math Archives - Simple Homeschool

Create your own math playground (UPDATED!)

Jamie C. Martin — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 16:15:11 +0000

Create Your Own Math Playground (UPDATED!) ~
Written by Jamie C. Martin of Simple Homeschool

I’ve been revisiting a series I first wrote more than ten years ago (how is that possible?!) all about math—sharing the non-traditional path our family chose, particularly in our early homeschooling years.

This time, though, you’ll also hear the reflections of my older, wiser homeschool self, looking back to see how my early ideals have held up (or not) over time.

Together we’ve been exploring math through a fresh lens, pausing to ask: Why do we approach this subject the way we do? Could there be other meaningful options worth considering?

For this post, you’ll find my updated thoughts in navy blue, and I’ve fully updated both lists of games & toys. This is the final update in this math series, now complete!

If you’ve missed any of the others, you can find them here:

Other UPDATES in this math series:
* A different way to look at math
* Out of the box math inspiration
* Read your way to a love of math:
75 titles for ages 4-12

Much of the research we’ve peeked at suggests it’s possible to wait until around age 10, give or take, to introduce formal math. (I’m not saying this is the only way to approach it, by the way! It’s one of many options.)

If you decide to follow this advice, however, what should you do up until that age?

I’m glad you asked. Why not create your own math playground?

Create Your Own Math Playground

Here are a couple of ways to approach it:

Option 1: Less Structure

In the early elementary years of homeschooling, look for ways to bring math into your lives when the opportunity naturally arises (and it will!). Point out patterns in nature and the beauty of God’s creation. Discuss it with a sense of wonder and possibility.

If your child enjoys games, follow her lead in playing some of the ones listed below – and read aloud some of the books I’ve mentioned in this post. As your child gets older, you may transition to option two below (or not, depending on you and your kids).

Option 2: More Structure

Let’s say you must document your child’s math for your state or country’s home education laws. Does that mean you can’t approach math this way? (I get this question a lot!)

I don’t think it means that at all. Simply apply these ideas with a bit more structure and document what you’ve done as needed.

Maybe you decide to set aside 15-30 minutes each weekday, three times a week, or whatever suits you – making it your “math time.”

Create a routine if that works best for you: read one math book or one chapter of Life of Fred (answering the questions aloud is fine, unless you need them written for proof of study), play a math game, and end with a Bedtime Math problem.

Switch it up when you or your child need a break or get bored with the routine. Now that you have an idea of how to play with math, let’s get an idea of what to play with!

Below you’ll find an updated list of popular math games and toys that I’ve spent hours putting together!

Feel free to bookmark this post so you can come back to it as needed. If you add 1-2 items each year, over time you’ll create your own math playground with ease.

Math Games

Let’s be straight up about games for a second: They’re great for learning, but young kids can seriously stink at losing. This seems to get better with age and depends on their personality, but don’t force something that makes you all miserable!

In our home I’ve found it works a bit better if I play one-on-one with a child (as opposed to siblings squaring off against each other).

^ Okay, an updated confessional: I did not have a love-hate relationship with board games in our homeschool. I had a like-hate. I liked them sometimes, and other times they made me hate my life. #honest

This meant that all the excited talk about gameschooling (and how fun it could make learning) inadvertently made me feel guilty.

What was I doing wrong? How come this wasn’t fun? And what was wrong with my kids that they couldn’t handle losing, and that one game gone wrong could destroy our entire day?

Doing games one-on-one helped some, which is why I recommended it here in the original post…but it wasn’t a guarantee. I have one twenty-something who I still can’t play games with!

Like anything else, explore the options to see what’s out there and then, as the expert on your homeschool, choose (or don’t choose) what works (or doesn’t work) for you!

And the upside, now I have one young adult who loves playing games…and occasionally we’ll have other siblings join in too with more success.

So keep in mind it isn’t now or never. Maybe games aren’t your family’s thing right now, but maybe in a decade and a half they might be!

Also on a practical note: Check your public library for math games! Ours started having these available for checkout over the past few years.

