Homeschool Math Blog

I went through and thoroughly updated this article of mine... have you read it in the past? Four basic principles of deeply effective math teaching If you were asked what were the most important principles in mathematics teaching, what would you say? I wasn't really asked, but I started thinking, and came up with these basic habits or principles that can keep your math teaching on the right track. Principle 1: Let It Make Sense Principle 2: Remember the Goals Principle 3: Know Your Tools Principle 4: Living and Loving Math

I received this story in an email and thought it was very encouraging and heart-warming! True story. I asked Scott for his permission to post it online. In the beginning he is referencing this article of mine (I sent it to my list last year): http://www.mathmammoth.com/lessons/value_of_mistakes.php Enjoy... and SHARE . :) Hello Maria, I am just NOW ... today reading this email from about one year ago. I know terrible, but late than never, right. Anyway, I wanted to write you and tell you that like Cameron, I had more than half of my brain removed in 1978. I had brain surgery for an AVM, arterial venus malformation. I had three surgeries total and nearly died. The doctors told my parents that if I lived I would be a vegetable. However, I defied them. I made it to the cover of the Children's Hospital of Sand Diego's December/January 1978/1979​ magazine. They called me the "Miracle Boy". Anyhow, I just thought I'd share. I ha...

Here is the story of one of the Math Moments contest winners. I am sure you will enjoy it as much as I did -- an inspiring story of GROWTH in the face of difficulties! It is amazing how much IS possible! There is nothing more rewarding as a parent to see your child accomplish something that they have been working really hard on. For my husband and I that was doubly rewarding as we really felt our daughter would never really be able to do much in terms of math or reading. We knew that she was on the autistic spectrum from a very young age. For YEARS we would try to teach her to count. For most kids counting to 5 is easy, and something they can at least do by 4 if not younger, and abc's as well. But our precious dd just could not. I would cry at night wondering how she was going to make it in the world without even being able to count to 5 or spell her name or well... anything. My husband told me that as we were home educating it was really ok for me just to let it go. Stop wor...

I have written a new article: Growth mindset and the value of mistakes in math learning In a nutshell, I first explain what is brain plasticity -- the huge potential for our brains to grow -- and then what it means for learning of math: EVERY student CAN learn math. Students need to have a growth mindset where they value mistakes and see them as opportunities for brain growth and learning.

Again, I want to share some thoughts from the How to Learn Math course by Jo Boaler I took recently -- this time about how timed tests and speed affect students in mathematics learning and their "ability" to make mistakes : ). You see, all of our brains actually GROW and make new connections when we make mistakes and think about them. There is no brain growth if you can just sail through a problem set! That is why it is so important for our students to make mistakes -- and then we need to VALUE those mistakes and help them learn from them. People with so-called fixed mindset are usually afraid of making mistakes. We need our students (and ourselves!) to have a GROWTH mindset - the attitude that I'm not perfect nor smart already, but making mistakes helps me learn and grow my brain . Jo has written a book, What's Math Got to Do with It?: How Parents and Teachers Can Help Children Learn to Love Their Least Favorite Subject . I do not have it... but ba...

Recently I have been studying a free, online course titled How to Learn Math by professor Jo Boaler from Standford University. It has been really GREAT - I have really enjoyed it and learned a lot. I would recommend you also take it, if you have the time! But, I am also planning to write about the things I'm learning... in order to help all of us become better teachers. The first thing - and this comes straight from NEUROSCIENCE research - is about PRAISE . The stunning result is that praising children for being SMART or intelligent HINDERS them! Instead, we should praise them (somewhat sparingly) for their effort and hard work , but NOT for being good/smart/great/intelligent. The way it works is this: when you praise a child for being smart, that child comes to BELIEVE it is smart. Then, later on, when a task or problem comes along (and it will!) where the child struggles and cannot do it easily, the child will start shying away from such tasks... for FEAR of bein...