Homeschool Math Archives

Fun Math Books for Middle School

April 27, 2020 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

I have a rising sixth grader who HATES math. I mean, she hates it.

If there was a way to study only literature for the remaining seven grades, she’d be in heaven.

But once numbers show up on a paper, her love for reading goes out the window.

I wasn’t encouraged to pursue a mathematics-based career and I’m a literature lover, so I understand her feelings completely.

But I don’t want her to allow a discomfort with mathematics to limit her career choices, so we’ve got to find a way to make math fun!

Thankfully, there are a lot more resources for making math interesting these days than there were when I was a kid and I’ve gathered up a few today!

Check out this list of educational and fun math books for middle school to find some resources your kids might like!

For more fun with math, don’t miss our list of hands-on math activities to try!

Fun Math Books for Middle School

These books are not the only cool math books for tweens around, but they are some of the best. Especially if you have students who love to work with their hands.

If you like any of these, leave a comment and let me know which one!

(This post contains affiliate links. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

1.Math Dictionary for Kids: The Essential Guide to Math Terms, Strategies, and Tables (Grades 4-9)

2.Math Doesn’t Suck: How to Survive Middle School Math Without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail

3.100 Math Brainteasers (Grades 7-10)

4.40 Fabulous Math Mysteries Kids Can’t Resist (Grades 4-8)

5.Janice Van Cleave’s Math for Every Kid: Easy Activities That Make Learning Math Fun

6.One Minute Mysteries: 65 Short Mysteries You Solve with Math

7.Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi: A Math Adventure (Grades 2-7)

8.Math Puzzles and Games for Grades 6-8

9.Funny & Fabulous Fraction Stories: 30 Reproducible Math Tales and Problems (Grades 3-6)

10.Math Projects: 50 Hands-On Projects (Grades 5-8)

11.Everything You Need to Ace Math in One Big Fat Notebook (Grades 6-8)

12.Real World Math (Grades 5-8)

Does your middle schooler have a math book that he or she loves? Please share your recommendations in the comments!

Need more math learning resources? Check out these posts!

25 Fun Money Activities for Second Grade

March 21, 2019 by Selena Robinson 5 Comments

Money is one of those math topics that kids generally love to learn about. They all want money, so they usually don’t mind learning how to count it. At least mine didn’t.

Since Pooh is in second grade, learning to work with money is one of our main objectives for math this school year. So I’ve started using several money activities for second grade to help him grasp this concept as easily as possible.

Plus, I’m sharing a new printable today that can help your kids learn to work with money too!

Take a look at the 25 different money activities for kids below to find some super cool ways to get your kids counting change and dollars!

Psssttt…don’t forget to read all the way to the end to grab a new free resource for learning to count money with your students!

And for more fun with math, don’t miss our DIY Geometry Dice for a quick hands-on geometry activity!

25 Fun Money Activities for Second Grade

This post contains affiliate links. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.

1. Dollars and Cents Concentration Game – Look! We’re Learning!

2. International Currency Collecting – Rainy Day Mum

3. Teaching Coin Recognition – Mosswood Connections

4. Apple Counting Money Game – You’ve Got This Math

5. Coin Scavenger Hunt – School Time Snippets

6. Money Smarts Math Game – Left Brain Craft Brain

7. Discovering Money Lapbook – Homeschool Share

8. How Much are Words Worth Game – Homeschooling My Kinetic Kids

9. Caterpillar Money Counting Printable – J Daniel 4’s Mom

10. Money Recognition Busy Bag – 3 Princess and 1 Dude

11. Printable Board Game Savings Worksheet – Artsy Fartsy Mama

12. Piggy Bank Coin Counting Clip Cards – The Art Kit Blog

13. Printable Safari Spelling Game – In Our Pond

14. Printable Coin Sorting Match Activity – Fantastic Fun and Learning

15. Making Change Task Cards – You’ve Got This Math

16. Money Battleship Game – School Time Snippets

17. The Money Game – Teach Beside Me

18. Build an Ice Cream Sundae Money Math Practice – Science Kiddo

19. DIY Spend, Save, Give Jars – Mess for Less

20. DIY Money Box for Kids – Craftulate

21. Chemical Reactions with Pennies from Creative Family Fun

22. Free Money Fractions and Probability Activity from Life Over C’s

23. Money Math Problems for 1st-3rd Grade from Planet Smarty Pants

24. Skip counting nickels and dimes from Sugar Aunts

25. Set up a simple store with your kids! (Directions below!)

Fun Money Activities for Second Grade – Set Up a Store!