10 Top Math Games for Ages 4-9 (Updated!)

Those marked with an asterix * at the beginning are Martin family favorites.

1 – * Sum Swamp: Ages 4+, addition/subtraction (Just the sight of this gameboard hits me with such a wave of nostalgia that it makes my stomach hurt! True story: I gave this away to a dear homeschool friend of mine and then asked for it back.)

2 – Tiny Polka Dot: Ages 4+, counting, basic arithmetic

3 – Zingo 1-2-3: Ages 4+, number recognition, basic arithmetic

4 – * 4 Way Countdown: Ages 5+, basic math facts (Just the fact it’s wooden made me feel all Waldorf-y and like I must be doing something right. lol)

5 – Monopoly Junior: Ages 5+, money value

6 – * Money Bags: Ages 6+, coin identification/money awareness (Another game board that still gives me funny feelings, even though we passed it on to another family – and let them keep it this time!)

7 – Math Dice Jr: Ages 6+, basic math facts

8 – Quirkle: Ages 6+; pattern recognition

9 – Rat a Tat Cat: Ages 6+; strategy, memory, addition

10 – No Stress Chess: Ages 7+; (I am putting this on my wish list now because I never learned how to play and have always wanted to! I guess we’re never too old for games.)

10 Top Math Games for Tweens/Teens (Updated!)

1 – 7 Wonders: Players calculate how combinations of cards and resources multiply point values

2 – 24 Game: Use the cards to make the number 24 (Great for reviewing math facts; 2 versions available – single or double digits)

3 – Gravity Maze: logic/problem solving; can be played solo (I’m a sucker for any games with marbles!)

4 – Karma Card Game: forming/recognizing patterns (Recommended by a college math professor)

5 – Monopoly Deal: The fun of monopoly without taking hours!

6 – Prime Climb: multiplication/division/factors

7 – Rummikub: constantly add and manipulate number tiles to create or extend sets and runs

8 – Splendor: Arithmetic, sequencing, and cost-benefit calculation

9 – Who Knows Math and Finance Better? – a quiz style card game

10 – * Yahtzee: great for mental calculations (We still use the same one I had in childhood!)

10 Top Math Toys

Those marked with an asterix * at the beginning are Martin family favorites.

You have a ton of math toys in your home already. Don’t overlook the obvious: a ruler, measuring tape, compass, dominoes, beans for counting, and your kitchen measuring cups.

And it goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: You don’t need any of the below or the above to homeschool “right.” You’re already enough as you are.

These are just options for fun or for holiday/birthday wish lists! I hope you enjoy getting to create your own math playground that’s unique to you and yours.

1 – Base Ten Starter Blocks

2 – * Calendar/Weather Chart – Okay, I’m trying to stop getting all the feels over these family favorites, but it’s just not happening. We used our calendar chart all 15 of our homeschool years, and my family can let you know that I have heavily resisted taking it off the wall. Heavily.

3 – Fraction Tower Equivalency Cubes

4 – * Learning Resources Cash Register – I just looked it up…we bought this on August 12, 2010 for my Jonathan’s 6th birthday. Oh my heart – it’s still in the attic.

5 – Melissa and Doug Wooden Abacus

6 – *Melissa and Doug Money Set – buying Melissa & Doug stuff always made me feel like a good homeschool mom

7 – Pattern Blocks

8 – Self-Correcting Multiplication Keys

9 – Silent Learning Clock

10 – Talking Learning Clock

“Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas.” ~ Albert Einstein

What’s Your Homeschool Mom Personality? Take Jamie’s quiz now and receive a free personality report to help you organize your homeschool based on what your personality type needs most!

This post contains affiliate links.

Read your way to a love of math: 75+ titles for ages 4-12 (UPDATED!)

Jamie C. Martin — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 18:10:58 +0000

Read your way to a love of math (UPDATED!) ~
Written by Jamie C. Martin of Simple Homeschool

I’m currently updating a series I published over ten(!) years ago about math, explaining how our family decided to approach the subject in a non-traditional way, particularly in the early years.

