With the Super Bowl fast approaching, I've been thinking a lot about roman numerals. Yes, of course I'm also thinking about football, but as a math geek and homeschool mom, it made me wonder-"Should I bother teaching my kids roman numerals?" Is this something kids need to know? And if it's not something that they need to know in everyday life, is there any benefit to teaching them? Well I've come to the conclusion that kids should learn roman Keep Reading...
Making Math Relevant: Learning Math Through Jewelry Making
If you can engage students in the math that they're learning, they are more likely to learn it and retain it. Finding a way to actually engage them, however, can sometimes prove difficult, especially if they already have a distaste for math or have decided they are not a "math person." There are many ways to try and engage reluctant math learners, but one way that is effective as well as practical is to make math relevant. Use the topics, hobbies Keep Reading...
Top Math Resources of 2015!
In case you were unaware, I launched this site in March of 2015. I've had so much fun, learned so much and made some amazing friends over the course of the last ten months! As I looked back on the year and thought about what I want to create and share in 2016, I decided to see what the most popular articles and math resources have been so far. Discovering my top math resources of 2015 has helped me come up with a plan for even more and Keep Reading...
How to Find a Math Tutor for Your Child
Although we as parents are to be our child's first and most important teacher, there may come a point in their learning where you feel like a personal, one-on-one math tutor is needed. This may be because your personalities clash, they respond better to someone other than mom and dad, or because you feel like the math they're learning is beyond your knowledge and ability. Whatever the reason, before you spend your hard earned money on a tutor, do Keep Reading...
Exploring Surface Area of Pyramids and Cones!
As promised, I have another surface area lesson to share today! This builds on students' previous knowledge from the prisms and cylinders lesson to get them thinking about other three dimensional shapes: pyramids and cones. This FREE surface area of pyramids and cones investigation is a sure way to get kids thinking and better understanding area. It is also a fun, hands-on way to help them form a conceptual understanding, rather than trying to Keep Reading...
Simple Trick to End the Frustration With Subtraction Regrouping
One math concept that often stumps students is subtracting with borrowing (or regrouping-whatever you'd like to call it). There are lots of concrete and hands-on ways to teach this concept so that it makes sense to kids, rather than expecting them to memorize a procedure. In the past, I have used base ten blocks or dimes and pennies as a model, which worked well, and I highly recommend teaching this in a conceptual way when introducing it to Keep Reading...
Making Absolute Value Clear (With FREE Printables!)
One of the math concepts that I have seen students struggle with the most, and yet seems so simple at first glance, is absolute value. It often seems that the only thing students ever "get" from an absolute value lesson is this: absolute value = make it positive. That is NOT, however, the definition of absolute value, and therefore, becomes the cause of much confusion as students try to apply and use absolute value in more complicated problems. Keep Reading...
Increase “Math Talk” with Your Kids {It’s Not as Scary as it Sounds!}
If you have children, you likely spent much of their early years talking to them and reading to them. Encouraging language development comes so naturally to the new mom. We repeat words, point out words and pictures, try to get our kids to repeat words, etc. I (and possibly many of you) even taught my kids some basic sign language so that they could communicate before they were able to verbalize their needs. We seem to know, without question, Keep Reading...
Solving Problems Using Guess and Check
Welcome to the last week in my series on problem solving strategies! There are so many different ways to approach math word problems, but it’s important that we share these various methods with kids so that they can be equipped to tackle them! This week I’m explaining a strategy that doesn’t sound overly mathematical, but can be extremely useful when done properly: solving problems using guess and check! As with the other strategies I’ve Keep Reading...
Problem Solving by Finding a Pattern
One important math concept that children begin to learn and apply in elementary school is reading and using a table. This is essential knowledge, because we encounter tables of data all the time in our everyday lives! But it’s not just important that kids can read and answer questions based on information in a table, it’s also important that they know how to create their own table and then use it to solve problems, find patterns, graph equations, Keep Reading...
