Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

Honest. Quirky. Real. Practical tips, candid reviews, and stereotype-smashing humor for homeschooling families.

Honest. Quirky. Real. Practical tips, candid reviews, and stereotype-smashing humor for homeschooling families.

Using Mini-offices in Your Homeschool

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When my kids were little, mini-offices were all the rage in homeschools and classrooms. A while back, I referred to them in a blog post and was surprised to learn that there are people who have never heard of a mini-office.

I’m not going to lie. It made me feel a little old.

So, I decided that I needed to fix that. I mean, people not knowing about mini-offices. I don’t think there’s much I can do about getting old.

Using Mini-offices in Your Homeschool

What Are Mini-Offices?

Mini-offices are really similar to anchor charts that are all the rage now (with the hip young parents – I didn’t know what they were until last week). A mini-office is two or more file folders glued or stapled together and filled with helpful tips, reference charts, and resources for students.

A mini-office helps a student focus on the task at hand, and the resources inside allow him to work more independently than he might otherwise be able to on his own. He’s got a quick reference for things like the spelling of common words or place value.

Old-school mini-offices are also beneficial to homeschooled kids who often school at the dining room table with several siblings. Because the file folders stand up, they give students some personal space and limit the distraction siblings may cause.

How to Create a Mini-Office

I based the original mini-offices that I created for Josh and Megan on the writing center Brianna used. All you need to create a mini-office is:

  • two or more file folders (I like using the brightly colored ones)
  • Scissors
  • Glue
  • Printables
homeschool mini-offices

First, lay the two folders flat so that the right side of the first folder overlaps the left side of the second, creating three sections. Glue the overlapped sections together. (You can also staple them or use packing tape.)

The two overlapped parts form the middle of the mini-office. You may need to trim the file folder tabs so that the office will close flat.

homeschool mini-offices

Next, cut out a variety of charts, tables, and resources for whatever your kids are working on. My kids had a writing mini-office and a math mini-office.

Types of Mini-Offices

When the kids were younger, one of my big goals was to avoid invented spelling in their writing. No, there’s nothing inherently wrong with invented spelling, but because Josh has dyslexia, when he was little it was easy to get a misspelling stuck in his head.

So, their writing mini-office had a word wall and other spelling resources, along with writing resources such as a 5W’s hand so that they could remember to include who, what, where, when, and why.

writing mini-office

A math mini-office might consist of:

  • a 100 number chart
  • a multiplication or addition table
  • ordinal numbers
  • colors
  • months and days
  • coin values
  • shapes
math mini-office

It might also include a map of the United States just because I thought it was nifty.

Mini-offices aren’t necessarily just for young children either. An older student might appreciate a file folder with reference tools such as:

  • mathematical order of operations
  • formulas for finding an area, perimeter, or slope
  • Periodic Table of Elements
  • Classification chart
  • Strong verbs

Math Mini-Office Resources

Look for resources for your mini-offices wherever you find your favorite printables, such as Teachers Pay Teachers or Mama’s Learning Corner.

writing mini-office

Two great sites for mini-office printables are Teaching Heart (warning: the site is old school – it’s my original spot for printables) and Jessica Meacham’s Mini Offices (also an original, but the site has been updated).

math mini-office

For specific printables that I used, other than Teaching Heart and Jessica Meacham, check out these resources:

Using Mini-offices in Your Homeschool

Come on, y’all. Bring back mini-offices! I hope your kids love them as much as mine did. The mini-offices are something that Josh and Megan both remember.

Have you ever used mini-offices before? If so, are you old like me? {grin}

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Math Activities For Kids Who Hate Math: 7 Sneaky Ways to Cover Math!

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Written by Adrienne Bolton of The Mommy Mess.

As I type, my 13-year-old son is working on his math lesson. He’s been at it for hours today, taking several breaks just to get through one lesson. It’s Monday, so there’s that, but math has always been a struggle in our homeschool.  It’s the one subject I’m “banging my head against the wall” over the most.

Are you looking for math activities for kids who hate math?

I am!

On days when I don’t have the energy to push a lesson or I just want to sleep knowing my kid multiplied something that day, I can always turn to one of these activities and breathe easy.

Math Activities For Kids Who Hate Math

Go grocery shopping.

Help your child create a grocery list for the week. Estimate the cost of each item and the expected total. Depending on your child’s age, you can take the project as far as you want.

Now that I’m thinking about it, I have an adult child who could benefit from this activity. Ha!

Try these ideas for your shopping trip:

  • Check your grocer’s weekly advertisement and compare prices with another grocer.
  • Figure the cost of items priced by weight like produce and meats. (Hello, multiplication!)
  • Clip coupons (addition, subtraction, and savings, oh my!)
  • Estimate the cost your weekly grocery bill.
  • Meal plan and estimate the cost of each meal.
  • Compare prices between brands.

