My 5th grade son is not interested in his on-line math assignments from school. How about your kids? (Insert the ubiquitous laughing-so-hard-I'm-crying-emoji-here. Or maybe I'm crying so hard, I'm laughing?) The following is what we tried last week, and it worked very well. My son enjoys and succeeds in "school" math in general, and he... Continue Reading →
Don't read this if your children are happily following their regular school math curriculum at home. Do read this if you need to be reassured that the activities your children prefer to do may actually have educational value. Right now, my children prefer to play board games.** And not the board games I like. Today... Continue Reading →
Recently, some hometown friends and I were reminiscing about a favorite 8th grade science teacher. I'm sure we learned chemistry well that year, but what we really recall and appreciate were the constellations and the birds. Each week, we were required to accurately color a black and white drawing of a bird and to identify... Continue Reading →
Right about now we're all realizing how truly skilled our schoolteachers are. Even I am eating a little humble pi. (We could all use some humor today, even if it's a lowly pun.) Yes, I think I am a good teacher...but I am a good HIGH SCHOOL teacher. I like having a group of kids... Continue Reading →
"Look! Look what I made! It's a snowflake!" cried out one child. "See what I'm doing! There are so many of me!" exclaimed another. "Mine looks like a flower...no!...now it looks like the sun!" These were the sounds of a wonderful day with my preschool Math Explorers class. Ten 4-year-olds excitedly investigating and playing with... Continue Reading →
Now that both my children are school-aged, I am challenged to find mathy moments that will support their "school math" while also being interesting, engaging, and creative. I want to help them with the curriculum they are learning at school, AND I want them to enjoy playing with math. As they get older, I can... Continue Reading →
Memorizing multiplication tables is one of those walls in math. Kids either scale it or struggle with it, and if you're a kid who struggles with it, it will become the thing that holds you back even though you may understand the higher order math processes that you learn later. Some people brush this struggle... Continue Reading →
"Mom! Give me your phone, and I also need the iPad!" Excuse me? Before I flipped out on the 10-year-old, I suggested he rephrase his "requests" and put some explanation to it all. "Oh. Right. May I please* use your phone and the iPad? I was telling Johnny** about that Zeno's Paradox thing, and I want... Continue Reading →
I sometimes think that great mathy moments with my kids must require a certain amount of planning and preparation. But they don't. Not always. The following version of the simple game Memory is familiar but with a twist to reinforce your child's recall of 10 addition facts. Here's what to do: Get a deck of... Continue Reading →
It's past midyear in the school cycle, and time to check in again with your child's teacher if you haven't. Most likely you have only had one official "Parent / Teacher Conference" up to this point. That just may be the only one you get! (If your child attends a school with more than one... Continue Reading →
mathy moments 