Catch up on your math here: What About Math – Games What About Math – Books Just about every day Newt and I engage in the following ritual exchange. Newt: Mama, can I watch tv? Me: Is it a school day? Not until after dinner. Newt: [sigh]
Every once in awhile, when the wind changes or the moon is just right in conjunction with Saturn*, I like to mess with her head and say yes. That’s my prerogative as a mother, right? I’m not talking about vegging out in front of endless episodes of Zach and Cody [shudder]. We can save them for Saturday (I suppose). Since this is a school day, let’s look for something a bit more educational, but still fun, shall we?
Here area some of our favorite math shows, DVDs and videos:
Cyberchase Newt’s getting older, but she hasn’t quite outgrown Cyberchase. I find that it is a great way to either introduce or review a mathematical concept. She just thinks it’s fun. A lot of educational television gets on my nerves (I was so relieved when Newt got too old for Dora). Cyberchase doesn’t for one reason: Hacker is voiced by Christopher “Great Scott!” Lloyd. It just doesn’t get any better than that. Many episodes can be found streaming on Netflix or on youtube.
The Story of 1 Roman Numerals, Fibonacci numbers, the invention of zero and binary – these are just a few of the concepts covered in this short history of mathematics. A history and math DVD? Wouldn’t that be boring? Not when it stars Monty Python’s Terry Jones. It’s funny and interesting. We’ve watched it several times and learned something new with each viewing. Available streaming on Netflix.
Donald in Mathmagic Land This classic Disney film places Donald Duck in a Mathematical adventure. It is a great one for going beyond basic operations and showing how math is integral to art, music, architecture and sports. It just might help your kids become interested in math and improve their pool game. Donald in Mathmagic land is not available on netflix, but we were able to borrow a copy from our local library five or six times. And used copies on Amazon are reasonably priced.
You Tube also has some great mathematical offerings. We are huge fans of Vi Hart. Quite often neither Newt or I have any idea what she is talking about, but she makes us want to. See for yourself with some of our favorite videos:
What did I miss? Do you have any favorite math shows, videos or DVDs? Do tell.
*Astronomy nerds: Is the moon ever in conjunction with Saturn? What does that even mean? Can you recommend a good DVD to explain it to me? Thanks! Amazon affiliate links are being used.
I read out loud (aloud? Which one is it my lovely word-nerds?) to Newt a lot. Even though she is definitely old enough, and capable enough, to read most things on her own, I refuse to give it up. And why should I? Sharing great books are one of the best parts of our day. However, I wonder if I might have overdone it yesterday. I walked into the living room, picked up my book and began to read. It took me at least three or four minutes to realize that I was alone in the house and reading aloud to myself. Oops. What I’ve Been Reading After all those weeks of same, same, sameness, I was hungry for some new stories. I filled that craving with two new, not terribly deep, but good nonetheless books. What Alice Forgot Alice wakes up on the floor of a gym after fainting in spin class and hitting her head. She’s a 39 year old, well-to-do mother of three children who is currently going through a nasty divorce. The trouble is, she doesn’t remember any of that. Her last memories are of being a 29 year old, poor young wife who is head over heels in love with her husband and thrilled to be expecting her first child. Poor Alice has no idea what has happened to her over the last 10 years, nor what kind of person she has become. And the more she learns the less she likes. Alice’s story is told from her own perspective, through her grandma’s letters to a long-lost friend and her sister’s therapy journal. I really enjoyed this read. It got me thinking a lot about who I was 10 years ago and what she might think of my life now. This would be a great book club read. Note: there is a bit more swearing in this book than I care for.
