Math Archives - Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

7 Excellent Ways to Help Your Kid LOVE Math

February 27, 2020 By Kris Bales

Are you one of those people who are “bad at math”? Try these tips to avoid passing your negative feelings along to your kids and help them love math. And, learn how CTCMath can help!

Math is one of those subjects that seems to intimidate adults and children alike. We nurse our negative feelings about long-division or solving for x into adulthood. Then, whether consciously or unconsciously, we pass those negative feelings on to our kids.

$7 Excellent Ways to Help Your Kid LOVE Math$

Math shouldn’t seem so intimidating, though. We use it every day – often much more than we realize. Try these tips to overcome your negative feelings and help your kids learn to love math. [Read more…]

3 Inexpensive Screen-Free Games That Make Math Fun

December 5, 2019 By Kris Bales

If you’re looking for inexpensive, screen-free games that make math fun, check out the games from Absolute Zero. From practicing sums of ten to adding positive and negative integers, kids can practice vital math skills, all while having a blast!

I have a confession. When I’m playing games with friends and family, I make every effort not to be the scorekeeper. It stresses me to have people watching and waiting for me to tally their score.

What if I make an addition error? What if I draw a complete blank trying to add two numbers? Yes, I’m a grown adult, and I do possess basic math skills, but that math phobia from my school days is deeply embedded in my brain.

I know others share those math-phobic feelings. That’s why I love products like the games from Absolute Zero! They help kids overcome math anxiety by developing number sense in a fun, stress-free way.

Three Games that Make Math Fun from Absolute Zero

When I was actively homeschooling young learners, I relied heavily on games as a teaching tool. If we could make it a game, we did. And, I strongly preferred board and card games over online or computer-based games because once we turned that screen on, it was always hard to turn it off and get back on track.

That’s why I was so excited to discover the games from Absolute Zero. Created by a mom and math teacher, these games meet four of my main criteria:

They are educational card games that are fun to play
There are games for both older and younger students
There are tips for adapting each game for a broader range of skill level
Each game focuses on skills that kids need to improve number sense

[Read more…]

Tips for Taking a Summer Break from Math Workbooks

June 18, 2019 By Kris Bales

Whether it’s summer break or you’re just burned out, sometimes you and your kids need a break from math workbooks, but that doesn’t mean you have to let math slide. Try these ideas for keeping math skills sharp while you take a break from math worksheets.

It’s summertime. You’re ready for a break from teaching math as much as your kids are ready for a break from learning it. But you worry that if you put the workbooks aside until August or September, those hard-earned skills will get rusty.

Or maybe you school year round, but you’re looking for a more relaxed approach to math during the summer months. Is it worth it to take a break from math workbooks this summer?

$Tips for Taking a Summer Break from Math Workbooks$

Benefits of Taking a Break from Math Workbooks

Early in our homeschooling experience, someone introduced me to the idea of allowing time for lessons to percolate in a child’s mind. The idea is that even while a child is taking a break from actively learning or practicing a new concept, their brain is still thinking about and processing that information.

I’ve seen that proven time and again in our homeschool. Instead of pushing a difficult concept, I often saw more significant results in letting the kids take a break from it for a while. {I’m looking at you, long division.}

Other benefits of taking a break from textbooks and worksheets include:

Stress reduction
Improved focus after a break
Time and opportunity for real-world practice and connections

With all the benefits of taking breaks from formal learning, summer slide – or forgetting previously learned facts and skills during long breaks– is a genuine concern for teachers and homeschooling parents.

So, how do you capitalize on the benefits of taking a break without losing ground academically? [Read more…]

When Your Reader Struggles: What May Be Missing

October 23, 2018 By Guest Author

Written by Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes.

Between the tears and the slipping progress in schoolwork, you know he’s struggling. But why? The first step in helping your child overcome his struggles is figuring out what’s causing them.

lindamood-bell academy help for reading challenges

This post is sponsored by Lindamood-Bell Academy. Please read my full disclosure policy for more details.

Perhaps he is struggling with a more challenging curriculum this year. Do you notice patterns of difficulty?

You may see:

struggle with reading words in context (trouble sounding out unfamiliar words)
problems remembering what the student read or heard
new or increased difficulty spelling with longer, multi-syllable words
declining math skills when presented with more complex concepts

Possible Causes of Learning and Reading Challenges

Reading and spelling challenges could result from weak symbol imagery. This weakness affects a student’s ability to visualize letters and sounds within words. It also causes difficulty mastering sight words, reading fluently, and spelling.

Weak concept imagery causes students to get only part of the information they read or hear. This weakness can result in reading, language comprehension, or math struggles. It also interferes with reading and listening comprehension, memory, oral vocabulary, critical thinking, and writing. Sometimes it affects affect math skills because students fail to grasp basic concepts.

Without a solid foundation of symbol and concept imagery, students may develop coping mechanisms. Kids often memorize facts instead of building their reasoning and problem-solving skills. Developing strong symbol and concept imagery are vital to reading, comprehension, and math skills.

Solutions for Learning and Reading Challenges

One solution for learning struggles is getting your child evaluated to find the cause of the difficulties. Evaluation can provide valuable insight. Once they identify the area of weakness, parents and students can work on solutions. Lindamood-Bell’s programs develop the foundational skills that support reading, comprehension, and math. By strengthening these areas, you provide your child with the tools she needs to overcome her academic troubles.

At Lindamood-Bell Academy, we offer in-person or online instruction. We work with students to develop the imagery-language foundation for success in language processing. This foundation is essential for success in all curriculum.

We combine instructional expertise with a full curriculum to develop the sensory-cognitive foundation and apply it to academic content. Parents and students can expect the same quality online. Our students do not work alone. Our Academy is successful when traditional approaches are not, even with students with a diagnosis such as dyslexia, autism spectrum disorder, or general learning challenges.

Lindamood-Bell Academy operates in 60+ permanent Learning Centers located throughout the United States, the United Kingdom, and Singapore.

Make sure you are giving your child a strong foundation for language processing and academic success. Find out if Lindamood-Bell Academy is the right fit for your student!

For more information on Lindamood-Bell Academy, call 800-300-1818 or visit us at www.LindamoodBellAcademy.com.

Using Mini-offices in Your Homeschool

September 24, 2018 By Kris Bales

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.

This post contains affiliate links. See full disclosure policy for more details. Email and RSS feed readers may need to visit the blog to access affiliate links.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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).

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

Flying to Learn (for the color words I was going to use, but I needed a smaller one – this one is super-cute, though)
Hamburger paragraph printable
Multiplication table
Math operations
Complete sentence buddy
Vivid verbs

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}