What money lesson is complete without a game of “Store”? Usually kids learn about the concept of money when we go shopping.

They ask us for toys and we say “No, we don’t have money for that.” Then they realize: money = the ability to buy toys. 🙂

That’s a great place to start teaching them about money!

To set up our “store”, I asked the kids to go to their rooms and pick three things each. They came back with their most prized possessions. It was actually pretty cute.

Then I just arbitrarily assigned prices to each item using sticky notes. And our store was complete!

Now I might skimp on my store “shelves”, but I try to use realistic play money. (Ours is from Learning Resources.) I think it’s important for kids to learn what actual coins look like so they can recognize them in real life.

It’s somewhat ironic to be teaching with dollars and coins when we almost always use cards now, but it’s so important that kids understand how money works.

That’s a much easier lesson to learn with coins than cards. I mean, you can swipe cards all day without actually realizing how much money you spend. (Ask me how I know…lol.)

When we make “purchases” in our store, we add up the total using a calculator, count out our money, and we’re off!

Another way we like to teach money in second grade is by playing Monopoly Junior. It’s a fun and easy way for younger kids to learn about concepts such as buying and selling, property, and budgeting.

Fun Money Activities for Second Grade – Learning about Money Printables

Want even more practice with learning about money? We have a new set of learning printables to add to our list of fun money activities for second grade and other early elementary grade levels!

To use these learning about money printables, you’ll need the following:

This set includes three money activities:

One “Count Your Money” activity, complete with answer key
One “Let’s Budget for a Party” activity (Perfect for learning to follow a budget!)
And one “What Do Adults Pay for These Things?” activity

A full set of instructions is also included!

These are wonderful for introducing kids to the idea of how money is used in the real world!

Scroll down to get your copy of our Learning About Money Printables!

See more ways to make math fun on my Math Mania Pinterest board!

Don’t miss these other math learning printables for kids!

To get your copy of our Learning About Money Printable Set, just sign up for our email newsletter! It’s free and you’ll get these, plus lots of other learning printables in our exclusive Subscriber Library!

Use the widget below to get started.

Leaves Math: Even and Odd for Second Grade

August 27, 2018 by Selena Robinson 8 Comments

The concept of even and odd is one of those math topics that I know, but I don’t know how I know it, you know?

I know that 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 are odd numbers and I know that 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 are even numbers, but I have no recollection of how that concept was taught to me in the beginning.

So when it was time to teach even and odd for second grade, I was at a bit of a loss with my kids.

That’s just one more reason why I’m so thankful to be homeschooling. It helps me “re-learn” some things that I just know so that I can explain them to my kids and others.

Check out how we learned about even and odd numbers and grab a fun fall-themed learning resource to help you work on this concept with your kids!

Share even more fall learning fun with this list of 50 beautiful fall books for kids!

Leaves Even and Odd for Second Grade

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

This product includes three separate leaf-themed even and odd practice worksheets.

Each worksheet includes a group of leaves arranged in an array. That way, kids can draw lines to pair up each set.

Then they can count the total of leaves and write the number, as well as whether the number is even or odd. (Hint: If a group of leaves has an extra leaf that doesn’t have a match, then it’s an odd number!)

A full answer key is also provided.

So, if you like, you can print the answer keys for kids to check their own progress!

How to Use Leaf Even and Odd Practice Printables

One of the simplest ways to talk about even and odd numbers with kids is to teach them the concept of “pairs”. If they can match up pairs of objects, then they can learn to recognize which groups contain even and odd amounts.

The first activity page has groups of leaves with dashed lines connecting the pairs. Kids can trace the lines to learn how to pair up objects.

If all of the objects have a partner, then the total number is even. If one doesn’t have a partner, then the number is odd. Simple!

On the following two pages, there are no dashed lines. So children can draw their own lines or skip the lines entirely if they’re ready.

After matching up pairs, they can answer how many objects in all and whether the number is even or odd.

