Homeschool Math Resources

$Homeschool Math$

Ready to help your kids learn math at home? These printables and learning resources can make math learning fun!

There are math printables, math curriculum reviews, and math activities below to help your preschool to middle school kids enjoy learning how to add, subtract, multiply, divide, and more!

Basketball Free Skip Counting Flashcards

February 8, 2017 by Selena Robinson

We are huge basketball fans. My husband played basketball in high school and all of us love to watch games whenever we get a chance.

So – for my kids who are sports lovers, but aren’t necessarily math lovers, I thought I’d make a new set of free printable flashcards – basketball free skip counting flashcards! These are a fun resource to get active kids into memorizing skip counting by 2, 5, and 10!

Read on to see how to get your pack free! And stop by and grab our free Amusement Park Addition flashcards for more fun math printables!

Basketball Free Skip Counting Flashcards

To use these flashcards, you’ll need the following: (Affiliate links provided here for convenience. For more, see our Disclosure Policy.)

Printer (with ink)
Printer paper
Scissors
Laminator (for making the cards sturdy)

In this pack, there are flashcards for counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s – up to 40. And you can use them in many ways!

Play skip counting concentration: You could play a concentration game where kids have to flip over the cards that follow one another in sequence for counting by a certain number. For example, if a child turns over the 2 card, he or she would need to turn over the 4 card to have a matching pair. Then continue in order: 6, 8, and so on.

Use them for memorizing skip counting: Laminate all the cards and punch a hole in the top left corner of each. Put them on a key ring and have the kids spend a few minutes each day memorizing skip counting sequences. Be sure to put the cards on the ring in order!

Work on fast recall skills: Or you could use them as traditional flashcards. Put the cards in sequence. Then hold up one card and ask the kids what number comes next. For example, hold up a 10 and ask what child what card comes next. The child who calls it out correctly first gets to keep the next card. Whoever has the most at the end is the winner!

Scroll on down to get your free skip counting flashcards!

Don’t miss these other math resources while you’re here!

$Sidewalk Chalk Outdoor Math Game$

$Math Activities for ADHD Students$

And see even more math learning ideas on my Math Mania Pinterest board!

To get your copy of our Basketball Free Skip Counting Flashcards, sign up for our email newsletter using the widget below! You’ll get these skip counting flashcards, plus a lot of other exclusive freebies for subscribers!

$Why CTC Math is Great for Kids with ADHD$

Why We Love Using CTC Math for ADHD Kids

August 12, 2016 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

My youngest son is a bit of a challenge when it comes to teaching math. He has ADHD, so he’s super active and his attention span is extremely short. He likes math in general, but when it’s time to do some actual work, he tends to whine, tune out, and get frustrated.

So I was excited to try out the CTC Math Membership to see if the program would be a good fit for him. Guess what? HE loves it! And I love any math program that will get him to love math. 😉 See why we love using CTC Math for ADHD kids in our family!

$CTC Math for Second Graders with ADHD$

Plus, there’s an incredible giveaway available! Five winners will get a one-year membership to CTC Math absolutely FREE! Read on to learn how to enter!

Disclosure: I received access to this program in exchange for this post and I was compensated for my time. All opinions are my own and I was not required to post a positive review.

$Why CTC Math is Great for Kids with ADHD$

How CTC Math Works

Here’s a look at how the CTC Math membership works:

$CTC Math Second Grade Lessons$

As parents, you can sign in and decide which lessons in each grade you want your child to cover. Roo is entering second grade this year, so we started him off there.

$CTC Math Writing the Numeral Video Lesson$

Each lesson has a short video that demonstrates the concept in question.

$CTC Math Writing the Numeral Exercises$

Then there are ten exercises for the child to complete.

$CTC Math Patterns in Number Charts$

One of the things I really like about this program is that the exercises follow the exact same structure as the problems shown in the video. So, there are no “tricky” questions.

$CTC Math Patterns in Number Charts Questions$

Every time your child completes a question, he or she gets a check mark or a red X showing if their answer was correct.

$CTC Math Second Grade Lesson Outline$

As they work through the lessons, they can see their grade for each concept. This is really helpful, because you can see at a glance which topics they may need more help with before test time.

And, if you look at the top, you’ll see that you can choose the length of your child’s tests. That’s a super option, because some kids don’t need a lot of questions (or don’t have the attention span to complete a lot of questions). That way you can customize the test length for each child and each lesson.

Just in time for the new school year, CTC Math is offering a huge discount – just for homeschoolers! Right now, we can get 60 PERCENT off the regular price, which means you can grab a one-year family CTC Math membership for just $118.80!

Want to test the program out before you buy? Sign up for a totally free trial!

Why I Love Using CTC Math for ADHD Kids

So, what makes CTC Math so awesome for kids who have ADHD?

$CTC Math Video Lesson$

As you can see, my boy is really into that video lesson. Know why?

$CTC Math Video Lesson Summary$

It was only a little over a minute long! While some videos are closer to three minutes, they’re all very short, which is perfect for kids with attention issues.

See the “For Your Reference” heading at the bottom? If you download the “Lesson Summary” PDF, you can see a list of what will be covered in the video, along with the answers.

$CTC Math PDF Lesson Overview$

Just like this! So you can prepare ahead of time and come up with additional problems for your child to practice that use this same concept. I also like that, because there are some concepts that I already know may be a bit confusing. This way, I’m prepared to work them through along with him.

$Using CTC Math for Second Grade$

Roo did a great job at using the computer to answer the questions. Since the questions aren’t timed, he didn’t feel any pressure to finish them before he was ready. That’s another reason why CTC Math is great for kids with ADHD. It reduces anxiety.

$CTC Math Writing the Numeral Questions$

At the top, the program keeps track of how your child is doing on the questions he or she has been answering so far. When Roo saw that he was on track to get them all right, he stopped in the middle of one of his problems and said, “I better slow down. I want to get a 100.”

I had to pick my mouth up off the floor. I don’t recall him ever saying he needed to slow down for anything ever in his life before. The scorekeeping is a great motivator.