Sell old toys and games on eBay.

eBay is a fantastic place for your kids to practice math skills! Not only does selling stuff online help you clean out all the toys and games nobody plays with anymore, but it also allows for your child to earn a little extra cash.

Money talks! Nothing motivates my kid more than knowing he might make a few bucks. Selling old toys, figures, and video games has been a great way for my son to practice math and he doesn’t even realize he’s doing it.

The following are concepts covered in an eBay transaction from start to finish:

  • percentages and decimals
  • weight
  • calculating shipping costs
  • profit
  • loss
  • fees (PayPal and eBay)
  • pricing
  • time
  • addition/subtraction
  • multiplication/division

Selling on eBay isn’t just a great project for math either! It covers skills like photography and keyboarding. Communicating with potential buyers helps hone those email and interpersonal skills. Depending on your child’s age, they could even get their own toy store up and running!

Apps, apps, apps.

There are so many great free math apps. When I don’t think we’re going to get to the lesson or I can see my son is shutting down, I can turn to an app and at least know he’s getting some multiplication practice in.

Something is ALWAYS better than nothing!

Get in the kitchen.

Cooking and baking have saved me on more than one occasion. Getting your kids in the kitchen is a fun way to incorporate math concepts without even trying. It’s 100% hands-on and depending on what you’re making, you can even incorporate some other subjects like history, geography, and culinary skills.

The kitchen helps cover math concepts like:

  • measurements
  • conversions
  • temperature
  • following instructions/word problems
  • fractions
  • adding/subtracting
  • multiplication/division (split a recipe or double it for a large family)
  • time

Plan a fantasy vacation.

If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go? This is a super fun project that sparks the attention for sure. Estimate the cost of a family vacation to your child’s dream destination. It goes without saying this could be turned into an entire unit study! Geography, history, travel, cultures…the list goes on, but the math? There’s SO much.

  • hotel and flight costs
  • gas and food costs
  • mileage
  • route
  • time
  • estimate expenses like shopping and entertainment

This is your kid’s vacation. Let their imagination be the tour guide! What activities or excursions does he want to try while your visiting? Add up the cost! The more you “do” on your trip, the more math is covered. Safe travels, friends!

Take a personal finance or stewardship course.

My son responds well to real-world math. Figuring out a sale price or calculating his potential eBay earnings seems to spark way more interest for him than a textbook.

A course like personal finance or stewardship offers an everyday perspective that might interest your reluctant mathematician.

It can be hard to let go of what we think math should look like. Textbook open, pencils out, add stress, the clock ticking, and my child’s frustration, and you’ve got a fairly accurate picture of what math looks like at our house. But there’s always a way for me to switch things up for sanity.

Embrace change.

This year, I’ve made some changes to the curriculum we’ve been using from the start and I’m seeing some positive changes! It’s still a tough subject for us to cover, but it’s better than it was in years past.

Hallelujah!

More than anything, remember: taking a day to do something different helps break up the monotony of math. Don’t be afraid to embrace change.

Is math a battle in your homeschool? What math activities would you add to the list?

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Free Patriotic Adding and Subtracting Mats

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Written by Rachel of You’ve Got This.

Two of the most important foundational math skills are being able to add and subtract quickly. Three of the skills parents and teachers of young students may choose to focus on are:

  1. Being able to add and subtract within 5 fluently
  2. Knowing all the fact families that equal 10
  3. Adding and subtracting with objects

These festive patriotic adding and subtracting mats will help your young child practice those skills.

Patriotic Adding and Subtracting Mats Prep Work

I love activities that require minimal prep work, and the Patriotic Adding and Subtracting Mats are such an activity! All you have to do is:

How to Use Patriotic Adding and Subtracting Mats

To begin, place the mat on the table in front of your student. You’ll use the mat for both the subtraction and addition activities. Next, give your child all of the addition picture cards, and have him count the objects.

The child will place the card on the number that picture represents.

After placing all the picture cards on, it is time to move onto numerical expressions. Have your little one find the expressions that match the pictures. For example, the expression 5 + 4 would need a picture that has five of one object (watermelons) and four of another (corn).

Afterward, you can go back through each square and see if they can remember what each expression equals. You might say, “Do you remember what 5 +  4 equals?”

Once your child answers, lift off the equation and have them count the pictures so they can see if they are correct. Then lift all the pictures and say, “Yes, 5 + 4 equals 9.”

Subtraction Time

Once your child can quickly assemble the addition mats, it is time to move on to subtraction. This math requires the same steps as the addition mats, but once children are successfully able to add the pictures first, you can switch things around a bit.

Instead of adding the pictures first, see if your child can put the expressions on first, and then the pictures that match. This begins moving them from just counting to figure out an expression to working from memory.

And being able to add and subtract fluently is a goal worth pursuing!

