Homeschool Math Blog

Here's a neat little game that you can play online or purchase the physical version: Rush Hour ( hat tip goes to Bon ). The goal is to free one of the vehicles  (the red one in the image) and let it slide out of the board. You simply slide the pieces in the direction of their orientation--either up/down or right/left. Thinking of it as "rush hour" or traffic jam is a neat idea! Play Rush Hour online here . I played it a little while; it was fun! Takes some logical thinking. You can purchase the physical game at Amazon. It features four levels of difficulty, with 40 challenges. There are normal and junior versions. Rush Hour Rush Hour Junior

A new book for the Math Mammoth Blue Series topical books.... South African Money . This book covers counting South African coins (rand and cents), solving simple money problems, counting change, and adding money amounts. The cost as a download is $3.25 USD . See these free sample pages: (PDF) Contents Practicing with Coins Counting Change Rand Adding Money Amounts I hope this is of help to our homeschooling friends in South Africa! And teachers too!

I have created a two-page worksheet that I'm offering here as a free download: Patterns in Pascal's Triangle . It is intended for about 4th grade level, so it doesn't go through all possible patterns found in Pascal's triangle, but just some simple ones: the sums of the rows, counting numbers in a diagonal, and triangular numbers. And of course the triangle itself! And in this link you can read about MANY more patterns in Pascal's Triangle -- such as magic 11's, square numbers, Fibonacci's sequence, and the "hockey stick pattern." Enjoy!

My kids have recently fallen in love with lapbooks, and have done several science & history related ones. I got to thinking, there aren't that many MATH lapbooks available... but there IS one math topic that suits lapbooking very well, and that is GEOMETRY . Now, while I don't actually have a geometry lapbook for you, I found some places where you can get one: Geometry Lapbook at Homeschool Bin - this seems to be a completely free download (in several parts). Adventures of  Third Grade Teacher is selling a geometry lapbook for $3. Then, if you feel a lapbook (a foldable) is too extensive a project, here's a simpler one: a geometry notebook or journal . This simply means that for each new TERM in the geometry curriculum or chapter, the student explains that term and draws the corresponding figure, using 1-2 blank pages. In the end, the student will have his/her very own geometry book to keep and show around! Here's one parent's example of doing...

Math Mammoth downloads and CDs are on SALE at Kagi store till August 20, 2012! Use the coupon code AUGUSTSALE at Kagi store to get 25% off! You can either go to http://www.mathmammoth.com first, then find the links to Kagi's order pages. OR, use these direct links to the order pages:   ~ Light Blue series (the complete curriculum)   ~ Blue series   ~ Golden and Green Series   ~ Make It Real Learning workbooks   ~ Bundles (CDs or downloads) Sincerely, Maria Miller

I've recently added a whole slew of new Make It Real Learning activity workbooks to my site (I have had some already). These workbooks concentrate on answering the age-old question, " When am I ever going to use this (math)? " SALE! Get Make It Real Learning workbooks 25% off at Kagi store . Use coupon AUGUSTSALE. Coupon valid till August 20, 2012. OR BETTER YET! Get a whole bundle of them up to 50% off at Homeschool Buyers Co-op's group buy (runs till the end of August) The workbooks contain activities or problem situations taken from real-life , with real data . Some examples of the situations are: cell phone plans, autism, population growth, cooking, borrowing money, credit cards, life spans, music downloads, etc. etc. As students work through the problems, they can use the math skills and concepts they have learned in their math curriculum (such as the concept of average or graphing), and apply those to a situation from real-life. Free sa...

This sale is for the PRINTED books and CDs for the Light Blue Series, and lasts all August. Click to visit Math Mammoth books at Rainbow Resource Center . --

Denise at Let's Play Math has been discussing delaying formal arithmetic, as based on Benezet's experiment in the early 1900s. I have read the whole story ( The Teaching of Arithmetic I: The Story of an experiment ) and it's a FASCINATING though long read! These kids ended up having superior math skills in middle school. Anyhow, Denise has highlighted some points of this "experiment" and you might enjoy her posts: Delayed arithmetic Personally, I do like to introduce "formal" or paper-pencil arithmetic earlier than Benezet did... as is customary in today's culture, BUT it's beneficial to be aware of how things can work without it also! You might get some ideas to use in your own teaching.

Mathletics is an online math practice program/curriculum that I have reviewed in the past. Now, they have a special offer for bloggers: We are offering a simple and elegant exchange: some of your time and experience in exchange for free access (3 months) to the award-winning Mathletics. All that we ask is that you try the latest version of Mathletics and let others know about your experience and your successes. Sign Up Here: http://eepurl.com/m8GLj 3P Learning will provide: Free Mathletics access for a period of 3 months for up to 3 students (preferably students in your household) A personalized Parent Center allowing you to see results and to access additional E-books Administrative and technical support Curriculum adjustments to ensure the students are always working at their skill level What they’re looking for:   Creative and original blog entries (100 to 500 words) describing your and your students’ experience with Mathletics. These may be written...