Now you’ll get to hear my perspective looking back as a veteran homeschool mom to see if it matches what my young, naive homeschool self thought!

In these posts, we’ve explored math study from a different perspective, asking two important questions: Why do we do what we do when it comes to this subject? Are there any other valid approaches to consider?

Other updates in this math series:
* A different way to look at math
* Out of the box math inspiration

An alternative to workbook pages in the early years is the simple sharing of a book spread open across your lap. It’s one of the easiest ways to create a blossoming love of numbers and patterns in a child’s heart and mind.

Back in the day when I was an insecure homeschool mom, I would have loved a list of well-chosen math titles, recommended by someone I trusted.

I’ve tried to provide that for you here, highlighting the resources we found most enjoyable in our own family – as well as including an updated list of other popular books you may want to check out.

Enjoy the journey as you read your way to a love of math!

Read your way to a love of math: 75+ titles for ages 4-12

Bedtime Math

Who is it for? Ages 4-12

What a fun addition (get it?!) this resource is for your math-learning littles.

Check out their website or app for easy access to a daily math question, or check out one of their three published Bedtime Math books(afflinks) for an offline option.

The beauty of bedtime math is that there are questions geared to a variety of learning-levels, making it something you can use for your preschoolers all the way to your pre-teens!

Life of Fred

Who is it for? Ages 6 – High School

Since I first wrote this series, I’ve been asked the same question several times: “I’d like to approach math differently, but what can I do if I have to provide documentation for my state and/or my kids have to take a standardized test?”

My top recommendation for those in the above situation would be to explore Life of Fred Math, a curriculum that goes from early elementary all the way through high school – but in a very different way to the norm!

Used in a structured or formal way, you’d be able to approach math creatively but still be able to provide the documentation you need to meet your local requirements.

Like any resource, Life of Fred isn’t for everyone. But my kids loved it, and I loved that I could read math aloud at the lunch table!

Mathemagic

Who is it for? Ages 4-12

Mathemagic is Volume 13 of a kids’ encyclopedia series that used to be produced by Childcraft and is now out of print.

It is full of inspiring math stories, clever puzzles, riddles, and games – perfect for reading aloud or putting on the shelf for your kiddos to flip through.

Math study aside, we have always had a used set of several Childcraft volumes on our shelves, and still do!

I can’t get of rid them, because hardly a homeschool day went by in our house that I didn’t see a child with one of these tucked under their arm. Keeping them for the grandchildren, perhaps one day?!

No longer in print, check for them on Amazon or Ebay.

Mathematicians Are People, Too

Who is it for? Ages 8-12

This is a fascinating collection of short stories about the lives of the great mathematicians throughout history – often including the details about how they developed their groundbreaking theories and discoveries.

A perfect way to show our kids what passion for math looks like, this series contains two volumes.

Sir Cumference Series

Who is it for? Ages 7-11 (give or take)

The Sir Cumference books introduce foundational geometry concepts through adventurous stories – radius and diameter, data collection, perimeter, area, and pi all make an appearance in this series of 12 titles.

*****

Other titles to explore for ages 4-8 (Updated!)

Other titles to explore for ages 8-12 (Updated!)

“Mathematics, rightly viewed, possesses not only truth, but supreme beauty.”
~ Bertrand Russell

Do you know of any more inspiring titles to help read your way to a love of math?

What’s Your Homeschool Mom Personality? Take Jamie’s quiz now and receive a free personality report to help you organize your homeschool based on what your personality type needs most!

This post contains affiliate links.

Out of the box math inspiration (Updated!)

Jamie C. Martin — Tue, 20 May 2025 18:00:40 +0000

Out of the Box Math Inspiration ~
Written and updated by Jamie C. Martin of Simple Homeschool

I’m currently updating a series I published several years ago about math, explaining how our family decided to approach the subject in a non-traditional way.