Pooh loved this activity! And I think repeating it a couple of times will help him learn to memorize which numbers are even and which are odd.

Scroll down to get your copy of our Leaves Even and Odd for Second Grade printables!

See even more great second grade learning resources below!

Follow along with the rest of the 2nd Grade Blogging Team for more fun leaf-themed activities!

Tree Leaf Collection with {FREE} Leaf ID Cards from Preschool Powol Packets

Place Value Leaves: Read and Write from Rainy Day Mum

Fall Themed Math Bump Games from School Time Snippets

Subtracting with Ten-Frames: Leaf Theme from Life Over C’s

Sensory (or acrostic) poems from Planet Smarty Pants

Autumn Leaves Mini-Reports from Still Playing School

Owl Leaf Art from Crafty Kids at Home

Colorful Leaves Fall Craft for “MY LEAF BOOK” from Sallie Borrink Learning

Fall Leaf Fine Motor Craft from Sugar Aunts

To get your copy of Leaves Math, check out the details below!

Make Times Tables Fun with HoliMaths Multiplication Game for Kids!

September 6, 2016 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

I’ve worked on multiplication with my oldest child for years. And I mean, actual YEARS. It took a while to get her to try learning her times tables, and then it took even longer to get her to work at remembering them. After several grades, the only hurdle left was getting her to enjoy working with multiplication. (Am I the only person who actually did multiplication problems for fun? Probably.)

Thanks to HoliMaths, a brand new multiplication game for kids, practicing times tables can be actual, honest-to-goodness fun! Plus, several of my kids could play it together!

Read on to see how practicing multiplication is a snap with HoliMaths!

Disclosure: I received this product 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.

What is HoliMaths Multiplication Game for Kids?

HoliMaths is a fun and flexible multiplication card game that kids can play with or without adult supervision. There are ten, yes, ten different ways to play with these cards, so you’re almost guaranteed that your kids will never get bored.

HoliMaths comes in two levels: One game featuring times tables from 1 to 6 and a second featuring times tables from 7 to 12. Each game can be played by up to six players, so if you have both games, you could have up to 12 people playing the game at any time.

And, yes, the boxes are in Spanish. More on that in a bit.

Here’s what’s inside the HoliMaths game box. It’s a lot, right?

The game includes multiplication table charts – one for each player.

There are also multiplication problem cards. In this set, there are times tables from 1 to 6, so each set is color coded. The ones tables cards are all grey, the twos tables cards are all yellow, and so on.

The card at the bottom of the image with the symbols is the scoring system. Since each card is coded with a symbol, you can look at the point (puntaje) card to see how to count each correct pair. The player with the most points at the end wins!

Finally, there are many small solution cards. These are pretty important, as you’ll see next.

How to Play HoliMaths Multiplication Game for Kids

So how do you play HoliMaths? As I mentioned earlier, there are ten different game play options. Since our game included kids of several grade levels, I started with the Classic Play method (Method #1). For a look at how to play each version of HoliMaths, see the How to Play section on the HoliMaths website.

As I also mentioned earlier, most of the documentation in the game box is in Spanish. That’s because the game was originally designed for a Spanish-speaking audience. But you don’t have to be bilingual to play HoliMaths! There’s an English-language version of the website, complete with video instructions in English!

This version is basically Go Fish, but with times tables. 🙂

We chose three times tables to work with, since we had three players. Because my boys are in 2nd and 3rd grade, respectively, we used the ones, twos, and threes tables to play with.

My sons haven’t memorized their multiplication tables yet, so we handed out a times tables chart for each player as we dealt out the cards. That way, they could find the solutions to the problems on their cards easily – without getting frustrated.

The idea is to make a match of a problem card with the correct solution card. My third grader, for example, had the problem card 1 x 12. When he looked at the correct color-coded table on the chart, he saw that 1 x 12 = 12. So he had to match that problem with a solution card featuring the number 12.

As you might have noticed, some of the cards have smiley faces on them. These are “wild” cards – they can be used to represent any problem or solution you need to make a match. First, you clear all of the matches out of your hand as soon as the cards are dealt. Then, you tackle the remaining cards in the game.

As the kids removed the matching problems and solutions from their hands, they became much more comfortable with using the game cards. One of the suggestions in the “How to Play” section that I love was to have the kids call out the problem and solution once they matched them up. That way, you can see if they’re answering each problem correctly.

