Homeschool Math Blog

Choosy Homeschooler is holding a little contest where you can win $50 worth of my Math Mammoth books. Click here to enter. This, in fact, has given me an idea to hold a contest of my own. I think I'll do it as a Thanksgiving contest, sometime in November.

I recently created a worksheet generator for Roman numerals . Feel free to use it. Roman numerals is not any major topic in the math curriculum. They are still used in clocks, to number chapters of a book, write year numbers, and such, so students need to study them, even if just briefly. Fortunately it isn't that difficult a topic. Many youngsters might, in fact, be interested in learning about different number systems that have been used in various civilizations over the centuries. I just posted about writing in math class , and this topic would make for an excellent writing project that connects math, writing, and history. Then you wouldn't be doing it just for the sake of learning the math, or the historical facts, but also to practice writing a report or an essay. It's probably the easiest to work into the curriculum if you're homeschooling, because classroom teachers may have to just kind of scurry by the Roman numerals on into the next topic. But even if you'...

This post is inspired by Denise's recent coverage of the topic . Combining writing and math, or using writing in math class is an interesting topic (to me anyway). Most kids probably feel that they are far from each other. Now, if all you do is plow through calculation problems, then of course you're not writing, but at some point students need to be able to write complete solutions to math problems. They need to be able to communicate their thoughts clearly. Here are some ideas for you to get started with writing in math class. Please use your judgment in using these; for some kids it might be counterproductive - for example, if the child hates writing so much that math class is his/her only "refuge" from it. Younger students might enjoy making their own "mini math book" with some calculation problems and a few word problems. (My daughter constantly makes math problems for her stuffed animals : ) ) Math journaling. This means that the student writes a sh...

Please go here to nominate your favorite homeschool blogs for the 2008 Homeschool Blog Awards. There are 24 categories. A blog has to get at least three nominations before it will enter the voting stage. Nominations are accepted till the 24th of October. So if you like my blog... feel free to nominate it. Yours truly is also offering prizes for some of the winners. You can see the full prize list here .

I couldn't resist playing this fun game and you and your kids might not resist it either. Basically you first buy some inventory to make coffee, adjust your coffee recipe (more or less milk, more or less sugar, etc.), define a price, and go selling. These funny animated folks pass by your coffee stand and voice their opinions, whether it's needing more milk or is too pricey or good quality for the price, etc. At the end of each day you'll see a graph of your earnings and of your reputation. Then you go shopping for more inventory and adjusting your recipe and price. The play continues for 14 days. And the weather changes, too. Hoodamath.com/games/coffeeshop.php My daughter wanted to keep the coffee price way too low, like $1.65 or $2.00 and in no time was almost running out of money... : ) My hubby played it for hours. The game practices decision making and analyzing several variables - critical thinking in other words.

For Grades 1-3 16 Blue Series books Price: $34 (download) All in all these books contain about 760 lesson & practice pages. Buy at Kagi Now there's another option to buy the Blue Series books as a package deal: Blue Series Package, Grades 1-3 contains all the Blue Series books appropriate for first, second, and third grade. This is currently priced at $34 and contains these 16 books from the series: Addition 1 Subtraction 1 Add & Subtract 2-A Add & Subtract 2-B Add & Subtract 3 Place Value 1 Place Value 2 Place Value 3 Multiplication 1 Division 1 Clock Measuring Early Geometry Money Canadian Money European Money Introduction to Fractions Learn more!

I found this an interesting read; the study it talks about has found how undervalued math and math skills are in the States. As a result, very few kids want to pursue it. Math Skills Suffer in U.S., Study Finds QUOTE: "The United States is failing to develop the math skills of both girls and boys, especially among those who could excel at the highest levels, a new study asserts, and girls who do succeed in the field are almost all immigrants or the daughters of immigrants from countries where mathematics is more highly valued."

Some worksheet-related news from HomeschoolMath.net site: Grade 5 worksheets - ready-made worksheets, yet different (randomly generated) each time. Decimal worksheets generator just got better. Now you can let the number of decimals vary randomly in the problems. Also includes a bunch of ready-made worksheets that you generate just by clicking on links. Addition worksheet generator got better also. Now you can set the range individually for addends 3-6, and randomly switch all the addends (previously only addends 1 and 2). This page also has some links to click on to make worksheets readily, without actually bothering with the generator itself.

UPDATED! My Decimal worksheets generator just got better. Now you can vary the number of decimals randomly in the problems. Also, the page now includes a bunch of ready-made worksheets that you generate just by clicking on links - what could be easier than that? Of course you can still use the generator to tailor-make worksheets to your exact needs. This generator makes worksheets for decimal addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.