$CTC Math Lesson with a Chalkboard$

So, since he wanted to slow down, we paused on the questions and worked out a couple of the “Writing the Numeral” problems together.

$Using a Blackboard with CTC Math$

I wrote numerals and number words on the blackboard.

$Working Out Math Problems with CTC Math$

He wrote them down as either numerals or number words on his paper. When we practiced a couple, he seemed to feel more confident and we returned to the questions.

You can take a break on the questions anytime and resume when you’re ready. (Another win for CTC Math!)

$CTC Math Writing the Numeral Exercise Results$

That break for more practice worked! He got his 100. 🙂

$Why CTC Math Works for Kids with ADHD$

And, he’s actually been asking to do this program each day since. It’s definitely a keeper!

To learn more about CTC Math, follow the company on social media!

And….drumroll….here’s your chance to enter the CTC Math giveaway! Five winners will receive a FREE 12-month membership! To enter, use the Giveaway Tools widget below!

Entry -Form

P.S. Don’t forget to stop by and check out the amazing 60% off CTC Math homechool deal – available right now! And while you’re shopping, sign up for a free trial to see if a CTC Math membership will work for your kids! SPOILER: It will. 🙂

$Why My ADHD Child Loves CTC Math$

Need more ideas for homeschooling your child with ADHD? Follow my ADHD Homeschooling Tips board for our tried-and-true suggestions!

$Sidewalk Chalk Outdoor Math Game$

Sidewalk Chalk Outdoor Math Game

April 14, 2016 by Selena Robinson 8 Comments

Now that spring is finally here and the pollen is (somewhat) subsiding, my kids have been itching to get outdoors! So it was a great time to link up with the Early Elementary Blogging Team to share some fun ideas for outdoor learning.

Math has been an issue in our family, especially since several of our children are living with ADHD. But with this easy sidewalk chalk outdoor math game, my active kids got some arithmetic practice done while moving!

If you love this hands-on math activity, be sure to see our list of math activities for kids with ADHD! There are plenty of hands-on math learning ideas there as well!

$Get the kids outside and reinforce basic arithmetic with this sidewalk chalk outdoor math game! Awesome for active learners!$

Sidewalk Chalk Outdoor Math Game

It took me about 15 minutes to set this up. But there’s a lot of bending involved, so prepare to use your back…lol.

What You’ll Need:

$Outdoor Math Game Setup$

What I did was draw a long squiggly line on our driveway and then another about two feet parallel from it. That way, I could make a game board.

Then I added horizontal lines every foot and a half or so.

$Outdoor Math Game Board Layout$

Finally, I filled each space with a simple math fact. I alternated addition and subtraction with multiplication and division.

$Outdoor Math Game Dice Roll$

The kids rolled the dice to find out how many spaces to travel.

$Playing an Outdoor Math Game with Sidewalk Chalk$

Then they walked to the correct space. (Just like a regular board game.)

$Solving Math Problems in an Outdoor Math Game$

When they got to their space, they worked on solving the math problem in the square. For my boys, multiplication and division are still pretty new concepts, so I talked them through it using how they relate to addition and subtraction. They seemed to pick up on it pretty quick that way.

$Math Practice with an Outdoor Math Board Game$

Learning to skip count is super helpful when it’s time to introduce division and multiplication. I saw proof of that in this activity.

$Playing an Outdoor Math Game to Learn Arithmetic$

And we kept on solving math problems until we reached the end!

$Simple Outdoor Math Game$

Get a look at more ways to make math fun for your kids!

$Math Activities for ADHD Students$

$Fun Math Books for Middle School$

$Ways to Make Math Fun for Active Learners$

And for more math ideas, follow my Math Mania board on Pinterest!

This post is part of the Early Elementary Blogging Team linkup! Check out some of the other fun outdoor learning ideas shared this week!

Map Skills for Kids: Backyard Treasure Hunt from Life Over C’s

Nests Nature Hunt for Kids from Still Playing School

How to Make an Outdoor Mud Kitchen from Parenting Chaos

Outside Arrays for Multiplication Practice from Line Upon Line Learning

Gardening For Math Time from Preschool Powol Packets

Second Grade Math with Rocks from Sugar Aunts

Tree Unit Study and Science Experiment from Schooling a Monkey

$Paper Snowflake 2nd Grade Math Factors Craft$

Snowflake 2nd Grade Math Factors Craft

January 21, 2016 by Selena Robinson 7 Comments

We actually had a chance of snow flurries in our forecast this week! In Georgia, that’s a huge deal. A chance of snow flurries means a state of emergency.

Turns out that we didn’t actually get any snow, which was disappointing to my kids. But we kept the snowy theme going with a fun paper snowflake craft featuring 2nd grade math factors!

Check out our winter-y math craft below!

$Paper Snowflake 2nd Grade Math Factors Craft$

Snowflake 2nd Grade Math Factors Craft

Before we could start talking about math factors, though, Pooh needed a quick primer on multiplication. So we talked about making equal groups – one of the ways we can teach multiplication.

First, we started with a simple multiplication fact – 3 groups of 3 equals 9.

$Learning 2nd Grade Math Factors$

Then we learned that you can also make nine by using 1 group of 9 dots.

$Listing 2nd Grade Math Factors$

Which means 9 has three factors: 1, 3, 9. All three can be multiplied in different combinations to make 9.

$Using Manipulatives for 2nd Grade Math Factors$

Time to make our math factor snowflakes! We used our Snowflake Math Factor Printables and a set of Unifix Cubes to help Pooh visualize how to find his multiplication factors.

As we made equal groups of 8, 4, and 2, Pooh discovered the missing math factors that make 24: 3, 6, and 12.

$Math Factors for 2nd Grade$

As we discovered the missing factors, Pooh filled in his snowflake.

$Making Snowflake 2nd Grade Math Factors$

Now to cut it out!

$Making Shapes with Snowflake Math Factors$

Roo was in the kitchen as we worked. He came upon one of the paper scraps and declared it “a great white shark’s tooth”. Alrighty then.