My kids, who always love a bit of drama, decided to announce their math matches with great fanfare. Like this:

Child 1: *Loud clearing of throat*

Child 2: “What is it?”

Child 1: “I declare that 1 times 12 is equal to 12!”

It’s silly, but it works! They were reciting multiplication facts left and right!

If you can’t find a match for your problem cards or solution cards, you draw another problem card from a pile on the table and you draw a solution card from the game bag. As the game continues, each player empties their hand and then counts up their score.

At the end of our game, our youngest player actually had the highest score! He was pretty excited about his success.

We really loved playing this fun multiplication game for kids! I can’t wait to “plan” a morning of multiplication practice with my boys by just having them play HoliMaths for an hour or so. They’ll be thrilled!

Be sure to visit HoliMaths to learn more about this game, all the ways you can play it with your kids, and how to get it for yourself!

Now for the fun – the HoliMaths giveaway! Use the Giveaway Tools widget below to enter! By the way, if you buy the product (in Kickstarter) and win the giveaway, HoliMaths will send you a refund. 😉

Entry -Form

And don’t forget to follow HoliMaths on social media for product news!

Get more ideas on how to make math fun from my Math Mania board on Pinterest!

Managing ADHD Math Problems with Mr. D. Math

April 21, 2016 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

It’s no secret that lots of kids struggle with math. And kids with ADHD who tend to have attention issues may have a harder time than most.

In our family, Tigger (our oldest daughter) has been a lifelong math-hater. She just loses all interest and tries to get through it, instead of trying to grasp the concepts. But, as I’ve tried to tell her, we don’t get to just “opt out” of things we don’t like in life. Thanks to homeschooling, though, we do get to try different ways to understand them and improve.

So I was excited to try the Pre-Algebra program from Mr. D. Math! I’d heard such great things about the program and my daughter was happy about having someone to walk her through pre-algebra and get her ready for middle school math.

See how using Mr. D. Math is helping us to manage common ADHD math problems!

Disclosure: I received this product 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.

Managing ADHD Math Problems with Mr. D Math

Let me just start by saying that I completely sympathize with Tigger. If I could have gotten through life without math, I would happily have done so. But as I got older, I found that I’m actually good at math…when I try. And the same is true of Tigger. It’s just taking some time for her to realize that.

I mean, look at that face. That is a beautiful young woman who should never feel inadequate about doing anything, including algebra. (Sorry, I had a Mama moment.)

Common ADHD Math Problems

What are some of the common ADHD math problems kids deal with? Well, since kids (and adults) with ADHD often have issues with executive function, they may have trouble with the following areas:

organizing their thoughts into a process
executing that process
persisting when they’ve made mistakes

Pretty much everything you need to do in order to grasp a math concept, right? You need to learn the steps, perform them IN ORDER, and take the time to check for errors. So, for kids with ADHD, a math lesson can be a recipe for disaster.

This is not to say that all kids with ADHD struggle with math. My youngest boy, who is the most hyper of all of my kids, actually does better with math than language arts. But a child who has ADHD and struggles with math lessons may find that even the simplest concept is almost impossible to learn.

How Mr. D. Math Works

Which is why I found Mr. D. Math to be such a great program for my daughter with ADHD! Here’s a look at how the Mr. D. Math Pre-Algebra program works:

The lessons are organized very clearly by topic and chapter. As your child works through each lesson, it appears with a checkmark.

Every section begins with a video lesson. In the lessons, Mr. D. himself introduces a concept, demonstrates how it works, and asks a few questions.

Here’s a look at one of the video demonstrations. This one was on Order of Operations.

After the lesson is complete, students take an online quiz on what they learned.

Afterwards, they submit their grades.

At the end of each chapter, students take a test. And, as you can see, the solutions to the chapter tests are provided. Those are great for checking work and finding areas that need to be strengthened.

How Mr. D. Math is Helping My ADHD Daughter with Pre-Algebra

The Mr. D. Math Pre-Algebra program is a super introduction to algebraic concepts. What I loved about the program was that it begins with a nice introduction to exactly how math works. So your child doesn’t need previous experience with pre-algebra to begin it. As long as he or she can add, subtract, multiply, and divide, they’re good to go!