Have older students? Try out these Patriotic Math Word Problems.

>> Download the Free Patriotic Adding and Subtracting Mats.

5 Ways to Make Math Practice Fun

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Written by Tara Mitchell of Embark on the Journey.

Do your kids dread practicing their math facts? Do they grumble when you break out the flash cards or the math workbooks?

Try putting the teaching materials aside every now and again. There are many non-traditional ways our kids can practice counting, adding, subtracting and such.

By incorporating movement, games, and even candy, we can keep the drudgery of learning math facts at bay. Who knows, your kids may even begin to look forward to math practice if you try these fun ideas.

1. Play games.

There are so many board games and card games that you can play to help your kids practice beginning math skills. Uno and Go Fish are great for number and/or color recognition. Candyland and Chutes & Ladders will have your children practicing their counting skills.

Older kids can enjoy a rousing game of War while practicing greater than and less than. Many games can be adapted to practice addition, subtraction, or multiplication, as well.

2. Teach with candy.

Whether you’ve got leftover candy from the holidays or you’re looking for a fun new way to teach a lesson, you can’t go wrong when you incorporate candy into your daily math lessons.

Use M&Ms or Skittles as counters while practicing addition and subtraction. They’re great for making groups to show multiplication and division, as well.

Hershey bars are great for showing fractions. Marshmallows and gumdrops, when paired with toothpicks, can be used to build shapes, both 2D and 3D.

3. Toss those facts around.

Blow up a beach ball and use a permanent marker to write numbers all over it. Now, you can play a game of catch with your child. For preschoolers and kindergarteners, play “What Comes Before/After.” Toss the ball to your child, and have them name the number that comes before and/or after the number their thumb is touching.

As your kids get older, you can continue playing the game while practicing basic math facts. Call out a number, 2 for example. Have your child add, subtract, or multiply that number with the number their thumb touches as they catch the ball.

There are so many ways to adapt this game as your child’s knowledge base grows. The possibilities are endless.

4. Take it outside.

Grab some sidewalk chalk and head outside for math. Draw a hopscotch board on the sidewalk, and fill it with math problems or numbers.

Use rocks or twigs for counters as you practice addition and subtraction facts or even just counting.

Draw numbers with chalk. Call out a math problem, and let your child squirt the correct answer with a water gun.

5. Have a scavenger hunt.

Scavenger hunts are great indoors or out. Call out instructions for your preschoolers to find three items. Or, have them find two round objects. Can they find a red object or something that is a square? This is a great way to reinforce colors, numbers, and shapes with your youngest learners.

Sometimes, just getting up and moving is enough to make working on math facts fun instead of a chore.

How do you break up the monotony and make math fun for your kids?

 

FREE Interactive Geometry Vocabulary Book

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Written by Rachel of You’ve Got This.

Vocabulary. We often think it applies to social studies and science, but some math units have a boatload of vocabulary. If kids don’t quite grasp this vocabulary, they won’t be successful. That’s where hands-on activities like this geometry vocabulary book come in handy.

FREE Interactive Geometry Vocabulary Book

My oldest has just reached his geometry unit and is encountering words that he has never heard. Seriously, perpendicular lines isn’t a word I often use when talking to my children.

To encourage success in this unit, I created two activities to help him learn and understand geometry vocabulary words such as line, ray, line segments, parallel lines, and perpendicular lines. We are starting with a fun, interactive dictionary and then moving onto a geometry bingo activity.

Setting Up the Interactive Geometry Vocabulary Book

This activity has two options with different level of prep-work.

Option #1: Very Little Prep Work (the kiddos do all the work)

  1. Print off the free geometry vocabulary interactive book.
  2. Provide scissors and a stapler for your child or students
  3. During math time, have them cut out the book and staple it together.
  4. Have them cut out the pictures and vocabulary words.

Option #2: More Prep Work For the Parent

  1. Print off the book
  2. Cut out the cover and pages and staple them together
  3. Either cut out the pictures and vocabulary words or let the children do that depending on the amount of time you want to spend.

How to Use the Geometry Vocabulary Activity

We did this interactive geometry vocabulary book before we did anything else, so my little guy had absolutely no clue what the words meant. We started by looking up the words in the interactive dictionary. We would read the definition, play with the lines, and then move back to the book.

Once he knew the definition, we would take the vocabulary word and find the definition in his book. Then, he glued the word in the word in the blanks.

Geometry Activities for Kids

Next, he would find the picture that matched the vocabulary word and definition and glue it in its spot.

Geometry Activities for Kids

Finally, he used a ruler to draw his own version.

Geometry Activities for Kids

Not only did he have fun learning the words, but now he has a great resource that will help as we play our bingo game and complete the assignments from his math book.

We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

geometry vocabulary interactive book (100 downloads)

What’s your favorite way to introduce new vocabulary to your children?

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