$Hanging Snowflake Math Factors for 2nd Grade$

We added masking tape to the back and hung our snowflakes on the window.

$Snowflake 2nd Grade Math Factors Craft$

Ta-da! We got some “snow” after all!

This was a really fun, hands-on activity that also served as a nice way to talk about multiplication without overwhelming my 2nd grader.

$2nd Grade Math Factors Snowflake Craft$

If you’d like to make this craft at home, grab a set of our free Snowflake Math Factor printables! There are combinations up to 144, so you can easily use this with 2nd to 4th graders. Plus, the answers are included!

For even more winter weather fun, pick up our All About Snowflakes unit study! It has our snowflake math factors, as well as plenty of other science, grammar, and Pre-K activities about snow!

We’re not the only ones having fun with snow this week! Check out the other snow and ice activities from the Early Elementary Blogging Team!

More Snow & Ice Learning Activities from the Early Elementary Team:

Snow Shapes with Penguin Shape Printable from Life Over C’s

Snow Prints Process Art from Still Playing School

Letter Learning & Spelling With Ice Pens from Preschool Powol Packets

Snow & Ice – Kids Arts & Crafts Activities from The Natural Homeschool

Lego Snowflake Symmetry from Rainy Day Mum

Simple Winter Science How to Catch Snowflakes from Lemon Lime Adventures

Antarctica Activity with Snow Dough from 123 Homeschool 4 Me

Snowflake 2nd Grade Math Factors from Look We’re Learning

Lego Bar Graphs for 1st Grade

January 14, 2016 by Selena Robinson 10 Comments

Roo is currently working his way through his first grade math objectives and it’s time to talk about reading and creating simple bar graphs. And what better way to learn just about any math skill than by using LEGO?

I’m joining up with the Early Elementary Blogging Team to share fun LEGO activities for kids in grades 1-3 today. In our family, we learned how to construct LEGO Bar Graphs for 1st Grade!

If you have a child who loves hands-on math, this is a simple and fun way to learn it!

Creating LEGO Bar Graphs for 1st Grade

In first grade, kids work on reading and making simple bar graphs. So, since we’d just gone to the store, I thought we’d collect data on the produce we currently had in the house.

I really wanted to use oranges, but they were a little *ahem* expensive this week, so onions it is!

First, I encouraged Roo to order all the objects he’d be representing. Apples in one row, onions in another, and bananas in a third row.

Then it was time to break out an anchor chart I’d made on graphing. Roo and I talked about how tally graphs, pictographs, and bar graphs were similar and different.

When he saw the bar graph, he said “Ohhhhh! I saw this before!” So we were starting out a little bit ahead.

I asked Roo what Duplo colors he thought we should use for each item. We didn’t have white, so blue had to do for the onions. But we wrote down each item and the number of each, so that he could easily create his graph.

So we got out the LEGO DUPLO Brick Set and got to work!

Once he saw the anchor chart, he had a good idea of what to do.

Apples at the bottom, onions in the center, and bananas on top – just like in his ordering sequence on the table.

Done!

Sigh….order is lovely, isn’t it?

Then we used the LEGO bar graph as the model to draw one on paper. Roo labeled his data and started drawing.

He took a few breaks to check his work as he drew.

All finished!

I love it when they look proud of their work!

Interestingly, I noticed as I wrote this post that Roo has on the exact same shirt for the activity this week as the one we shared last Thursday. I promise he has more than one shirt! He’s just strangely loyal to this one right now. Go figure.

For more math ideas for kids, follow my Math Mania board on Pinterest!

For more LEGO learning fun, check out the other activities from the Early Elementary Blogging Team this week!

LEGO Classification – Printable Diagrams from Life Over C’s

LEGO number line for Addition and Subtraction from In The Playroom

Hands-On Synonym Blocks Matching Game from Raising Little Superhereos

Spelling With LEGOS! from Preschool Powol Packets

LEGO Boat Engineering Challenge from Handmade Kids Art

Using LEGO to find Syllables from Rainy Day Mum

Area and Perimeter with Lego Duplos from School Time Snippets

Plural Nouns with LEGO from Still Playing School

Combinations of Ten Using Lego Figures from Lemon Lime Adventures

How to do an Lego Engineering Project for Kindergarten, First, or Second Grade from Thriving STEM

Estimating and Probability with LEGO from Planet Smarty Pants

Lego Bar Graphs for First Grade from Look We’re Learning

LEGO Irregular Verb Matching Activity for Second Grade from Sugar Aunts

Exploring Symmetry with a Lego Firefly from Crafty Kids at Home

Pick Two: A Fun LEGO Math Game from Creative Family Fun

8 Resources for Learning the Times Tables

October 30, 2015 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

Are you an educator or parent with a frustrated child who is attempting to memorize the multiplication tables? Read on!

Hundreds of kids have learned their times tables in an hour using a very fun & easy to understand animated video. The Times Tales DVD is a two-part video series that uses stories to teach multiplication to kids. The videos use cute, simple stories that provide students with a “memory peg,” allowing them to quickly recall otherwise abstract multiplication facts. As students progress through the video, they’ll learn multiplication without even knowing it! It’s that easy!

About the Times Tales DVD – What is included?

Animated video comes on a DVD
CD includes printable worksheets and flashcards

What Educents customers are saying about Times Tales:

“Fun and effective! Did in 2 weeks what other curriculum didn’t do in a year!”

“My kids did NOT want to like this when I first opened it up, but they ended up liking it a LOT! They kept trying to “figure it out” so it took a while for my 2nd and 4th grader to just relax and watch the stories. We followed the recommended pace, and in 2 weeks this DVD solidified what other methods could not do for them in a year! Even my 3 yr old shouts out the answers to some of the quiz questions! Of course she doesn’t understand what she’s learning yet, but when her time comes, learning her multiplication facts will be painless and easy 🙂 Definitely recommend this program to anyone who has stressed over drilling boring multiplication facts into their kids! You WILL Love it! :)” -ML

“I can’t even imagine how many less papers my 5th grade teacher would have had to grade if we had this in my elementary school! We did multiplication drills every single day during our 2nd semester! Using this DVD really beats that.” – Celena J.