Right from the beginning, Mr. D. won Tigger over. As he explained, math is a language. It has its own symbols that have a unique meaning. And you have to understand the language to understand what each expression says. Since Tigger is a bookworm and interested in writing, that analogy made perfect sense to her.

His initial comparison was to compare learning math to talking to a dog. The dog only understands select words that have meaning to him, so the rest of your sentence would be “blah blah blah”. And that’s how math is! Block out the parts that have no meaning and focus on what matters. Brilliant!

What I also liked was that Mr. D. paused during the lesson to ask a few questions.

Knowing Tigger’s tendency to let her mind drift away, I asked her to write her answers down. And lo and behold! Neatly written notes! That’s how I knew she was paying attention and actually interested in the material.

After introducing a new way to look at math, Mr. D. reviews basic arithmetic operations with students (addition, subtraction, etc.). But, as the chapter progresses, he moves on to new concepts: order of operations, simplifying expressions, and so on.

Remember PEMDAS? He uses that mnemonic device also! While she remembered the phrase “Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally”, she had a little trouble remembering what each word in the phrase actually represented. So she wrote it on the board to help herself remember it.

I will add one note of caution that I observed with Tigger: Kids with ADHD may tend to redo the same things again and again without slowing down to pay attention to why something is incorrect. Since the Pre-Algebra program is self-paced, kids can take quizzes whenever they want.

After Tigger’s first Order of Operations lesson, she took the quiz and missed several of the questions. Naturally, she simply took it again and then again. But since she didn’t slow down to review her notes, ask me for help, or rewatch the video lesson, she kept getting a failing grade. And you can only take each quiz three times. So she had to accept a grade lower than she wanted.

But that was a lesson to her as to why it’s important to slow down, check your work, and get help when necessary. So, if your child with ADHD behaves similarly, keep an eye out when they start taking quizzes and encourage them to take a break or get help with something that seems fuzzy.

If you’re looking for a self-paced Pre-Algebra Math program for your child, Mr. D. Math is definitely worth the investment! And if you’re in a time crunch, you can get a program to get your child ready for Pre-Algebra in just 11 weeks or even six weeks!

To find out more about the program, follow Mr. D. Math on social media!

And if you’d like more ADHD math ideas, check out my list of 10 Math Activities for Kids with ADHD!

Sidewalk Chalk Outdoor Math Game

April 14, 2016 by Selena Robinson 10 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!

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:

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

10 Math Activities for ADHD Students

April 4, 2016 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

If you have a child with ADHD, you might find that sitting down to teach math is…a bit of a challenge.

Well, in my family, the word “challenge” isn’t quite strong enough to describe how difficult math lessons can be. Let’s try “cage match to the death”. I think that’s more accurate. 🙂

My wiggly kids resist anything that requires sustained mental effort, due to issues with executive function, so learning math concepts is their least favorite thing to do. As a result, I’ve had to take math off the page and into their hands to make some ideas really stick.

So – if your child with ADHD struggles with math, you might want to try these 10 math activities for ADHD students. They’ve worked wonderfully in our house!

Image c/o: Nadezhda1906 / depositphotos

10 Math Activities for ADHD Students

Use LEGO blocks to construct 3D Bar Graphs.
Make Math Factor Snowflakes and hang them in your window.
Show kids how to cut and paste simple repeating math patterns.
Have children work out tens and ones with Unifix cubes.
Practice math facts while doing a simple exercise or having a Brain Break.
Teach math concepts in a foreign language, such as how to count in Spanish or Sign Language.
Use math lapbooks to help kids visualize math concepts and memorize basic facts.
Combine math with reading by using math storybooks such as Life of Fred.
Drill kids on basic math lessons, including fractions, polygons, and telling time using flashcards.
Create math art, such as coloring grids on graphing paper.

Be sure to check out my ebook “Homeschooling with ADHD” for more help to teach your ADHD child at home!

Want even more fun math ideas? Try these book suggestions!

And be sure to follow my Math Mania board on Pinterest!

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!

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.

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

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

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.

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

Now to cut it out!

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.

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

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.

