Math Manipulation

Math is not my subject! I have had to take algebra twice and just now, in my 30s, am I learning to get a handle on variables, fractions, and the Pythagorean theory. Teaching my son math has been a challenge, one which I am thankful to have my husband help me with. In our home writing and history are my fortes while science and math is his. 

Recently, Tristan had expressed an interest in both computer programming (currently he thinks being  a video game designer would awesome) and to pursue possibilities in these career choices I explained that he will need more rigorous math practice. For my own college I have had familiarity with Aleks and since I am currently in an algebra class I figured I would let him try out my program. He is ready for algebra and found Aleks straight forward and easy to use. I personally think it is an all around program good for higher math above 5th grade and I was happy to find that they also have a homeschool subscription option. 

For all grade levels though, math can be a difficult curriculum to teach. Even homeschool parents with a college education may find that they haven't been in school in a while and are rusty in their skills. If you are not confident with your own skills, then you will find that it is exceedingly difficult to teach another. It may be helpful to find a good math program and learn the skills again with your child so while they may not have you as a teacher you can work together. 

Ultimately, what is important is finding the right math curriculum for your child and one that will enable them to learn without being so challenging that they give up. Even for unschooling families that may not do regular book work and prefer experiential training, finding an online option, games, and skill worksheets can help once their kids find an interest or need for math in their lives. I am wanting to share some of the sites that I have found helpful and will be developing a full article with more in depth resources later. 

For now, here are some tried and true sites that are great starting points for math learning of any level: 

• Math Games    Cool Math games for the younger crowd. Has adding, division, money, multiplication, fractions and more. 

• ALEKS Link to the homeschool page to find out more information for a subscription for your family

• Math Resources Federal resources page. Has links for higher math educationals, workbooks, and on-line lesson plans for algebra, measurements, geometry, trigonometry, and advanced math. 
• Khan Academy Visual online lectures of just about any subject. Get a professor in your home for free! 
• Practical Math Mathgoodies.com offers practical applications for higher math and a bunch of other tools! 
• Worksheets - K-5 Lower level math worksheets - adding, fractions, order of operations, counting, money and more 
• More Worksheets - K-5 Simple and straightforward worksheets. Create your own worksheets. 
• Math Drills Multiple drill worksheets for all math levels 

There are many, many, many more links out there and please feel free to share. These are just some of my favorite tools and ones I have used here for our lessons. If there is one that your family uses routinely or have tried and liked then let us know! 

Wordle for Learning

For those of you that are looking for creative ways to help your kids remember topics that they are learning, I would like to share with you one tool that I have recently added to our homeschool curriculum. I like to have options when it comes to note taking. While I encourage Cambridge note formats as I know from my own experience that they will allow you to take notes in a college setting, I also think that it is important to create creative ways to engage the brain. Wordle is one such tool that can assist your learning endeavors while keeping your kids technology savvy.

Wordle is a tool with one main purpose: To create an image based on the inputted words. You can create a wordle for just about anything. I have actually used it a number of times over the last year for work. Here is a sample of a wordle I created for my writing business, The Articulating Goddess.

 

By looking at the image I am sure you can get some idea of what kind of work that I do. It hit me last week that I could use this for school lessons. Why not? I actually learned about the program in one of my own college classes and I think it is a great tool to utilize to get your kids thinking about the words they are trying to learn. For example, when doing a history assignment on the Salem Witch Trials, we created this wordle together. 

To create your own wordle on any subject, there are a couple of ways to do it. 

First, you want to go to WORDLE

To create a new wordle, click on CREATE. 

You can do a couple of things next. 

1. Insert typed notes on a topic, an essay, or a personal writing in the upper box. 
2. Type words about your topic in the upper box.  
3. Link to a website of your choosing and allow wordle to utilize the RSS feed in order to establish a word pattern for your image. 

Once you have inserted your words, you will click 'submit' or 'go', depending on which input format that you chose. It's interesting because the tool will take the words from your writing, notes, or website, and input them into the wordle tool and pull out the most common words. It will automatically leave out common words such as the, and, or... or... 

You can create the format, change the colors, and customize your wordle. Once you decide that you like it then you are done. It can be difficult to copy the page and in fact, the tool will not allow you to simply save the image. Personally, I always just to a print screen and then paste to paint and crop it to save it. That's the simplest way that I have found. 

The tool can be printed and added to any lapbooks, posters, or notebooks. It adds color and creativity with the words that certainly verifies merit for the tool. 

We would love to see some of your creations! Try it out and let me know if you like it or what you used it for! 

Happy Wordling!

December 7th - The day that will live in infamy...

December 7, 1941 was the day of my grandfather's birth. My grandmother, MaMaw as we called her, used to tell me that good people were born on this day to balance out the evil of D-Day. I don't think it was until Sept. 11 happened that as an American I could really understand the impact that Pearl Harbor had on America. Sure, I had heard stories. I watched the documentaries and even stomached Ben Affleck's performance in the Hollywood Tribute, "Pearl Harbor". 

It seems to me that few of my generation... and those younger than me... can truly understand this day. For that reason, I'm going to start with just a brief recap. December 7, 1941 was the day the Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese. They had made a careful strike against our Navy as a way to protect themselves from what they thought was a potential threat. Whether or not they were right in their fear or there were other motives involved, many people lost their lives that day. Many more lost their lives as the US retaliated. Because the bulk of the naval fleet and submarines were not stationed at Pearl Harbor at the time of the planned attack, which is a bit of a miracle itself, American forces were able to keep their arsenal and the damage that was intended did not happen. This attack on American soil did have long standing repercussions. The US officially entered into WWII which changed the direction of history for our country and those around the world. 

Today is an important day to recall and a good topic to discuss this week as a look into history. Consider an open discussion and research about D-Day with your kids. I've included some of the links to previous lesson plans and blogs that I have used before. Please feel free to share some of your ideas for your homeschooling curriculum for this important day as well! 

Lesson Plan Ideas: 

• Journal Entry: Imagine that you are witnessing the attack at Pearl Harbor. Research for the time that the first bombing took place and describe what you were doing and how you reacted. 
• Watch a documentary on Pearl Harbor and WWII 
• National Geographic - visit this site for a look and informative online presentation about this day in history
•  Visit the WWII Museum in New Orleans page for great learning tools and information! http://www.nationalww2museum.org/learn/education/for-students/
• For all grade levels Scholastic has a great learning program that is developed for multiple age groups