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children Jacob grew up listening to his grandfather tell fantastic tales about an old house on an island and the peculiar children who lived there. A girl who could fly, an invisible boy, and other “talented” children, all watched over (and protected from the monsters) by a pipe-smoking bird. When Jacob is 16, tragedy cuts across his life. As a result, Jacob sets off on a journey where he learns that his grandfather’s stories may have not have been fairy tales at all. This book was like Clive Barker’s The Thief of Always meets X-Men crossed with a bit of Nanny McFee, but with really cool photographs. Miss Peregrine’s is unique in that the story revolves around a series of strange antique photographs, like the one pictured on the cover: Amazingly, the pictures are all real, found at flea markets and thrift stores by collectors. They have not been retouched or photoshopped in order to better fit the story, yet they fit it perfectly all the same. The eerie combination made for a delightfully creepy YA read, perfect for this time of year.
What I’ve Been Reading to Newt We are almost finished with The Magician’s Nephew and I have our next book all ready to go, but you’ll have to wait until next week to hear about it.
What Newt Has Been Reading Newt has become very interested in birds lately. She has been perusing our shelves looking for guides and information. Her favorites are the Litte Golden Nature Guides, which we have several volumes of. She has been poring over Birds of North America as she sits by the window, binoculars in had. The great thing about these little guides is that they are well, little, so they fit nicely in hand on our walks, too. I love that she is teaching me things, like the difference between a raven and a crow and what the name is of that yellow and black bird we see every once in awhile. I could use the lessons, too. The only think I know about birds is how many piggies they’ll knock over if launched just right from a giant sling shot.
Did you miss What About Math: Part 1? Click over to read about some of our favorite math games. Pst: Hey, if you do click over, you may notice that I said this would be a two part series. Well, it’s now a three-parter. Sometimes math has a way of, um… multiplying. Updated to add: Part 3 – Math Videos, DVDs and shows
Last Friday, I attended my Mentor Mothers group. We get together each month to talk about homeschooling, great books and how to mentor our children in their educations. The subject turned to math instruction, as many homeschool conversations inevitably do. Why? Because teaching math can be intimidating, especially if the teacher has come to believe that she is just not a “math person”. That’s what I used to think about myself. I’d think, “I’m a book person, not a math person”. When I decided to take on the task of homeschooling, math was the one area that really had me nervous. Maybe that’s why I’ve spent so much time seeking out good, quality math resources. That’s right, I was compensating. Along the way, I’ve learned at least two things:
Math is awesome. I really do like it. I think, like many children, I had confused a dislike for conventional methods of math instruction with a dislike for math.
It is possible to be both a book person and a math person at the same time. Especially when you discover all of the cool books about math that are out there.
Here are some of our favorites: The Muderous Maths Series We have a few of volumes of this series on our shelf and I certainly plan to add more. I just pulled More Murderous Maths off my shelf. This is what the back cover says:
Find out how to escape the evil clutches of Professor Fiendish, why maths could save us from the utter destruction of life on Earth, and meet perilous Pythagoras, who got so upset about maths that he murdered someone.
Doesn’t that sound a whole lot more thrilling than your average textbook/worksheet combo? A couple of years ago, Newt asked me what 3D meant. We got out one of our Murderous Maths books and read about different dimensions: 1D, 2D, 3D and the theoretical 4D. I had never quite understood the concept. Now I do. What’s more, my then eight year old did too. Note: Murderous Maths are published in the U.K. (hence the “maths” instead of math). Sometimes Amazon has reasonably priced used copies, but it’s hit and miss. If you are in the U.S., I’d recommend buying from Horrible Ray (I know!) at Horrible Books. He imports the maths books (and horrible science, history, geography, etc. titles) and resells them at great prices.
The Complete Book of Fingermath: Simple, Accurate,Scientific This book teaches you how to turn your fingers into an abacus, which will then allow you to work out complicated problems without a calculator or even a pencil. The thing I like the most though is that as you learn the method, you also better learn why, for example 4×8=32. Great for tactile learners.
Family Math Math is fun. No, really. Family Math is full of mathematical games and activities for all levels and abilities. It’s a great way to play with math – and learn a lot too.