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

Improving Math Thinking Skills with Redbird Mathematics

January 12, 2016 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

How many of you think that you’re “bad” at math? I didn’t think I was bad at it, but I didn’t think I was exactly good at it either. I mean, I can get through it, but it’s not a pleasant journey.

So, I was thrilled to get a chance to try Redbird Mathematics from GiftedandTalented.com! Since the program was developed by Stanford University, I knew it would be exceptional for teaching kids how to use mathematical principles to think their way through operations, rather than just memorizing them. And I wasn’t disappointed.

Read on to see how we used Redbird Mathematics to improve math thinking skills with our second-grader. Plus, enter to win a three-month subscription absolutely FREE!

Disclosure: I received this product 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.

What If My Child Hasn’t Been Labeled as Gifted?

Don’t worry! You can still use Redbird Mathematics by GiftedandTalented.com. One of the things I love about this program’s philosophy is that “giftedness” should be the destination, not the starting point. Which means that your child doesn’t have to be termed “gifted” in order to use it.

Instead of being a program catered to gifted kids, Redbird Mathematics strives to help kids of all learning abilities develop their own mathematical gifts. And, since we’re trying to combat the “bad at math” stigma in our family, that’s a philosophy we can get behind!

How Redbird Mathematics Works

When you purchase a subscription to Redbird Mathematics, you’re not tied to a single grade level. The program covers math concepts from kindergarten through grade 7, so you can move up or down as your child needs.

If you’re unsure which grade level your child should use, Redbird Mathematics gives you the option to look at the concepts covered in each grade. Since Pooh was already familiar with the Grade 1 concepts, we decided to start with Grade 2.

Here’s where it gets interesting. Once you choose a grade level for your child, the program gives him or her an assessment test to see what concepts they already know.

I’ll be honest: It was extremely tough for me NOT to help Pooh with the problems on the assessment. I had to keep telling myself “It’s just to see what he knows. He doesn’t have to get them right.” Eventually I just walked away. So this part might be hard if you tend to be a helicopter parent like *ahem* me.

Once the assessment is complete, the program automatically chooses a starting point for your child. Then it’s time to get started!

How Redbird Mathematics Improves Math Thinking Skills

What separates Redbird Mathematics from other math programs (to me) is the way that the program encourages kids to think about math operations.

Pooh already knows his addition and subtraction facts through 12, but he had never used a hundred chart or base 10 blocks before. So it was almost as if he had to relearn adding and subtracting.

Frankly, it was as if I had to relearn them too. So, if you are used to teaching math in the traditional manner, expect a fairly steep learning curve when you first begin using the program.

I also found that it was not a program Pooh could use on his own. But that’s okay. I don’t expect a lot of independent math learning in second grade anyway.

In the beginning of each lesson, Redbird Mathematics gives you an overview of what your child will cover, as well as a few sample problems. That’s really helpful, because it can help your child prepare for what to expect as the lesson moves along.

Here’s what I really loved: Pooh had to really use his brain to learn how to add with the hundred chart. For example, when he saw the problem “8 + 10”, his first instinct was to start adding it in his head.

Instead, I asked him to follow the program directions and learn how to find the same answer using the hundred chart. After a few minutes of practice, he got the hang of it.

But if he already knows addition facts, what’s the point of learning to use a hundred chart?

Well – if he can understand how numbers are related to one another, then his ability to solve math problems becomes more flexible.

As the program showed him, moving up and down by rows increases or decreases numbers by 10.

And moving left and right increases or decreases numbers by one.

Once he grasped that, he could find missing numbers in equations and alternate counting by ones and tens quickly. That’s good practice for counting change, telling time, and algebra!

There were a few times that I supplemented Redbird Mathematics with some hands-on tools. For example, when we were learning about how to find the distance between 42 and 67 on the hundred chart and then place the resulting numbers in addition and subtraction equations, it was time to break out the chalkboard.

Once Pooh saw that we were using the numbers on the chart to fill in an abbreviated fact family, he understood what to do with them.

When Pooh finished working with the hundred chart, the program moved him on to learning to add and subtract using Base Ten blocks. That’s right. After learning to add and subtract with one strategy, Redbird Mathematics introduces another strategy to learn the exact same skills.

But here’s what’s good about that: If kids can learn how to perform the same operations with differing data, numbers, and methods, they begin to understand mathematical principles better. Which means they can use them in various situations with ease.