Now you’ll get to hear my perspective looking back as a veteran homeschool mom to see if it matches what my young, naive homeschool self thought!

If you missed the first update in this series, I’d recommend reading it here before continuing this one!

Let me continue by serving up more math inspiration for you to consider.

Several “out of the box” math inspiration examples follow, which I hope will help you develop your own thoughts and discern what may be best given your family’s current situation.

Many of these examples fueled my personal decision on when and how to teach math in our homeschool.

Out of the Box Math Inspiration

1. Just Do the Math by David Albert

David Albert shares the story of 9-12 year-olds who learned all K-6 math in just 20 hours of study. He also shares his belief that an average teen who is actually motivated to learn math, and wasn’t held back by math anxiety, could learn all the K-12 math that he hasn’t naturally picked up in life in approximately eight weeks of study.

“So, do the math. If you figure the actual math time at 30 hours a year for 8 years (accounting for the wasted time in the early years), it totals 240 hours. Lo and behold – if, at age 15 or so, you wanted to learn all the math K-12, weren’t inhibited by math anxiety, and were willing to spend 30 hours a week at it, it would take you…8 weeks!”

2. A Mathematician’s Lament by Paul Lockhart

In his book, research mathematician Paul Lockhart (afflinks) makes the case that math is an art form, and that the way we currently study it prevents kids from falling in love with and seeing it through the lens of imagination that other arts inspire.

“If I had to design a mechanism for the express purpose of destroying a child’s natural curiosity and love of pattern-making, I couldn’t possibly do as good a job as is currently being done – I simply wouldn’t have the imagination to come up with the kind of senseless, soul-crushing ideas that constitute contemporary mathematics education.

“You want to train them to calculate 427 plus 389? It’s just not a question that many eight-year-olds are asking. For that matter, most adults don’t fully understand decimal place-value arithmetic, and you expect third graders to have a clear conception? Or do you not care if they understand it? It is simply too early for that kind of technical training. Of course it can be done, but I think it ultimately does more harm than good. Much better to wait until their own natural curiosity about numbers kicks in.”

3. Research on the Teaching of Math at Trivium Pursuit

This article shares (in thorough detail) how math has been taught historically through the ages – a fascinating study! The author then suggests waiting until around age ten to begin formal math lessons.

“So to wait until age ten to teach arithmetic is actually, from an historical perspective, to advocate an early start. It is only from a decidedly modern perspective that waiting until age ten would appear to be a late start.

“Depending upon the child, upon the method, and upon the subject matter covered, there exists the potential for developmental harm from the formal teaching of arithmetic before age ten.

“Small children cannot understand many arithmetic concepts at an early age. We can teach them to perform the process, but we cannot make them understand the concepts. The child learns to hate learning. The child’s understanding develops along the wrong lines. He may actually develop mental blocks to arithmetic – actual physiological blocks in the brain.”

But how can someone actually begin the formal teaching of math at age ten? Laurie Bluedorn suggested one possibility in a follow up to the above:

“At age ten we start the child in formal math with a 6th grade math textbook. I give the child two math grids, and they are allowed to use them when doing their math lessons.

At age eleven I take away the addition/subtraction grid. The child should have the addition/subtraction facts memorized by then. If I think that he doesn’t have them memorized then we would drill on them till he does have them memorized. At age twelve I take away the multiplication/division grid.”

4. Louis P. Benezet’s Study…as told in Free-Range Learning

In 1929 Louis P. Benezet, the Superintendent of Manchester, New Hampshire schools, tried an experiment within his system. He trialed having some of his classes wait until seventh grade to introduce formal math study. Before then he encouraged naturally occurring math learning, but had teachers make reading, writing, and reasoning the focus in the early years.

“I feel that it is all nonsense to take eight years to get children through the ordinary arithmetic assignment of the elementary schools. What possible need has a ten-year-old child for knowledge of long division? The whole subject of arithmetic could be postponed until the seventh year of school, and it could be mastered in two years’ study by any typical child.