Times Tales Animated DVD & Printable Worksheets

Times Tales teaches kids the upper times tables without rote memorization. Students can simply follow along with the entertaining story. As they progress, they’ll be guided into associating the stories they’ve learned with real math. You can always find the Times Tales DVD at a discount on Educents.com!

More Activities to Practice Multiplication:

This hands-on activity uses legos to reinforce multiplication facts. Source: SchoolTimesSnippet

Early Multiplication: Grouping with Legos by School Time Snippets – Kristina and her son practice multiplications using Legos!

Multiplication Rap DVD – Kids discover what multiplication is all about, learn facts through 12, and practice skip counting.

Multiplication Clever Catch Ball – This colorful ball is an interactive way for kids to practice multiplication facts outside or during an organized classroom activity.

Visual way to teach multiplication to your student. Source: Lemon Lime Adventures

Patterned Multiplication Circles by Lemon Lime Adventures – Dayna and her 7-year old use this visual way to learn multiplication. This math craftivity is fun for all ages!

Musical Math with Sue Dickson’s Songs that Teach – This program makes memorizing the facts easy, sure, and fun with catchy songs that allow students to master the facts in no time!

30 Multiplication Facts Printable Worksheets – This low-cost packet includes 30 printable worksheets, 143 flash cards, six vocabulary word cards, and a multiplication chart.

A+ Math Multiplication Unit – Build a strong foundation in math with A+ Interactive Math’s multiplication unit.

3 Ways to Make Math Fun for Active Learners

October 22, 2015 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

Do your kids move and wiggle and jump around during school lessons? Mine too! Naturally, that’s par for the course when you’re raising kids with ADHD.

But there are lots of kids who don’t have ADHD and are still active learners. Here’s the problem: Teaching math generally requires concentration and wiggly kids tend to have a short attention span, which can make math class the most grueling part of the day.

In our family, we try to keep math lessons fun, interactive, and hands-on, so today I’m sharing some of our secrets. Check out 3 ways to make math fun for active learners using some wonderful homeschooling resources from Rainbowresource.com!

Disclosure: I received the products shown in this post for free and I was compensated for my time. All opinions are my own and I was not required to post a positive review.

$Ways to Make Math Fun for Active Learners$

Image: c/o pressmaster via Deposit Photos

Why Use Ways to Make Math Fun?

Math has been the bane of childhood for centuries. There are some kids who take to it right away and master it quickly. Then there are others (mine included) who just don’t seem to “get it”. I understand. After all, I was a humanities major and math was not my favorite subject either.

If you remember your math classes in public school, you likely recall sitting at a desk trying to complete a worksheet full of arithmetic problems or trying to take notes as your teacher wrote equations (at lightning speed!) on the chalkboard. That’s not going to work if you’re homeschooling an active learner. In our house, my kids are out of their seats before I finish demonstrating one problem.

The fascinating thing about ADHD is that kids who have it are actually capable of paying attention for extended periods of time if they are interested in the material. Catch their interest and you can get them to stay involved in the lesson. That’s why it’s worth our effort as parents to make math fun.

3 Ways to Make Math Fun for Active Learners

1. Use Math Games

Math games are a wonderful way to make math into an interesting activity for kids. We got to try a Wooden Domino set from Rainbowresource.com. (Confession: I had never played dominoes before, so I had to do a little studying on my own.)

Learning to play dominoes is actually a great way to practice counting, number recognition, and doubles.

After I explained the basic rules of the game to the kids, we started playing!

They quickly matched the correct number of dots to the existing dominoes on the board.

Then they isolated the doubles by turning them vertically against the other dominoes. For Roo, that was his first introduction to the concept of doubles. Something that would have taken a handful of worksheets otherwise was learned in 20 minutes of play. 🙂

Word problems are one of the math concepts that give kids the most trouble, especially in early grades. So I was excited to use Rainbowresource.com’s Under the Sea Shells Word Problem Activity Set with my boys.

Inside the box are word problem cards, seashells, and stars and crabs for counting.

Kids read the problem, choose the correct color and number of manipulatives, and solve the problem.

Since there are “easy” problems and “advanced” problems, both of my boys could work on problem-solving at their specific grade level.

For Pooh, seeing the items in action made a HUGE difference. He was finally able to understand what we’re doing when we solve a word problem. We’re simply using numbers to represent what actually happened. Lightbulb moment! And since we were “just” playing, he learned it without the pressure of feeling like he had to meet a certain standard.

The boys loved playing dominoes and using the seashell game, but I was super excited about playing Equate: the Equation Thinking Game.

Do you love Scrabble? This is basically Scrabble with equations. So it’s a really cool way for kids to learn to form equations and to find ways to build on them.

Players start by forming an equation on the board.

Then they build on the existing equation by using pieces of it to make other equations.

See? What I loved most about Equate is that, since you can remove certain operations from play, all three of my kids could play the game together, even though they’re at different grade levels. To make the game accessible for my younger boys, I removed the multiplication, division, and fraction operations. But I’m saving those for a private game with Tigger later. 🙂

What really made this awesome is that Pooh, who is math-averse, actually asked to play this game the next day! That’s the power of using math games!

2. Use Visual Math

Another great way to make math fun is to make it into a visual activity. When kids can “see” what they’re actually doing by solving a math problem, they can understand the concept a lot better.

To help with our ability to visualize math, we got to try two products from Rainbowresource.com: the book Hands-On! Math Projects and the Fraction Tower Cube Equivalency Set.

In the book Hands-On! Math Projects, kids can build structures, draw pictures, and play games that are all designed to reinforce math concepts. We started with the Value Your Digits! activity – a way to examine place value.

According to the instructions, kids are to draw out a grid of squares that represent the number values in certain digits. For example, with the number 31, they would draw a grid that had 30 squares in it and then draw a “3” inside the grid. Then they would outline a single square in which they would write a “1”.

The idea is to actually see the value of each place – that, in the number 31, “3” actually means 30 and the “1” means simply 1.