And that’s what we want, right?

With the Base Ten blocks strategy, I also used a hands-on tool: Unifix cubes.

Breaking the rows apart into single cubes to replicate the math problem on the screen really helped Pooh “get” what we were learning.

As he found out, you can regroup 6 ones and 7 ones into 1 ten and 3 ones.

Which means that 6+7 is equal to 10 + 3!

And that is the beauty of learning to add in different ways!

If you’d like to boost your child’s math thinking skills, now’s the time to purchase Redbird Mathematics! You can score a 10 percent discount on a three-month subscription through February 1 with the promo code LEARNMATH! Just be sure to enter the code during the checkout process.

Now – on to the giveaway!

Ten winners will receive a free 3-month subscription to GiftedandTalented.com’s K7 Redbird Mathematics: Advanced Edition – a $60 value! This giveaway ends January 28, 2016.

To enter, use the giveaway widget below!

Entry -Form

To learn more about Redbird Mathematics from GiftedandTalented.com, follow the company on the social networks below! And don’t forget to sign up for the Redbird Mathematics Newsletter while you’re there! You’ll find the signup form on the company website.

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.

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.

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!

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

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!

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”.

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

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!

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!

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!

Math Bafflers Review: Introducing Logic to Kids with ADHD

July 8, 2015 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

One of the challenging things about homeschooling a child with ADHD is helping him or her learn to think critically. Kids who have classic ADD tend to avoid any kind of sustained mental effort, especially when the topic is challenging.

And that’s my Tigger. She’s linguistically smart, but she’s not a natural at math. When there’s a concept that’s hard for her to grasp, she tends to tune out or get frustrated. But we can’t just skip those parts, right?

Recently I got a chance to try the workbook Math Bafflers from Prufrock Press and I found it to be a great way to teach logic to kids with ADHD! Here’s our Math Bafflers review.

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

Math Bafflers Review

Just to give you a little background:

I’m pretty sympathetic to Tigger on the whole “avoiding sustained mental effort” thing, because…

I’m the exact same way.

Last semester, I took Honors Logic and I’m here to tell you that it was rough. I can do the work, but there are times when I sit down to concentrate and my head pretty much feels like it’s filled with bees. Kind of like a mental static.

So if that’s what Tigger deals with, I can vouch for the fact that it’s irritating and it interferes with your ability to concentrate.

However, logic is SUCH an important skill to learn that I was determined to find a way to teach it. And Math Bafflers was a great way to introduce it.

Math Bafflers is not a logic curriculum, but it is a logic puzzle workbook. The first thing I loved about it was that the activities are fairly short – perfect for Tigger’s short attention span!

Look at her expression. That is the face of a child who is NOT interested in this subject at all…lol.

Using Math Bafflers to Introduce Logic to Kids with ADHD

I loved the way Math Bafflers provided a gentle intro to logic for children. In the very beginning, the book acknowledges that logic is not the easiest subject to learn.

So there are a list of steps to follow to help kids (and their parents) make sense of how to solve each puzzle. I summarized the steps and wrote them on the board.

Then I had Tigger copy them down. Having her write things down seems to “ground” her in a way. Then, she’ll have something to refer back to when she can’t remember how to solve a problem.

We started with the very first Math Bafflers puzzle. Basically, it requires kids to sort through a list of criteria to determine which television program comes on when. There are clues such as: “Program ABC comes on after Program XYZ, but before Program DEF.”

I’ll be honest. Those kinds of puzzles stump me too.

Which is why I was so glad for the problem-solving steps in the beginning of the book. Finding the answer seemed overwhelming initially, but as we followed each step for each clue, we ended up narrowing down our choices fairly quickly.

Something I noticed about Tigger is that she tends to read “more into” a sentence than is actually there. For example, a clue might say “Leah does not breakfast while watching Program XYZ. She eats breakfast between 8:30 to 9:30 a.m.”

When I asked Tigger, “What does that mean about Program XYZ and when it doesn’t come on?”, she would answer, “It doesn’t come on in the morning!” But the clue didn’t say that. It simply said that it didn’t come on during her breakfast time. There were other morning times outside of the time when Leah eats breakfast.

I chalk that up to her desire to hurry up and get through a problem quickly. So helping her slow down and develop patience with her schoolwork is going to be one of our focuses this school year.

