Here’s a fun little math trick to show the kids. Polish hand magic is named after a hand trick that someone posted on the internet years ago that they had supposedly learned from a Polish friend. It is basically a way to multiply larger numbers using your fingers. You use your fist and fingers to […]
Looking for some hands-on ways for kids to work on multiplication, fractions, ratios, algebra and more? There are so many great ways to work on these skills with kids besides worksheets and textbooks. Here are 50+ great ways for kids to learn math from games and real life: (Note: This was supposed to be 50, […]
Note: This is an article that ran on my homeschooling column at Examiner around 2009 titled “Long Division Is So Last Century.” Last week a fellow homeschooling mother told me that her sons were struggling some days with long division. I cringed and admitted we had not even started on the subject at our house. […]
Math seems to trigger some ancient fight-or-flight mechanism in some otherwise brilliant children. This irrational fear of math can cause kids who don’t feel good at the subject to avoid doing it, leading to a snowball effect of more avoidance, falling farther behind and feeling more panic about not understanding it (and more avoidance). Luckily, […]
Who needs to stick to a boring old math curriculum? There are some really great books for hands-on math fun. Math Games Lab for Kids: 24 Fun, Hands-On Activities for Learning with Shapes, Puzzles, and Games by Rebecca Rapoport is definitely a fun one to check out with your kiddos. I read an advanced reader […]
Weather trees are great ways to incorporate art, nature studies, science and even math into a fun daily project. Here’s a free printable weather tree for February to help your kids track the month’s weather. Kids can assign a different color to each weather type, then color one leaf each day to show that day’s […]
Continuing in our series of absolutely free curricula in every subject for every grade, here’s a round-up of resources for math, science, history, language arts and more that are absolutely free for third grade. (Note from Alicia: This post was compiled as part of a series for my homeschooling column at Examiner, which is no […]
Wikijunior has created a free geometry wikibook for the elementary level that’s a great introduction to geometry for all ages. The 72-page book, Geometry for Elementary School, covers basic information such as points, lines, symmetry, congruence, how to bisect an angle and the Pythagorean Theorum. It is intended for beginner readers, meaning any age will […]
Homeschooling in the middle school years doesn’t have to be expensive. There are many outstanding curricula for math, science, history, language arts and more that are absolutely free. Here are some of the best free resources for 7th graders in each subject. Note: This is a tiny fraction of what’s available online for free […]
Fall is right around the corner and there are so many wonderful ways to learn with this season. Here’s one fun way to do math with fall nature items, from my book, A Magical Homeschool: Nature Studies (52 Wonderful Ways to Use Nature Studies in Every Season to Teach Science, Math, Art and More). Nature […]
Looking for some resources to help teach algebra? There are some really phenomenal ones online, absolutely free. Here are some of the best. (Note that some sites offer multiple types of resources, but are listed in the section of their greatest strengths. For instance, CK-12 is listed under free textbooks but it also provides free […]
Here’s a fantastic free resource that helps kids love math and want to play with it! Prodigy is an online game that incorporates grade 1-8 math into a fantasy world where kids cast spells, collect pets and win battles by using their math skills. Over 10,000 teachers use Prodigy for free math practice for their […]
Here’s a wonderful free resource to help high school students (or advanced younger kids) practice their math skills. prACTice 4 success is a PDF workbook intended to offer high school students who have completed algebra and geometry practice on problems similar to those encountered on the math portion of the ACT. Authors Jeremy Aikin and […]
Many Americans are intrigued by Finland’s high international math scores and want to replicate their success here, with more and more people asking how to institute Finland’s curriculum in their own schools and even in their homeschools. The surprising news is that Finland doesn’t teach math in a novel way or have a trick that […]
Right now, we finally have nice weather in southern Minnesota and it would be nearly criminal to have the kids sitting inside doing anything, even educational stuff! That said, everybody needs cooling off times and it’s great to have some educational fun on hand for rainy days. Here’s ten sites with games, activities, drills and […]
Here are some great ways for the kids to play (and learn) in every subject from right at home today. These online games are all free and require no special downloads or installations other than basics like Java or Adobe Flash Player in some instances. Math: Zeus’ Petals teaches kids multiplication skills. The game says: […]
We design our own lapbooks about 90% of the time. While it can take more time in terms of research and planning, there are many advantages. The kids learn more doing the research themselves, they feel a greater sense of ownership, it allows for more creativity, it can be tailored to the child’s age and […]
Looking for a creative way to jump start homeschooling or to just combat cabin fever? Here are ten challenges to offer the kids. Writing: Write a short story about a superhero whose superpowers lead to accidental, funny consequences. Write one page about the best or worst day you ever had. Do free writing for 3 […]
PBS LearningMedia classrooms has announced a great new iPad app for K-12 students that is absolutely free. Designed specifically for students in grades K-12, the app provides access to thousands of resources covering all subject areas, from math and science to English and social studies. The PBS Student app allows kids to watch and learn […]
Do you have a Lego lover in your house? Legos are great for learning when they’re used as building tools, but there are also all sorts of great lesson plans on the web to use them in even more educational ways. From chemistry models to creative writing prompts to symmetry challenges, there are fabulous lesson […]
The internet is filled with fabulous educational videos, but finding them can be tricky. Enter WatchKnowLearn, which gathers these videos from the internet and puts them in one organized, searchable place. The site currently offers about 50,000 videos on everything from osmosis to table manners to sign language to the philosophy of numbers. The website, […]
Recently, a homeschooling mother wrote that she was looking for ways to incorporate more math into her homeschool. Zany word problems are a fun way to do that. Whenever we give math problems to our kids, we tend to make them rather crazy or fun. Sometimes it’s “mad scientist” math questions, sometimes it’s shopping questions, […]
Here’s a great resource for elementary and middle school math. Math Live is a website developed by Learn Alberta to teach math in a fun way. The online Flash-based application mimics a television set, with math lessons presented as cartoon episodes. Each one is filled with short, interactive segments to really reinforce the topics. […]
It goes without saying that many of our world’s most famous scientists and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) pioneers were home educated back when homeschooling was more common. These include great scientists such as Alexander Graham Bell, Ernst Mach, Pierre Curie, Mary Blackwell, Clara Barton, Joseph Priestley and Thomas Edison (who only lasted three […]
Here’s a great way to combine nature studies, science and math in a really fun way — use crickets to tell the temperature! My husband has been teaching our kids to tell the temperature by counting cricket chirps for years. It sounds like a bit of blarney, but it actually works and scientists have been […]