“Due to pressure from some school principals, children were started on a math book in the second half of sixth grade. All sixth-grade children were tested. By spring of that year, all the classes tested equally. In other words, those children exposed to traditional math curricula for part of the sixth-grade year had mastered the same skills as those who had spent years on drills, times tables, and exams.”

Adorable Elijah (age 9) – now 20!

5. What I thought (and wrote) then – 10 years ago:

In some ways it’s difficult to explain exactly what we do in our family – because it is, has been, and no doubt will continue to be completely different for each child. There’s no formula, but we have followed the advice mentioned above about waiting to introduce formal math.

This decision comes from our deep belief in the importance of our young children having a full and thorough Core Phase, which does not include a focus on early academics.

Two of my three children are now in the second phase of learning, Love of Learning, and recently math emphasis has crept into our lives more regularly. But it is still highly individualized and based on each child’s needs and strengths.

I have one who is naturally gifted with numbers, who has played with them over the years and by doing so has picked up quite a lot. I have two children who learn very differently to the traditional classroom style and who appear to have their geniuses (at this stage) in other areas.

Of course this doesn’t mean that math won’t be a part of their lives, but it means that I introduce concepts when I believe maturity and readiness are present so I can set them up for success.

6. What I think now – 10 years later:

When I look back on teaching math, I marvel at how God in his wisdom directed our paths to what our children would need for their future. At the time I first wrote this, I didn’t have full clarity of my daughter Trishna’s and my son Elijah’s special-needs (both on the autism spectrum, with several other diagnoses).

Yet this individualized approach ended up suiting all three of my kids and what mattered most for each of them.

I would have experienced so much wasted time and frustration if I had tried to push structured math onto my special needs children earlier. It would have negatively affected their self-concepts, and my self-confidence as a teacher.

One of them reached about eighth grade level of math before graduating, and that fits perfectly with their needs. The other struggles greatly with math concepts, and is around first grade level, even after several years of diligent focus and lessons in their teens. This child is learning workarounds to help them function in this area for what they’ll need in life.

My son Jonathan used Teaching Textbooks for math and finished through Algebra II, enough for him to get into the colleges of his choice. His job as a Lighting Director and Designer uses a lot of math and it’s been interesting to see how proficient he’s become in that on-the-job setting.

So see? It all worked out!

I do want to honestly mention that at times it was challenging for our younger kids in certain social situations when math tasks came up that they had not mastered yet. This could be mitigated by mastering addition/subtraction earlier but waiting for the rest.

I also want to say that it is possible to teach math as a structured homeschool subject if that’s best for your family’s needs. This out of the box math inspiration and approach is not the only “right” option!

If you approach it with flexibility and the understanding that there is more than one way, you can make regular curricula work for you as opposed to you working for it.

Keep in mind the long-term perspective: Not every child needs to love math, but it would be nice if so many didn’t hate it!

So if you decide to get out of the box when it comes to math, what can you do in the early years to prepare and play with numbers instead? I’m glad you asked!

Come back soon for the next update in this series. I’ll have a list of specific resources so you can create your own math playground.

“Mathematics should be taught as art for art’s sake. These mundane “useful” aspects would follow naturally as a trivial by product. Beethoven could easily write an advertising jingle, but his motivation for learning music was to create something beautiful.” ~ Paul Lockhart

What’s Your Homeschool Mom Personality? Take Jamie’s quiz now and receive a free personality report to help you organize your homeschool based on what your personality type needs most!

A different way to look at math (Updated!)

Jamie C. Martin — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 13:25:33 +0000

A Different Way to Look at Math ~
Written by Jamie C. Martin of Simple Homeschool

Like many of us, I have a complicated relationship with math.

I like math.

But I don’t always like how it’s taught.

I naturally excelled at math in school. The subject made me feel powerful, and eventually I was offered the chance to skip 7th grade math (which I ended up declining – those 8th graders looked so scary!).

You’d think since I had a “positive” experience with math in school, I would have been eager to replicate that in our home.

But my heart (and my children) steered me in a different direction.

