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Welcome to our monthly Spotlight on Five!
 | Sarah Dugger
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This month's Spotlight focuses on math. Enjoy an article by guest columnist Sarah Dugger. Sarah is a pastor's wife and busy mom. She has been married to her husband Andr� since 1986, and they have six children. She has taught in both public and private schools and currently homeschools her three children who have not yet graduated. Sarah is a contributor to many areas of TOS including the TOS Homeschool Crew, Molly's Digest, and The Old Schoolhouse� Magazine. You can follow her blog at http://www.myhomeschoolcrewreviews.blogspot.com/.
Why Do I Need to Study Math? "Why do I need to study math, Mom?" This is a question I hear frequently. It is such a shame that children have a difficult time realizing the practicality of a good working knowledge of mathematics. What do you do in your homeschooling to help your kids enjoy math and appreciate its usefulness? We have been incorporating math concepts in our home since our kids were babies. We began by singing counting songs and doing finger plays. It seems that those aren't nearly as popular now as they were when I had preschoolers. Preschool Rainbow has a lot of lyrics and teacher directions for finger play/activity songs for virtually any subject, math included. They are a great means of reinforcing early math concepts.
As our kids have gotten older, we have tried to show the usefulness of math beyond a textbook. We use math in cooking, naturally, but we also use math as we drive down the road. One of our favorite activities is to look at the temperature on the car thermometer and practice converting it from Fahrenheit to Celsius in our heads. Then we check our answers by changing the thermometer to metric and see whose answer is the closest. We also practice converting mileages from miles to feet or to yards. For an extra challenge, we convert miles to kilometers or meters. Our children have been making small purchases at stores since they were old enough to add and subtract. Their challenge is to calculate the amount of change they should receive before they are handed the change. Then they check the amount they are given to see if it is correct. It is very interesting to watch the reaction of a checker at the grocery store when a third grader corrects his math! Right now we are in the midst of struggling with the importance of geometry. We are trying to use practical applications of geometry with activities such as calculating square footage of a potential garden plot, calculating the amount of concrete needed for a patio area, and using geometric and map skills together to plot outings. It is a struggle to make this subject seem crucial, but we are making progress. I am always looking for ways to make these more difficult subjects relevant and fun! There is a vast array of math curricula and helps available for homeschoolers. With advances in technology, math need not be just textbooks and paper anymore. Many students excel with that type of curriculum, but some students prefer the computer-driven types of curriculum. There are even apps for electronic devices that help children practice math skills through games, videos, and practice exercises. Does your family use only textbooks? Do you use a combination of texts and technology? Do you use just computer programs for math? Is math a comfortable subject for you to teach or do you use a tutor or co-op for math? We would love to know how you are making math fun and relevant for your kids. Send your stories to [email protected]. |
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June Spotlight on Math!
Featuring:
IXL Math
MathCelebrity
MathTacular
Stern Math LLC
Addition & Multiplication Teaching & Learning Made Easy
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IXL Math
The Web's #1 Math Practice Site
 IXL Math offers complete coverage of math curriculum from Pre-K-Algebra. With an infinite number of practice problems in more than 2,000 skills, you will have content to reinforce every concept you tackle in your lessons!
Membership benefits:
- Unlimited access to all grade levels.
- Aligned to each state's standards and the Common Core.
- Questions that adapt to your child's ability, increasing in difficulty as they improve.
- Immediate feedback and question-specific explanations to solidify understanding of each concept.
- Informative, detailed reports so you can monitor your child's progress, improvement, trouble spots, and more!
- Audio for all pre-K through first-grade skills.
- Weekly e-mail updates on your child's progress.
- Awards and certificates for you to print out as your child reaches important milestones.
Try IXL free! Visit www.IXL.com to practice 20 free questions.
Family memberships start at just $9.95/month! To learn more, click here.
