UuVareations

At a recent homeschool gathering, I had the opportunity to speak to many parents concerning paths to think “Outside the Books”, when it comes to our homeschooling. I wasn’t suggesting never using textbooks or changing programs, but more accurately, helping them appreciate that there are lots of ways to “explain what you know”. It is also vital for us to assist our youngsters see that authentic learning happens all of the time, not merely while they are filling out worksheets or sitting at our college desk.

1 tactic we have added a little bit of spice to our homeschooling over the years is by way of a weekly mathematics Lab day. On one day I plan for us to put the math program on the bookshelf and do selected hands-on education by way of games, crafts, for example. Mathematics Lab days are also great for using maths software you have sitting around, but may never get round to using. Or how about those maths games you have purchased, but generally stay on the bookshelf picking up dust?

Just what categories of things are you able to do on Math Lab Day? I am glad you asked!
Small children

* Counting games with candy, Legos, or anything more you may have lying around.
* “War” with a regular deck of cards or make your own deck with numbers to 100 and maybe a “wild card” or 2 to make things more exciting.
* If you have them, Snap Cubes ( a well-liked manipulative ) are really good to play with, making “trains” of different color patterns. You start the pattern, and your youngster adds on to the train following the pattern. Then let them start a pattern and you finish it.
* Any board game that requires dice and counting.
* Use standard and non-standard items to determine things around the house. “Hey, Mom, were you aware the pussy is fifty paper clips long?”
* Kitchen - baking includes using heaps of real life fractions - while you’re at it,how about sharing the “fruits” of your mathematics lesson with a neighbor!
* Play store

Elementary through Middle college

* math with Literature! We adore Sir Cumference, A Place for 0, Equal Schmequal, and other titles in the maths adventure series.
* Our favourite maths games are S’math and Knock Out! From Muggin’s mathematics - we just got their new fraction games, too.
* Board games, including Monopoly, PayDay!, Sequence and more.
* Card games like UNO and War. A favorite is to use flashcards with math facts as our “war” deck.
* Videos : Multiplication Rock, money Rock
* Play store and plenty of the other activities from the above list
* If you’ve got any of the handheld, electronic mathematics toys, Lab Day is a good time to make certain they’re put to use
* computer games - money Town, mathematics Blaster, and so on.
* Shop for activities from “Family Math”, “Math for Smarty Pants” or “Games for Learning Math.”
* Plan an imaginary trip and use a map to figure how many miles you will travel.
* For kids interested in the stock market, you can use Lab Day every week to trace and check on two stocks, plotting their progress on a graph.

One extra idea that we’ve implemented, not only for Lab Day, but as a technique to add some more real life application to our maths lessons is the “Mommy Bank”. I gave every one of my youngsters a blank check or savings registry book. Their allowance is “directly deposited” into their Mommy deposit account. They have to tally up the total every week. They also deposit money received for their birthday, wierd roles, and so on. When they purchase something, I pay for it and we take it from their account in the Mommy Bank. Naturally, older kids often wish to keep their money with them, but this works rather well when they’re younger or for those kids who are not yet prepared to carry around money. Find kids learn to read cd’s to help

The above lists are simply a few of the stuff we have done on math Lab Day over time. Writing this piece has reminded me that my private homeschooling has fallen into a bit of a groove. Sounds like tomorrow needs to be an “Outside the Book” sort of day! Buy learn to read for kids software here.
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