I see now that the main skill that led to my math success wasn’t understanding math; it was the ability to memorize. From an early age I used that skill to people-please my way into my teachers’ hearts, to form an identity for myself, and to cover up deep-rooted feelings of insecurity.

(See?! I told you it was complicated!)

And as the years passed, I had that familiar sense so many of us identify with when it comes to this subject: Boredom.

Nagging questions rang through my head: “What’s the point of all this?” and “When am I ever going to use it?”

I wanted something different for my kids.

I saw the value of studying numbers, patterns, and shapes – because God built those into our world. Therefore they must be interesting, useful, and worth learning about!

Yet I dared to imagine a different timeline for this subject. Because when I looked at the math scope and sequence, especially for elementary school kids, one thing appeared drastically lacking:

The principle of relevancy.

A Different Way to Look at Math

Children naturally want to learn and conquer things that are relevant to their lives.

I saw this with my own as littles when it came to a love of and interest in words. In our home my children were surrounded by reading and writing–therefore they showed interest in both (still on their own unique timeline, mind you.)

With math, the process felt different.

Some parts were relevant – the ones that appeared in our daily lives.

This included writing numbers, counting, basic adding and subtracting, temperature, fractions as related to cooking, telling time, measuring, the concepts of multiplication and division (but not complicated calculations with them early on), decimals as related to money, etc.

But math that didn’t naturally arise in our daily lives didn’t get our focus early on because it requires a different process: Abstract thought.

The ability to reason and think abstractly doesn’t come in the early elementary years–it develops closer to the age of puberty.

“Piagetian experiments have shown repeatedly that cognitive maturity may not come until close to age 12. Interestingly, the ancient Orthodox Jews, known over the world for their brilliance, provided little or no formal schooling until after age twelve for girls and thirteen for boys when children were considered able to accept full responsibility for their actions.”
~ Dr. Raymond Moore, The Successful Homeschool Family Handbook, pg. 44

The traditional approach to math study, whether done at school or at home, creates a hate of math in many kids. It makes plenty feel stupid at a young age – an internal lesson hard to unlearn later. Others (like I did) begin to measure themselves by their positive performance instead of their inner value.

All of the above is the opposite of what I wanted for my own children. Instead of making my kids fit the system, I created a new system to fit my kids.

It included a different way to look at math.

I will not for a second suggest that this was always simple to do. But in some ways, it was easy. I lightened my load considerably by allowing the principle of relevancy to guide our math learning.

My own mental battles ended up being the hard part when it came to choosing something so counter-cultural – and sticking with that decision in the face of opposition. When I started to panic (and you should know I did many times), those mental battles were usually the reason why.

We had to step way outside the grade level box to follow our family’s personal convictions in this area, and that took courage. But believing we were doing what was right for our children made the choice worth it.

If you feel at peace in your homeschool choices when it comes to math, please keep on keeping on! As always, there are a million ways of creating a successful homeschool, and zero ways to create a perfect one.

My method here isn’t “right” and others “wrong,” it’s all about discovering what works for your family and your kids.

But if you’ve hit a wall in your study of numbers, if you or your students have or are experiencing math burnout, or if you’ve ever wondered “Is this the only way?” – then know that you’re not alone.

Perhaps you just need a different way to look at math.

Over the next month or so I hope to bring a little thought-provoking inspiration across your path in this series on looking at math differently from my perspective as a now retired homeschool mom of three. Stay tuned!

“The tantalizing and compelling pursuit of mathematical problems offers mental absorption, peace of mind amid endless challenges, repose in activity, battle without conflict, “refuge from the goading urgency of contingent happenings,” and the sort of beauty changeless mountains present to sense tried by the present-day kaleidoscope of events.”
~Morris Kline, Mathematics in Western Culture

What’s Your Homeschool Mom Personality? Take Jamie’s quiz now and receive a free personality report to help you organize your homeschool based on what your personality type needs most!