Tigger kept trying to give up, but I wouldn’t let her. And sure enough, we solved the puzzle! Whoohoo!

Now I will say – After we finished the first puzzle, we stopped with this subject for that day. I didn’t want to overwhelm her and I didn’t want her to hate learning logic. But this will definitely be part of our curriculum for the 2015-16 school year. 🙂

And that’s our Math Bafflers Review! If you’re just getting started with a study of logic in your homeschool, I highly recommend Math Bafflers! It’s perfect for kids with ADHD, kids who struggle with math, or anyone else!

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!

Free Snowflake Math Factors Printable Activity

December 19, 2013 by Selena Robinson 3 Comments

Hey everyone! We’re back from a short break this week with a free set of homeschool printables that are perfect for winter learning!

Tigger’s had her struggles with math over the years, so we’ve had to add a little fun to our math work to help her stay focused. This month, we decided to tackle multiplication factors with set of free snowflake math factor printables! Read on to see how to get your copy!

If you like these, don’t miss our ideas on how to use them for a fun snowflake math factor craft!

Free Snowflake Math Factor Printables

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

We designed the activity so that the snowflake arms all show numbers that are factors of the larger number in the center. They work on a diagonal, so there are three numbers already given and the kids have to find the other number that makes a factor pair.

Example: On the sheet above, the center number is 36, so all of the numbers on the snowflake are factors of 36. Kids will need to find the missing number in each factor pair: 18 x ? = 36; 9 x ? = 36; 3 x ? = 36, and so on.

To give Tigger a helping hand, we walked her through the first one. We’ve covered multiplication with her in the past and found that the circles and dots method seems to work best for her.

We decided to let her try the next one on her own.

She did great! She counted up the numbers and filled in the spots pretty easily.

We added some larger numbers in the pack as well to help kids test their multiplication facts, but a full answer key is provided at the back.

Scroll down to get your copy of our Snowflake Math Factor Printables!

Don’t miss our other winter learning ideas!

Get more tips for teaching math on my Math Mania Pinterest board!

To get your free Snowflake Math Factor Printables, sign up for our email newsletter! You’ll receive these and other educational resources in our exclusive Subscriber Library!

Learn Rounding Numbers the Easy Way

January 28, 2013 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

Okay, I admit it: I’m not the most patient person in the world. Which is yet another reason why I love homeschooling so much. We don’t have to meet arbitrary deadlines for scholastic progress, so I can take as long as we need to cover one topic.

One of the things Tigger struggled with early on was rounding and estimating. When we originally covered it in grade one, she couldn’t let go of counting each number and just guess at the amount. But, when you think about it, that makes sense.

We spend weeks teaching them how to count and then after they learn that, we tell them, “Okay, now don’t count. Just guess how many you think there are.” In retrospect, that does seem kind of silly.

Thankfully, I found an easier way to help her learn rounding numbers!

Image: ganko / Dollar Photo Club

Learn Rounding Numbers the Easy Way

Instead of trying to discuss rounding over and over again, I just dropped it and decided to come back to it later. This time, she picked it up on the very first day. She learned rounding and I got yet another lesson in being patient.

Tigger really does well with step-by-step processes, so I used this anchor chart that I saw on Pinterest as our guide for the week. With each problem, we walked through the process and by the end of the lesson, she was doing it in her head.

The basic strategy to learn rounding numbers is:

1. Find the place to which you are rounding.

2. Locate the number to the right of that place and draw an arrow to it.

3. If the number is 5 or more, you round the underlined place up.

4. If the number is less than 5, you keep the number in the underlined place the same.

5. Change everything from the arrow to the right to a zero.

Done!

It does take a few tries and we spent our entire math lesson that morning going over the steps. But when Tigger got it, she retained it and (finally!) conquered rounding. 🙂

Now I’m not a professional educator, so I don’t use anchor charts all the time, but I have found them to be extremely helpful for teaching multi-step processes. If you’d like to look at some of my inspiration, follow my Anchor Chart Ideas board on Pinterest!

Follow Selena – Look! We’re Learning!’s board Anchor Chart Ideas on Pinterest.

How did you help your kids learn rounding numbers? Share your tips in the comments!

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!

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