Tigger tried it with a three-digit number: 136. And that was the first time the boys really understood why the “1” is in the hundreds place!

Then we wanted to work with fractions a bit, so we built a “fraction wall” – another of the activities in Hands-On! Math Projects. Time to use our Fraction Cube Equivalency Set!

As you can see, the set includes fractions made into cubes in varying amounts. There’s a tower of 1/10 fractions, a tower of 1/6 fractions, 1/3 fractions, and so on.

To build our fraction wall, we started with the “1” tower, which is a solid rectangle representing 1 whole. Then we started building our wall by adding enough of each fraction set to equal 1.

$Ways to Make Math Fun for Active Learners - Look! We're Learning!$

As the kids learned, fractions are merely pieces of a whole. The actual fraction you use simply describes how much of the whole you’re talking about. So they all mean the same amount if you use the right number of pieces.

10/10 is equal to 6/6, which is equal to 3/3, which is equal to 1. Everyone understood that afterward and I was a happy homeschooling mama.

Ta-da! All finished! The kids learned equivalent fractions without a single worksheet! Plus, they actually learned the concept behind making equivalent fractions on paper, because they could see what they were creating.

3. Use Your Child’s Existing Interests

Really, the simplest way to make math fun for your active learner is to tie it in with something he or she is already interested in. For Tigger, that something is reading.

She, like her mom, is an avid bookworm. And that’s exactly the kind of person that the Life of Fred book series was written for. Since we’re covering both fractions and decimals in fifth grade this year, we were excited to try Life of Fred: Fractions and Life of Fred: Decimals from Rainbowresource.com!

In Life of Fred, kids follow the daily life of five-year-old Fred, a math professor (yes, you read that right) at Kittens University. In the Decimals book, Fred wants to build a robot, but he needs to weigh all of the parts together.

The spring weighs 0.007g, the gear weighs 0.09, and the motor weighs 13.3029 g. As the book so wonderfully (and nonchalantly) mentions, the key to mastering decimals is lining up the decimal points.

After Tigger read the section, she wrote down her problem and solved it correctly on the first try – all because she was actually interested in the story! She really wanted to know if Fred would be able to build his robot or not. Solving the math problem was just a step to finding that out.

Later we went on to fractions and we discussed Fred’s statement that you can reduce fractions by simply dividing the same number of objects into fewer groups.

In the book are practice problems to help kids see this in action. Tigger was asked to divide six pencils among two people, which works out to three per person. As she could see, three out of six (3/6) is the same as half (1/2) of the pencils.

Then the problem asked her to divide the same six pencils among three people. Working that out showed her that 2/6 is the same as 1/3 of the pencils.

Now that she had a grasp on the concept behind reducing fractions, I had her try a traditional math problem: reducing 7/21 by using the greatest common factor (GCF).

Success! That’s one math concept we can check off for this school year! And she understood the traditional problem because she had already gained an understanding by reading the story! She’s been asking to finish the books ever since. 🙂

As you can see, we loved every single product we reviewed from Rainbowresource.com! They were wonderful for helping our kids to love math class without having to force them to be still – something that would have made us all miserable.

To learn more about Rainbowresource.com‘s enormous product catalog, including even more products for families with active learners, keep up with the company using the social media links below!

Do you have any ways to make math for active learners? Share your tips in the comments!

$Work on using arrays to add numbers up to five with these printable apple themed addition array practice printables! These are great for math practice in early grades!$

Apple Array Practice for Second Grade

August 13, 2015 by Selena Robinson 9 Comments

One of Pooh’s objectives this year is to learn to work with arrays. When I was in school, we weren’t using arrays. We were memorizing addition and multiplication facts back then.

Now, though, arrays are an important (and helpful) way to understand adding and multiplying. So I put together a math product: Apple Arrays! – A fun, apple-themed way to have array practice for second grade!

By the way, be sure to check out our Apple Orchard Playdough Counting Mat for your toddlers and preschoolers! Or work on counting all the way to ten with our Apple Tree 1-10 Counting Mats!

$Work on using arrays to add numbers up to five with these printable apple themed addition array practice printables! These are great for math practice in early grades!$

Apple Array Practice for Second Grade

To use these printables, you’ll need the following: (Affiliate links are included in this post. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

This product includes 16 worksheets that include both addition and multiplication for numbers 1-5.

If your students are still working on addition fluency, the first ten worksheets are all about adding numbers 1-5.

A full answer key is provided, so the kids can check their work.

This is a great activity for practicing addition facts. But if your students ready for a quick introduction to multiplication, the last six worksheets are perfect for showing them the relationship between adding and the times tables!

$Apple Math Array Practice for Kids$

How to Use Apple Array Practice for Second Grade

I have to admit that when Pooh saw that there were multiplication problems on the sheet, his reaction was “TIMES TABLES????” It was a dramatic moment, for sure.

But I used the first few pages to introduce him to using arrays with addition. And then we talked about how that’s the same as multiplication.

This product focuses just on working with 5’s from 5+0 to 5+5+5, so you can use it to introduce times tables from 5×1 to 5×5.

The first set of pages contains apple arrays and written addition and multiplication problems. Pooh and I looked at each row and column in the arrays to understand why we write those particular addition and multiplication equations to represent them.

Count out the number of apples in each row to find your first addend. Then count the number of rows to find the second. Simple!

After he went through and solved the first set of problems, we used the second set of pages. These pages have the apple arrays and addition/multiplication problems, but kids have to read the array correctly to fill in the addends/multiplicand/multiplier.

Which he did on his own! He was so excited to grasp how to read arrays and relate them to multiplying that as soon as Jay came in the door, he said “Dad! I learned how to do times today!” Another one of those homeschooling gifts I’m thrilled to share with them this year.

Scroll down to get your copy of our Apple Array Practice for Second Grade!

Check out our other fall learning resources!

If you need more suggestions for teaching multiplication, try these tips!

And don’t forget to follow my Math Mania Pinterest board for more math teaching tips!