"This program has allowed our family to really take math on with full force. The kids ask to 'play it.' It has been an amazing addition to their schooling needs. They have moved up almost a grade level in their math and are retaining all the information." - Homeschooler
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MathCelebrity
MathCelebrity is an automated online math tutor where you enter your math problem or search term, push a button, and every single line of work is shown to you in less than one second. Our website spans multiple countries and grade levels because we show all the detail for you to solve a variety of math problems.
We cover all grade levels up through College. With over 395 lessons, 25 subjects, 200 quiz generators, and 900 mathematical concepts, we are the go to resource for math tutoring. Need a lesson that we do not have? Our average turnaround time for a request is 24 hours. There are no time or geographic constraints. What good is the answer if you do not understand how to get there?
With the steps required to solve a problem being shown instantly, it frees up time for a parent to assist in providing further instruction. The benefit of this site for parents is that they can be the center of attention for student retention.
All readers of The Old Schoolhouse� Magazine receive an all access free trial through June 15. Username: oldschool Password: mathcelebrity
The Old Schoolhouse� Magazine readers who sign up for a paid license for 1 month or more in the month of June will receive 20% off. Discount Code: OLDSCHOOL
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MathTacular
 Are your children bored with math? Are they afraid of it? Do they hate it? MathTacular is the answer. Using creative real-world examples, MathTacular is the easy way to sneak in some Unbelievably Understandable Math™ into the heads and hearts of your kids. And best of all? It's a lot of fun!
MathTacular is an easy to use DVD-based math adventure. Our math tour guide, "Professor" Justin, will delight you and your children as he and his friends find themselves facing amusing problems that only math can solve.
Don't think you're ready to teach your children math? With MathTacular you don't have to be a math expert - the DVD does it all for you. Just press "play" and get started! You and your children will have an enjoyable time learning about math together.
MathTacular makes math fun. Whether you're hunting "bears" with Justin, learning about symmetry, or looking for patterns, MathTacular will help your children think - and smile. Not only that, they'll learn some great math.
Math videos featuring boring "talking heads" just don't add up. That's why MathTacular makes math fun through memorable examples, manipulatives, and a good dose of humor. Perfect for children ages 4 through 11!
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Stern Math LLC
 Stern Math offers highly effective manipulatives for the insightful grasp of mathematical concepts for home-schooled children in ways that supports their quest to become autonomous learners.
Pupils experiment with colorful wooden blocks that fit into boxes and grooves. The approach is based on reasoning and insight - not on rote learning and counting. Children are able to correct their own errors. They can see what is wrong with their mistakes e.g. the 5-block plus the 6-block is too long to fit in the 10-box, and thereby recognize that the solution is in the direction of selecting a smaller block to discover for themselves that 5+5=10. Freed from the discouraging experience of frequently being corrected, children become excellent students of math with a strong sense of themselves as problem solvers.
Stern Structural Arithmetic is a comprehensive program for teaching mathematics and number sense to children from Pre-K to fourth grade. It can bolster the confidence and competence of even older children who may have missed the opportunity to discover the underlying concepts for themselves.
The materials and workbooks can be used independently or in conjunction with other programs.
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Addition & Multiplication Teaching & Learning Made Easy
Mary Pride says, "Excellent, easy to follow, and
very affordable."
"The publisher listened to us and came out with a
home edition."
"A simple, effective philosophy of how to teach
the facts."
- Mastery of the addition and multiplication facts in
6 weeks. - Only 36 facts to memorize
- Children do not count on their fingers
- Children move to division and fractions with ease
The layout of this program is so simple. Parents start by explaining that multiplication means adding the same number again and again. Using a multiplication table show your students that they do not need to memorize many of the facts like 0 times, 1 times and 10 times since simple rules govern these facts. Duplicates are learned at the same time, commutative property, 4x3=3x4. At this point, there are only 36 facts left to memorize, a far cry from 120 multiplication facts in a table and 100 facts in an addition table. As parents, "Your Babies" are going to love you and me for telling them this secret. Lastly, they concentrate on the 36 facts that they will memorize, 6 facts per week for 6 weeks.
www.mathmadeeasy.org
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