Brown Paper School book: I Hate Mathematics! and Brown Paper School book: Math for Smarty Pants Like Family Math, these books are full of games and activities, but they are also really funny. Humor goes a long way in my family. It’s the Poppinsish “Spoonful of Sugar”. Not that we consider math the medicine. Anymore. But that’s only thanks to books like this. I also love that they delve into deeper concepts than plus and minus, multiply and divide. Like ratios, probability and infinity. And how slicing a banana could lead to a sonic boom hyperbola! Concepts like this breathe life into math. They make it interesting and fun. Too often the cool things aren’t taught until most kids have had all the interest sucked right out of them by too many carry-the-ones. (Not that the basic operations are unimportant. I just think it’s important to teach the cool stuff early on as well. Or at least get a glimpse of the concepts.)
Why Pi? and Go Figure!: A Totally Cool Book About Numbers Speaking of deeper concepts, I can’t leave out these books. Through them we have been able to explore Fibonacci numbers and Pascal’s triangle, paradoxes and topology. The topology lesson came in handy last year at a corn maze. We learned that a great way for solving mazes is to keep your right (or left, just be consistent) hand on a wall at all times. Most mazes can be quickly solved this way. Math is awesome. Try it!
The Life of Fred Series This is a series of stories about Fred Gauss, a six-and-a-half year-old boy who also manages to be a professor at the fictional Kittens University. Through his adventures (and misadventures) the reader learns not just concepts, but how to solve math problems from fractions* to trigonometry. There are problems to solve after every chapter. After every five chapters, there is a bridging section. You must get a certain number of problems correct before going on. I am personally working my way through the series and loving it. *Actually, just a few months ago, the publisher released some early ed Life of Fred books, so I suppose they now go from basic counting on up. Yay for Fred!
We have many, many more on our shelves, but those are pretty much the cream of the crop. Do you have any math favorites? Please share them in the comments.
Next time, I’ll share our favorite math DVDs and videos.
Disclosure #1: I am using Amazon affliate links. If you purchase anything from my Amazon links, I get a small commission, which I will likely use to buy more math books. It’s a sickness, I think. Disclosure #2: Horrible Ray has never heard of me. I get nothing for recommending his site. I wish I did. Ray, if you’re reading this, could we work something out? Pretty please? [eye flutters]
I have a confession to make. We have not used a formal math curriculum in more than two years. There, I said it. Bring on da funk. HEIDI! Are you crazy? Poor Newt will grow up unable to balance her checkbook or calculate tips! She’ll never be able to get a job and she’ll be reduced begging by the roadside. She’ll have to count the change she collects on her dirty little fingers and toes! Whoa, hold on there. I said we haven’t used a formal math curriculum, not that we are ignoring math. Here’s the thing, Newt used to hate math. She’d cry whenever I brought up the subject. The worksheets and drill did not fit her learning style at all. So we ditched them, if favor of a more organic approach to math. Here’s what we do now: First of all, I make it a point to talk about math often. That’s pretty easy to do because math is everywhere: cooking, sports, shopping, art, sewing… the list goes on and on. I point out situations where I am using my math skills as they arise. For example, I may say something like, “I’m doubling this cookie recipe. It’s a good thing I know how to add fractions, or they wouldn’t end up tasting good at all.” I also make time to study math myself. I am still enjoying the Kahn Academy (sun badge here I come) and I read mathematical books. But HEIDI! Just talking about math and having Newt watch you do math isn’t the same as teaching math! Poor, poor Newt! Settle down now, that’s not the end of the math instruction in our house. There is a lot more to it. I just find that it’s easier to teach a child something if they can see some value in it.
That reminds me of a story… Once upon a time my parents had some neighbors. My parents’ neighbors bought a new couch and wanted to get rid of their old one. They could have tried to sell it, but they wanted to be rid of it quickly, so they put it out at the curb with a free sign on it. There it sat for nearly a week. Now these neighbors were either pretty smart or pretty dumb because they decided to change the sign from free to $10.00. Someone stole their couch that night. Moral: People value what you value. In showing Newt that math is important to me and why, she has begun to value it as well.