To get your copy of Apple Array Practice for Second Grade, grab our 2nd Grade Learning Bundle! This bundle includes four learning printables designed to get your early elementary student off to a great year!

>>> 2nd Grade Learning Bundle <<<

Come along with the entire 2nd Grade Blogging Team for all of our Apple activities this week!

How to use an apple to explain basic fractions from Crafty Kids at Home

Apples Graphing Activity from Sallie Borrink Learning

Free Number Order Printable Apples from Life Over C’s

Preserve an apple from getting brown from Planet Smarty Pants

Apple Descriptions {adjectives} from School Time Snippets

Nouns and Verbs – Apple Theme from 123 Homeschool 4 Me

Black and White Apple Prints: A Lesson in Contrast from Creative Family Fun

Apple Toothpick Tower Challenge from Preschool Powol Packets

Free Printable Flashcards Telling Time to the Hour

July 15, 2015 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

It can seem kind of strange to teach kids to tell time using an analog clock these days. Most of us are used to just picking up our phones to find the time and they almost always use a digital format.

Still, learning to tell time on both analog and digital clocks is a valuable skill for young ones. For one thing, learning to tell time to the hour can help to reinforce counting and early addition skills. Also, it helps children become aware of elapsed time – the idea that time moves forward and needs to be regulated. (This is particularly helpful if you’re trying to get your little ones to learn to wait….lol.)

So these free printable flashcards Telling Time to the Hour can be a helpful way to help kids practice time telling skills!

If you love these, stop by and check out our other math flashcards, including our Polygon Flashcards and our Fraction Flashcards! And be sure to take a look at all of our free printable flashcards – there are plenty there for preschool and elementary grades!

Free Printable Flashcards Telling Time to the Hour

To use these cards, you’ll need the following: (Affiliate links are provided here for convenience. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

In this set of Telling Time flashcards, you’ll find cards for every time to the hour (12:00, 1:00, 2:00, and so on). Each card shows the time written digitally underneath the clock.

The pack also includes a set of cards with the digital time removed, so that kids can test their knowledge of analog time!

Make it into a matching game or just use the cards as a lightning-round style game where kids try to guess as many as they can in a few minutes!

Scroll down to get your copy of our Free Printable Flashcards Telling Time to the Hour!

Books about Telling Time to the Hour:

Make learning about telling time into a story with these fun kids’ books about telling time!

Don’t miss some of our other math learning printables!

Plus, get more tips for making math fun for kids on my Math Mania! Pinterest board!

To get your copy of our Free Printable Flashcards Telling Time to the Hour, visit our Store!

>>> Free Printable Flashcards: Telling Time to the Hour <<<

P.S. You can score more exclusive learning printables when you subscribe to our email newsletter! Just use the widget below to sign up. 🙂

$Teaching Math with Math Mini Office Lapbooks$

Teaching Math with Math Mini Office Lapbooks

July 10, 2015 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

We have a small problem in our homeschool. Tigger doesn’t like math. And I’ve been so frustrated with her about it, because when she puts forth the effort, she does a good job. She just doesn’t like it enough to try.

I talked about one of the hallmarks of ADHD in our review of Math Bafflers – lack of desire to sustain mental effort on a challenging topic. That symptom always rears its head when it’s time to learn math.

So – I was glad to get a chance to review the Math Mini Office Lapbook from Knowledge Box Central! And the great thing is: Not only did it work wonders for Tigger’s attention span, it was also good for all three of my oldest kids!

Here’s how I used the Math Mini Office Lapbook to teach math to multiple ages. 🙂

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this resource in exchange for this post. All opinions are my own and I was not required to post a positive review.

$Teaching Math with Math Mini Office Lapbooks$

Teaching Math with Math Mini Office Lapbooks

Knowledge Box Central is a homeschool provider that specializes in fun and engaging lapbooks. In fact, I’ll be sharing a couple more of their resources in upcoming weeks. 🙂

But when I saw that the Math Mini Office Lapbook was an option, I jumped on it!

I will say that putting the lapbook together took a little time on my part. But, Knowledge Box Central includes extremely detailed instructions with pictures to help you know what to put where. There are even suggestions as to which pages to print on what color paper!

$Teaching Math with Math Mini Office Lapbooks$

I love how you can assemble the lapbook and then stand it up to work as a mini-office. Tigger loved that idea! She wanted to sit behind it and do “real work”.

$Teaching Math with Math Mini Office Lapbooks$

So we handed out scratch paper and got to work! Here’s a closer look at what’s inside the lapbook.

$Teaching Math with Math Mini Office Lapbooks$

As you can see, this math mini-office is basically a stand-up reference chart. There is a number line, a math symbol chart, a 100 chart, an addition chart, and a subtraction chart. There’s also a telling time activity that helps kids practice representing analog time and calculating time forward and back.

$Teaching Math with Math Mini Office Lapbooks$

On the other side, there is a multiplication table, multiplication chart, fraction equivalent chart, division chart, and a place value practice activity. If you use the hand trick for learning 9 time tables, there’s a handy reference for that and for recognizing patterns in the 9’s tables.

$Teaching Math with Math Mini Office Lapbooks$

For Tigger, I wanted to focus on fraction equivalents first. Fractions were one of the last math concepts she reviewed during the school year.

$Teaching Math with Math Mini Office Lapbooks$

We talked about the relationship between multiplying and dividing in order to increase or reduce fractions. As we learned, we multiply to increase a fraction and we divide to reduce a fraction – just like with any other number.

The fraction equivalent chart shows that you can increase any fraction by multiplying the numerator and denominator by the same number.

Seeing it represented that way was very helpful to Tigger. Plus, we were able to test it out with any fraction on the chart!

$Teaching Math with Math Mini Office Lapbooks$

Here’s where the Math Mini Office Lapbook really became helpful to our family. The resource is listed as appropriate for Grades 3-5. But some of the concepts are also good for younger learners!

The lapbook instructions recommend laminating it before you use it, and for good reason. That way, your kids can use the Telling Time, Place Value, and Number Line activities again and again!

I decided to focus on the number line with Roo.

