t like:

• They end at 5th grade
• Some of the math fact pages are a bit repetetive – but I just ask my kids to do a few and explain to me how they did them.  If they’ve ‘got it’ they can move on.

Your turn!  What math curriculum do you like best and why?

Posted under Math Curriculum, Thursday Topics

May 26, 2009

Next time you need to buy something for one of your children: clothes, party supplies, shoes,etc., try this:  Give them the money (a budget) and let them do the shopping.  Depending on their age and independence, you may want to offer help with sales shopping, reading ads, price calulation, list making, etc.

For Brooke’s 7th birthday party, I gave her $20 and said she could use it to plan anything she wanted.  Adults may scoff at $20 for a birthday party, but she acted like I’d given her a pot of gold.

We brainstormed party ideas and I helped her make a list for the grocery and dollar stores:

• cake ingredients
• ice cream
• party favors
• decorations
• games

We agreed that she could keep half of whatever was left over.  (A little incentive to be frugal.)

Now, I have happy visions of the future where all my kids plan and organize their own birthday parties without any help from me . . . I can’t wait!

Have you had a great idea lately?  A tip that would help us all out?  Please share in the comment section!!

Posted under Math Curriculum, Tuesday Tips

May 15, 2009

Welcome to the 7th edition of Math Teachers at Play.

I thought I’d stir a little language into our math carnival this time with a few Onomatopoeias – a big word I thought was pretty fun in grade school.  (I did have to look up how to spell it, though)

Onomatopoeias are words that sound like their meaning.  Just think, ’Batman fighting a villian’ words:  Bam, Pop, Blast!

And I was inspired a bit by Pat Ballew’s obvious fascination with math words in his article: Left Angles and Language Reversals posted at Pat’sBlog.  ”Ahh, the hazards of Geometry. What it is depends on WHERE you are.”

Snip and Learn

Photo by LollyKnit

Denise presents Quilt: What Can You Do with This? posted at Let’s play math!, saying, “How could you use this image as a springboard to doing math? What questions would you ask? What concepts would you try to get across? What would you follow it with? Please comment!”

Devorah writes about Math and Crafts on SquidKnits when her children scramble through some math in designing play costumes and using graph paper for sweater patterns.

Mumble and Solve

Jason Dyer presents Plat Diviseur (Fractions on a plate) posted at The Number Warrior. He says, “Simple questions about a French plate lead to a complex lesson.”

Solve the latest Monday Math Madness by Daniel at BlinkDagger and win a prize.

Clap for Ideas

Zac give tips on How to Understand Math Formulas posted at SquareCircleZ.

Maria gives some tips on teaching long division to kids with Dyslexia, posted at Homeschool Math Blog.

My kids have been enjoying the free version of Timez Attack, a fun, arcade-styled game to review multiplication facts.

Buzzing Brain

My bees in a hive I built myself

Vlorbik on Math Ed presents Buy Conditionally posted at Community College Calculus

John Cook presents Connecting Fibonacci and geometric sequences — The Endeavour posted at The Endeavour.

Sam Shah presents My Exponential Function Unit posted at Continuous Everywhere but Differentiable Nowhere.  He asks his kids if they would rather have a million dollars every day in the month, or $1 the first day, $2 the second, $4 the third, etc.  Read his article to find the answer.

SK19 starts a series explaining square roots on SK19Math.

Crack the books

Photo by kennymatic

Meaghan Montrose presents Effective Learning Strategies and Study Skills Part 3 posted at TutorFi.

Alvaro Fernandez presents 10% Students may have working memory problems: Why does it matter? posted at SharpBrains, saying, “In screening of over 3000 school-aged students, 1 in 10 was identified as having working memory difficulties. Why does this matter?”

I hope you enjoyed this edition of the Math at Play Blog Carnival!  Click here to check out past editions and submit new articles for future ones.

Keep playing math!

Posted under Blog Carnivals, Math Curriculum

April 21, 2009

My husband enjoys a chess puzzle every morning, which is the only reason the game appeals to my kids: Dad likes it so there must be something there. Then we found the Fritz and Chesster game for the PC. It uses a great story line and fun games to teach all the concepts of chess.

Gone are the days of Mom saying, “Uh, I don’t think the knight can go there,” and “Where do I set the bishops at again?”

In the day of XBox’s, DS’s, etc., how do you get kids interested in playing chess? And why would you anyway?

Because chess can:

Why Fritz and Chesster?

It’s fun and teaches all the moves in chess: pawn moves, castling rules, promotion, mate, stalemate, everything! And then the second program, Fritz and Chesster 2, goes on to teach even more tactics and strategies.

How it Teaches Chess with Stories and Games:

It starts with a storyline about young Fritz who is left in charge of the kingdom while his mom and dad, the King and Queen, are away. Here’s a picture of the crew with King Black, the hardest king to defeat.

Here’s a fun game using Sumo wrestlers facing off against each other. They teach how a king moves and the idea of ‘opposition’ as you try to force the other wrestler off the game mat. They are too fat to be right next to each other, so the rules are that they stay at least one square apart

And how about bouncing a ball diagnally across a game board to smash toilet bowls? Yes, the potty humor is funny to kids, and meanwhile, they are learning how the bishop moves diagonally.

What better way to learn how a rook moves in straight lines than trying to escape these spiders in the rook maze and earn a high score.

And this horse has to jump over the fences, but in the “L”-shaped movement that a knight makes. What a great mind puzzle for kids!

Once you learn all the rules, you get to practice by playing against opponents of various difficulties.

At around $20, it’s cheaper than any chess lesson by an expert and with the ability to enter multiple names, all your kids can play.

What about yourself? If you never took the time to understand how chess really works, give yourself a fun mental workout and learn it together with your child. Isn’t that half the fun of homeschooling? Learning together!

(You can help support HomeschoolBytes by purchasing Learn to Play Chess with Fritz and Chesster from this link and/or doing any Amazon shopping from there also – Thanks!)

I’d like to review a few more of my favorite learning software programs. Do you have any favorites? Or requests to review? Let me know in the comment section

Posted under Homeschool Software, Math Curriculum