Some of the other ways that I have chosen to teach and inspire Newt mathematically are through games, books, DVDs and videos. I’ll talk a bit more about games today and save the books, DVDs and videos for next time.
Games are great at teaching math skills. Just about every board game I can think of uses math. Even word games, like Scrabble, use math for adding up points. Looking over at our shelf, Yatzee, Monopoly and Life are three that jump out as great math practice and skill builders. Modifying card games for math fact practice is also fun. We like playing Math War with our Skip-Bo cards. For instructions and other variations, see Let’s Play Math: The Game That Is Worth 1,000 Worksheets. There are some other games on our shelf that were created specifically to help practice math skills. Zeus on the Loose is great for learning or brushing up on adding in your head. And then there’s Mythmatical Battles. This is a really fun trading card game (think Pokemon) that uses multiplication problems for attack and defense strengths. We like it, but a few friends with boys love it. Love it to the point of obsession – love it. Trading card games must be on that Y chromosome… There are also tons of printable math games online. Lately, we have been enjoying the Times Table Board game (see picture), from Dr. Mike’s Math Games for Kids. I printed it out, cut and pasted into a file folder, and Newt and I decorated it together. We use an Oscar Meyer Wienermobile and a plastic dog for playing pieces because we think it’s really funny when the dog chases the Wienermobile. When your piece lands on a question mark, you take a ? card and must answer a multiplication question. When you land on an exclamation point, you take a ! card and follow the instructions. For example: Roll the die. Move each of your opponents back that many spaces! or This ‘!’ square is now a ‘?’ square for you! Note: The game is fun, but Newt and I agree that its name was really boring, so we changed it to The Game?!The Game?! must be spoken with the proper punctuation. Often a math game will put Newt in the mood for more math. She’ll ask me to write out some harder questions or help her practice things like multiple digit multiplication. As a matter of fact, when I was in the middle of writing this post, she came in to tell me she had made up a math game and she invited me to play it with her. It was a role playing game about running a dog groomers and boarding company. She had a list of services and needed me to be the customer. Once I had selected the services I wanted, she tallied them up, along with her hourly rate. I don’t mind telling you that I got hosed. All I’m saying is that if I’m paying that much, my pet better come home gold-plated… The point is, Newt has gone from Math Hater to Math Lover. It’s no longer intimidating or frustrating. I have another confession to make. I did, just this year, purchase a new math curriculum. Newt is trying out Teaching Textbooks, but as a supplement to her math study, not the core. So far, she has chosen to do a couple of lessons and likes it, but we’re not giving up our games. Next time, I’ll share with you some of our favorite books, DVDs and videos for inspiring a love of math.
If you homeschool, do you use a formal math curriculum to teach arithmetic? If not, what do you use? If so, do you supplement it in any way? Tell me, I’d love to hear!
Newt has been feeling a bit under the weather the last couple of days. Nothing drastic, just a case of the sniffles. I’ve been loading her up on home remedies, extra vitamin C and cabbage soup. But I know that the best thing you can do for yourself when you are not feeling 100% is rest. I think rest for the mind can be just as important as rest for the body. We’ve spent the last couple of days taking it easy, listening to books on CD or visiting while doing some crafting. I love needle felting; it’s such a soothing craft. The wool is wonderfully soft, and the rhythmic poke of the felting needle can be almost meditative. It was the perfect activity for a homeschool sick day. Newt has done a little felting with me in the past, but only flat designs. This was the first time she attempted something three-dimensional. She decided to make a little doll. I created a framework for her from pipe cleaners. Then I showed her how to cover the framework with wool and use her needle to shape and sculpt the wool into what she wanted.