$Teaching Math with Math Mini Office Lapbooks$

We practiced a few addition and subtraction problems with the number line. When we drew the line on the board, Roo would copy down our actions using a dry-erase marker in the lapbook. He loved it!

$Teaching Math with Math Mini Office Lapbooks$

Pooh worked on telling time. Since we usually have digital clocks around the house, telling analog time is a skill my kids really have to work on. But once he remembered how to count minutes (by 5’s), he did fine!

And when we were done, we just erased our marks to get the lapbook ready for next time!

$Teaching Math with Math Mini Office Lapbooks$

It even folds back up for easy storage when you’re done!

We loved using the Math Mini-Office Lapbook from Knowledge Box Central! I’ll be using it with all three of our kids during the upcoming school year. 🙂

To get one for yourself, check out Knowledge Box Central’s huge list of lapbook offerings!

Easy Science and Math Ideas with Family Fun Friday!

July 2, 2015 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

Are you trying to keep your kids interested in learning over summer break? Last week’s edition of Family Fun Friday featured some easy science and math ideas for kids that I wanted to spotlight today!

Don’t forget to scroll on down and read this week’s newest parenting, homeschooling, and cooking posts!

$Easy Science and Math Ideas$


Monica created Family Fun Friday and blogs at HappyandBlessedHome.com where she shares free preschool tools and printables, encouraging words for moms, and ideas for having fun together as a family. Follow: Blog / Facebook / Pinterest / Twitter /Google + / Bloglovin’/ Instagram. Monica will feature Family Fun Posts.

Selena is a homeschooling graduate and a veteran homeschooling mom to four super special kids. She blogs at Look! We’re Learning! about unit studies, foreign language, and homeschooling with ADHD. Follow: Blog / Facebook / Pinterest / Instagram / Twitter. Selena will be featuring homeschooling and kids’ crafts.


Herchel enjoys blogging about parenting, organizing, crafting, and having good old-fashioned kid fun her blog Scrggbug Corner. Follow: Blog / Facebook / Pinterest / Twitter /Google +. Herchel will feature organizing and family fun.

Here are my favorite posts for this week!

$Easy Science and Math Ideas$

1. If your kids like simple science experiments, they’ll love this one from Planet Smarty: A 5-minute Molecule Attraction Experiment!

2. Research Parent shares a free printable you can use to explore the Relative Sizes of Planets in our solar system!

3. Kim from Life Over C’s shares how you can Use Beads as Math Manipulatives – perfect for little hands!

4. Shark Week is coming up! Brain Power Boy shares a roundup of fun Shark Activities to do with your kids!

5. Grab a set of free Animal Number Puzzles for Kids from Totschooling!

6. And for another early math printable, stop by Life Over C’s to get your Printable Bird Counting Play Dough Mats!

Were you featured? Grab the Family Fun Friday button below!

Stop by to see what my co-hosts are spotlighting this week!

Bloggers are invited to share their best family-friendly and mom-inspiring posts in the link-up below.

Link guidelines:

Link your post.
Link back to the link party.
Follow your host(s).
Spread the word. Share and pin your favorites.
Mingle! Bloggers love comments.
Grab a button.
If you link up, you permit the hosts of Family Fun Friday to use your pictures/ideas as part of future posts and/or social media.

Family Fun Friday is a growing link-up with over 200 bloggers sharing their posts each week. Each host shares her favorites from the week before, increasing your chances of being featured. Co-hosts will also be pinning their favorites to a community Family Fun Pinterest Board. This link party opens up at around 4 pm EST on Thursdays.

Please be aware that by linking in Family Fun Friday you give our hosts permission to use your images to create a collage for our features. We may also use the collage to promote Family Fun Friday through our individual social media accounts.

How I Teach Math to My Kids with ADHD

January 14, 2014 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

This post contains affiliate links. See our Disclosure Policy here.

Hi everyone! We’re on to Day 2 of our Winter Hopscotch and we’re continuing with our theme of ADHD learning with a look at how we teach math in an ADHD-friendly way. Like with all of our subjects, we find that short lessons, movement, and multi-sensory learning are critical to helping our kids follow along and retain what they hear. Here are a few of the methods we use for teaching math in our homeschool.

Anchor Charts

I’ve previously shared a post about my love for anchor charts, but they deserve another shoutout here. I’m a bit of a type A personality, so making detailed charts and graphs is right up my alley…lol. But we find them to be great for the kids, since they make it easy for them to visualize abstract concepts, especially those involving math. We used the above anchor chart to introduce Tigger to multiplication last year and it was much easier for her to grasp when she could see it represented visually.

Math Curriculum

We don’t use packaged curriculum often, but math is a subject where we definitely find it best to follow a structured program. Tigger struggles with confidence in math and she tends to rush through concepts without taking her time to work through the steps or check her work thoroughly. Working with her on computer math software seems to help her become more involved in the process, so that she’s less likely to rush through it to get to something she’d rather be doing.

This year, we’ve been using A+ TutorSoft Math – both the printed version and the software – and we like the program a lot. It’s a very simple, uncluttered way to present facts without overwhelming her with too much information at once. The individual lessons are short, which keeps her from getting too intimidated to begin.

If you’d like to get a look at A+ TutorSoft Math programs for kids, you can visit the website by clicking the image above. You can even get a month-long trial of the online math program for homeschoolers absolutely free! If you decide to subscribe, be sure to use the coupon code LOOKWERE to save 20 percent! You can also pick up downloadable copies of A+ TutorSoft Math curriculum on Currclick.com!

A while back, we got a chance to try out K5 Learning, a supplemental online math and language program for kids. Tigger thoroughly enjoyed that program as well. It organized the math lessons into themed adventures that did such a good job of keeping her interested she forgot she was even doing schoolwork. 🙂

You can grab a free 14-day trial of K5 Learning by clicking the link above!