SH #111: Don’t Make Math a Misery

Jamie C. Martin — Tue, 09 May 2023 13:03:38 +0000

SH #111: Don’t Make Math a Misery ~
Written by Jamie C. Martin of Simple Homeschool and Introverted Moms

Welcome back to a new episode of the Simple Homeschool podcast, continuing this year’s series with my 18-year-old son Jonathan!

Jonathan was homeschooled from K-12th grade/graduation and today we are answering a question that came in from Danielle: What you did for math with your kids at various ages?

Don’t Make Math a Misery

In Episode 111, you’ll hear us discuss:

How much we love Family Ties (doesn’t have to do with math, but still fun
How long we waited to require formal math and what we did instead in the early years
The disconnect a lot of young kids feel when it comes to math that isn’t relevant in their daily lives
The practical tools & curricula we used for math in various phases of homeschooling

Click here to stream/download Episode 111! Find it wherever you listen to podcasts and subscribe so you’ll be notified when we release another in a couple of weeks.

Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

Thanks to our sponsors: FORM Fitness and Night Zookeeper!
Are our voices an encouragement? Buy us a tea!
A Different Way to Look at Math
Out of the Box Math Inspiration
Read Your Way to a Love of Math: 50 Titles for Ages 4-12
Create Your Own Math Playground
Homeschooling 101: What to Teach and When to Teach It
Teaching Textbooks
My Fun Science and CTCMath
Follow Jamie on Instagram and Facebook
QUIZ: What’s Your Homeschooling Mom Personality?

Do you have a homeschooling question for Jonathan or me to answer in an upcoming episode? If so, leave it in a comment on this post or email it to me at jamie@simplehomeschool.net with the subject line “Podcast Question” and we’ll see what we can do!

* Listen to more episodes of the Simple Homeschool podcast here.

* Click here for the auto-generated transcript of this episode.

What’s Your Homeschool Mom Personality? Take Jamie’s quiz now and receive a free personality report to help you organize your homeschool based on what your type needs most!

What we did for math week

Kara Fleck — Thu, 22 Jun 2017 10:00:04 +0000

Written by Kara Fleck.

Remember how I told you part of our summer learning was going to include a mini-math intensive?

Well, I did it, friends: Math Week!

And we all lived to tell the tale. Well, okay, as I write this we have one more day to go, but the week has been a good one and I’m assuming will end well.

Who: my four kids, ages 5 to 15
What: a week focused on math
Where: our living room, kitchen, backyard, and the grocery store
Why: because I felt we could all use a week of concentrating on our math skills without having to divide our focus with any other subjects
How: casually, with no pressure, for an hour every day plus extras

So, how did it go? There might have been a few sighs and “Professor Snape” comments at the beginning of the first day.

But, it didn’t take long before we were all having a good time. Yes, really!

Math notebooks

For one hour every morning we used a timer and had some kitchen table math time. I even varied the type of timer we used and we took turns setting them, keeping with the math and numbers theme.

We used this time to create our interactive math notebooks.

My vision is that, similar to our history timelines, the kids are building a good resource and reference book for themselves.

Each child has a blank notebook and we worked on them by either copying entries from our math dictionaries or by using these workbooks.

*Note: the workbooks are intended to be photographed for classroom use, as the instructions are printed on the back of the pages that you need to cut out and paste. To work around this I purchased two of each workbook: one we used for the instructions and one as a consumable for the pages we colored, cut, and glued into our math notebooks.

Reading

We also pulled all of our math related books from the bookshelves, from biographies to stories to picture books. I encouraged both free reading and reading aloud together.

I shared some of these books on my Instagram feed. Jamie also has a great post with some math book ideas for kids ages 4 to 12 if you’re looking for more inspiration.

Real world experience

We’re doing some projects around the house, so Math Week was a great excuse to get the kids involved. They got to practice using tape measures and levels. We got to practice our “handyman math” figuring out how much paint was needed for a project and what our budget for supplies should be.

Speaking of budgets, we took the kids grocery shopping, which isn’t all that unusual. However, this time we involved each family member in menu planning, coupon and sales matching, pricing items and more. There’s a LOT of math at the grocery store!