All together she spent about four hours on her work. Here is her finished piece: I wish you could see the wonderful detail she has crafted into it, especially the hair. She did a really good job, and can’t wait to try something new. This is what I made: I know it’s a bit early for Nativity scenes, but I was thinking of making a few to sell. What do you think? We have a lot of activities planned for the rest of the week. I’m hoping this restful, quiet day has helped preserve some energy and that Newt will be feeling all better soon. If not, I may need to order some more wool.
We have officially begun our fourth year of homeschooling. Wow. Let’s take a moment to let that sink in… four years. When Newt first came home, I did what most new homeschoolin’ mamas do: I tried to recreate school at home. From 10:00 – 11:00 is history, followed by a 15 minute recess… We even started each day with the Pledge of Allegiance. Iff I’d had a little bell, I’d have been ringing it off the handle. If I’d had more than one kid, I’d probably have them line up for recess. I don’t think I would have worn a hairnet for lunch, but *I did have the little trays. It didn’t take long to figure out that that kind of school-day was not going to work with my family. Since then the pendulum has swung back and forth between too much structure with too little freedom to too much freedom with too little accountability. Heck, it’s still swinging. But over the years the arc has gotten smaller. This year, we are easing into a fall schedule, adding in structure where it is needed after the summer, but not trying to cram in too much at once. This is a rough sketch of what our days are like:
Me only:
6:30 – Up and at ’em
Until 8:30 – Get ready for the day and do some writing
Newt gets up when she is ready, usually between 8:30 and 9:00.
9:00ish to 10:00 – Breakfast and daily chores
10:00 – 12:00 Study Time, includes:
Morning Devotional: Scripture memorization, sometimes a song, reading and discussion from an inspirational book.
Reading a chapter (or two, or five…) from whatever book we are reading together.
At least a half an hour of personal study.
Around 12:00 Lunch
After Lunch – Projects and **Tutoring
Later – friend time or whatever else she chooses for Newt, additional study and/or writing for me.
This schedule gives us a rhythm to the day, without feeling stifling. What Newt studies is mostly up to her, with some gentle guidance from me. (I started to write more about how that works, but it got so long, I decided to save it for another post.) We loosely stick to this schedule every day we are home. There are days when Newt has another obligation, Family History Lessons with Grandma, working at the farm, Girl Scouts or a field trip. On those days, we just work our schedule around them. And then there are those days where we just decide to do something else entirely. Today was the first cool day in awhile. It felt fallish – which is both Newt’s and my favorite holiday. We packed a lunch, picked up some friends and took a little road trip to the Oregon Garden.
Mr. and Mrs. Pots and Junior
The teeniest-tiniest cutest babyist(?) newt we’ve ever seen
A Hobbit house
Tram tour of the garden
Newt holding another newt
I love the gentle rhythm of our days and the flexibility to take time for adventures. It’s shaping up to be a great year so far.
*I didn’t actually buy lunch trays. They were a gift from a friend. **I am the tutor. This is for any lessons that Newt needs particular guidance with, from math to cooking.
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Just about every day Newt and I engage in the following ritual exchange.
meets X-Men crossed with a bit of Nanny McFee, but with really cool photographs. Miss Peregrine’s is unique in that the story revolves around a series of strange antique photographs, like the one pictured on the cover:
and I have our next book all ready to go, but you’ll have to wait until next week to hear about it.
, which we have several volumes of. She has been poring over 
as she sits by the window, binoculars in had. The great thing about these little guides is that they are well, little, so they fit nicely in hand on our walks, too. I love that she is teaching me things, like the difference between a raven and a crow and what the name is of that yellow and black bird we see every once in awhile. I could use the lessons, too. The only think I know about birds is how many piggies they’ll knock over if launched just right from a giant sling shot.
off my shelf. This is what the back cover says:
and 
and 
is great for learning or brushing up on adding in your head. And then there’s 