Math Storybooks

As I mentioned yesterday, we love to read in our family! We keep that thread going with books and stories that involve mathematics as well. Arithmetic Village offers a very nice set of downloadable math storybooks that is absolutely free! We reviewed them a while back and our kids just loved reading the stories and learning how to multiply and divide! Even Roo, our four-year-old ended up doing a division problem on the board after reading the stories. 🙂

Math Manipulatives

We also make use of math manipulatives with our children. Counting bears, Unifix cubes, and snap cubes are all useful for giving active kids a way to “see” the math problem and involve their sense of touch during the lesson. All of our kids, even Tigger, prefer to use manipulatives as they work on problems.

Unifix Cubes (100 count)

Baby Bear Counters (102 ct.)

We also put together a short video a while back about how we specifically focus on third grade math for Tigger, which you’re more than welcome to view below!

And that’s how we teach math in our homeschool! We’ll be covering science tomorrow, so feel free to come back and see how we approach science with our active learners!

This post is part of the 2014 Winter Hopscotch hosted by iHomeschool Network! Be sure to stop by and visit our fellow bloggers to learn how they teach math in their families!

How I Teach Third Grade Math to My Child with ADHD

October 9, 2013 by Selena Robinson 5 Comments

This post contains affiliate links. See our Disclosure Policy here.

Hi everyone! This morning we’re sharing our method for teaching math to our third grader with ADHD.

It’s no secret that getting active kids to settle down for school is a challenge. The wonderful thing about homeschooling is that we have the flexibility to adapt our lessons to our kids, rather than having to change our kids to fit the lessons.Keep Reading…

Our Math Program for 2013-14: A+ TutorSoft

July 31, 2013 by Selena Robinson 8 Comments

Update: Our A+ TutorSoft Math giveaway winner is Sara Marti! Congratulations, Sara!

Good morning! Today I’m very excited to be hosting our first-ever giveaway on Look! We’re Learning! But more on that in a bit.

It’s back to school planning time and we’ve decided to go with A+ TutorSoft as our math program this year. As I mentioned last week, Tigger needs more help with her math this year, especially since she has so much trouble concentrating on her work. I’m a traditional learning type, so I kept insisting on workbooks and quizzes and we’ll use those as part of our program this year. But she responds much better to bright and engaging visuals, so it was time to pick up a computer program for math.

We stopped by the A+ TutorSoft booth at the Southeast Homeschool Expo last weekend and bought the complete 3rd grade curriculum on CD.

Since the expo was running, we got the program for nearly 40 percent off the regular price, which was a welcome relief for our checkbook. I also bought the PDF version of the 3rd grade curriculum and 3rd grade workbook from Currclick, so I could print off the worksheets and refer to the written lesson whenever I needed.

Here’s what I like about A+ TutorSoft:

The program is simple enough for kids to use on their own, so I can work with Tigger through a lesson plan and then let her complete the exercises herself.
The lessons are interactive, which reduces the likelihood that she’ll get bored.
The program allows me to skip lessons, so she doesn’t have to sit through concepts she’s already mastered.

I’ll be posting about our progress going forward with the program this year. While we’ll be using the CD software and workbooks, A+ TutorSoft also offers an online monthly subscription program for homeschoolers. The online program is a good option for parents who aren’t sure if they’ll like the curriculum and prefer to try it on a month-by-month basis. If you’d like to purchase either the online subscription or the software for yourself, you can use coupon code LOOKWERE to save 20 percent off the current website sale price!

Even better, A+ TutorSoft has agreed to offer a giveaway for a three-month subscription to its online program for grades 1-4 (a $30 value)! Full details are posted below and the giveaway will be open for seven days! You can come back and enter once per day and earn additional entries through social media.

If you’d like to have even more chances to win great prizes from A+ TutorSoft, stop by their “Back to Homeschool” Facebook party on August 16 at 8 pm Eastern!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Ways to Teach Multiplication

December 24, 2012 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

I have a confession to make: I’ve been secretly terrified of teaching Tigger to multiply. She has a small aversion to math (even though she’s good at it) and that makes introducing new math concepts a bit of a challenge. I also wasn’t thrilled with the way that I was taught to multiply, which was to simply memorize my times tables until I could recite them on demand.

In keeping with the Charlotte Mason philosophy, I wanted to teach math from a practical point of view. That means explaining both “what” and “why”, so that Tigger understands how math works logically. So, when I finally decided to start discussing multiplication with her, I came prepared.

Here are some of the ways to teach multiplication we used to help her grasp the concept!

Ways to Teach Multiplication

To start with, I reached into the depths of our curriculum closet and retrieved a multiplication/division chart. (You can get a very similar one like it on Amazon.)

We talked about what the chart showed and how the numbers are all related to each other. BUT we did not drill her with multiplication facts, especially at first.

I copied a very detailed anchor chart that I saw on Pinterest that demonstrated several ways to multiply. I like the fact that kids are able to learn so many different ways to multiply now, rather than having to force themselves to learn in one way.

If you want to make a chart like this yourself, you’ll need the following:

The chart showed three ways to teach multiplication:

1. Repeated Addition: Show children to add the same number again and again until they reach the answer. (Example: 3 x 2 = 2+2+2)

2. Circles and Dots: Draw a circle for each time the number is multiplied and fill each one with the number of dots that corresponds with the number being multiplied. (Example: 3 x 2 = Three circles with two dots in each one)

3. Arrays: Make rows of shapes that correspond to the problem. (Example: 3 x 2 = Three rows of two dots each)

Of the three techniques, Tigger took to the circles and dots method.

Coming up to the board to work on the problems herself also seemed to help her stay focused, especially when her little brothers were also working at the table.

(Pay no attention to the laundry basket on her right.)

The good news is that she learned her times tables through eight in one week by using the circles and dots method! We’ll be using both repeated addition and arrays in upcoming weeks to help her see the other ways to teach multiplication.

But – no matter how well school is going – we try to stick with the short lessons advocated by Charlotte Mason. Which means that after a while it’s time to drop everything….

and dance!

(Pay no attention to the stroller standing behind the front door.)

Check out these other math learning ideas!

$Math Activities for ADHD Students$

And if you need more math teaching tips, follow my Math Mania board on Pinterest!