We also did cooking and baking, which is my favorite way to get fractions experience. Brownies, apple pie, and pizza were a delicious way to learn!

Videos

We watched a few different videos throughout the week. Here are some of our favorites:

Donald Duck in Mathamagic Land
Mathtacular 1 & 2 (we’re hoping to add 3 and 4 to our collection)
The TED Talk on the Mathamagician

We laughed a little bit during the part at the beginning of the Mathamagician TED Talk where he asked if anyone had a calculator with them (it is from 2005). These days everyone who has a phone in their pocket has a calculator!

Speaking of math videos, The Great Math Mystery keeps coming up in our recommendations. Have any of you watched it with your kids? What did they think? My older kids and I may watch it soon.

Games

When I announced this plan, we got so many good recommendations from all of you for games we will be playing well into the summer and beyond.

This week we played Uno, Yahtzee, and our fractions puzzles. Online, we used ABC Mouse and some games we found via lessons on Easy Peasy All In One Homeschool’s site.

We did some flashcard practice, too. I collect vintage flashcards and the kids like helping me look for these at yard sales and the thrift store. It was fun to them to put some of these treasures to use.

Unfortunately the rain ruined some of my outdoor math plans for the week. We did take advantage of one sunny day and made a skip-counting hopscotch. This was so simple, but such a hit that my 9 year old wants to make an even bigger one with more numbers. Deal, kiddo!

All in all, having a week devoted to math was a success. I feel like this will be a good “bridge” as we transition grade levels. I feel refreshed as a math teacher, too.

Math is everywhere, after all, and there are so many fun things we haven’t tried yet!

What’s so great about Life of Fred?

Jamie C. Martin — Mon, 12 Sep 2016 10:00:16 +0000

This post contains affiliate links.

Written by Jamie Martin of Simple Homeschool and Steady Mom

If you’ve been homeschooling for long, you may have run across a math curriculum called Life of Fred. All of a sudden it seems to be taking the homeschooling online world by storm!

Here’s a short description of it:

“Life of Fred is a series of math books that break the old pattern of drill and kill. Instead of nothing but dry exposition and endless exercises, they contain fun stories about Fred Gauss, a child prodigy math genius.

During his hilarious adventures, he encounters natural situations that call for solving math problems. Children actually want to read these books!”

I first mentioned Life of Fred on this blog back in 2012, and what I said then I still agree with:

What I like about Life of Fred

I had heard such wonderful things about Life of Fred for high school math students that I was thrilled when I heard the author had completed a series for elementary-aged kids.

I love the way the math is naturally integrated into Fred’s life, showing the importance of it in day-to-day life:

The chapters are laugh-out-loud funny and I often get asked to read “just one more.” Each section in the elementary titles ends with a series of questions, followed by the answers to check after you turn the page.

I’ve never been a huge fan of math workbooks and worksheets, so the combination of math and story is a major win in my books!

We have the entire set of ten elementary Fred math books as well as the intermediate math set of three. The math program goes all the way up to college prep math and a new title also covers chemistry.

Recently the author has branched out into Language Arts and beginning readers for littles!

I find my kids even pick Fred off the shelf just to read for fun. What other curriculum can you say that about?!

As I’ve written before, Life of Fred is also an excellent choice for those who would like to approach math differently, but live in a state that requires you to document your instruction.

The cheapest place to buy Life of Fred

One of my favorite aspects about Life of Fred is that, unlike many math programs, it is not consumable. Therefore the sturdy hardback books should last through as many children as you have!

The cheapest place I’ve found Life of Fred online is through Educents, a site offering daily deals on homeschooling and educational resources. I bought my first few Fred titles elsewhere, but since then I’ve taken advantage of the savings from Educents when I need to order more.

If you’ve been interested in/curious about Fred, stock up now and you’ll be set for years to come, for all your kids!

Have you used any Life of Fred titles in your homeschool? What has been your family’s experience with it?