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The Old Schoolhouse
Magazine
Home Where They
Belong
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October 10, 2007
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OK, let's "be real" as Todd is always
saying. How many of you hate math? It's certainly always been
a tough subject for me.
This week our writers are going
to give you some tips on making math a little less painful and
a little more stress free!
Meanwhile, I'm just going to
tell you about all of the great things we have going on at TOS
this week. Did you receive our Unit Study Spotlight yesterday?
We're really excited about all of the great unit studies that we
have in the Schoolhouse Store and hope that our Unit Study
Series will help more people learn about unit studies. Be on
the lookout for the next three weeks and make sure you
download the free sample from each vendor!
And speaking
of freebies, we have TWO free ebooks for you if you're willing
to take our Homeschool 2007 survey.
We want to get a really good picture of what the homeschooling
community looks like today and how we can serve you all
better. So set aside a few minutes to participate in our
survey and pick up your ebooks.
We've got some other
great things in the works too. It's a good kind of busy here
at TOS!
THM Editor
PS - Click here for
this fabulous contest to win a year of Writing Instruction and
an SAT Prep Pack from My Access valued at over
$149!
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 Mercy Every Minute
Deborah Wuehler, TOS Senior Editor
Unfortunately, my kids
can relate to hating math. In the past, I have been far from
encouraging; I have been frustrated every time I had to
re-explain a problem. I was a hard task master and made them
do every problem on every page, every day until there were
tears in their eyes. My bright math student began to hate math
because she got it without doing all the repetitious problems
- but I made her anyway. One of my sons was pushed through
three books of a curriculum that about killed him and he
wasn't learning a thing. Great homeschooling mom that I am, I
nearly ruined my kid's math education.
I finally began to rethink things.
I put my struggler through a block learning set of books
(Developmental
Math) for the subjects he needed help
with and then found a curriculum that he could understand
because it used real life math applications and explained
every single problem (Teaching
Textbooks). It fit his personality. For the
other older ones, I purchased computer CD's to go along with
the math books they were using so that they could have a
personal tutor every day (Saxon Math with
D.I.V.E.
CD's). On some busy days, I even let
them do only the even or odd problems and be done. Can you
believe it?
Do they really need more of that
same thing or can they move on now. Be encouraging each time
they get to a new level. Celebrate achievements like learning
their times tables (Times
Tales and Wrap
Ups have been a great help). Stay in
the basic facts until they really get them before you force
them to move on (I have used Calculadders for this in the
younger grades). It only gets harder and more frustrating if
they don't get the basics down really well. Keep exploring new
ways of teaching.
If your kids hate
any subject, stop, re-evaluate your teaching methods
and curriculum, then pray and ask God for wisdom and
direction. He is faithful to answer our prayers for
wisdom.
If any of you
lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men
liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
James 1:5
~Deborah
October's
Contest: We have a wonderful book of historical fiction on
the French Revolution called Marie's Home 199 page soft bound
novel By Caroline Austin, Salem Ridge Press, www.salemridgepress.com. Read our TOS
product review here.
To enter, just send
your name and mailing address to senioreditor@thehomeschoolmagazine.com and
put "Marie's Home" in the subject line. See website for
contest rules.
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Schoolhouse Spotlight
Dena Wood, Schoolhouse Store Manager
"A student . . . that
is fully trained will be like his teacher." Luke
6:40
If you hate math, you are not alone! There
are plenty of homeschool parents that feel the same way!
The good news is that there are LOTS of resources to help
teach math to your children!
Taking The Frustration Out
Of Math explains why math is so difficult and what we can
do to make it EASIER for our children. If Math is a
subject you and your children dread, or you see your children
struggling with Math, this is the book for you!
Googol
Learning offer Audio CD's, DVD's and even an online membership
to help your children want to learn math! You can check
out all their products HERE .
If you
like hands on creative type projects Hands of a Child has a
wonderful Multiplication Pizza Party
Project Pack. This 60-page project pack has all you need
to complete a lapbook on multiplication. It is based on
a pizza party and includes 13 hands-on activities that
incorporate multiplication into the planning and the partying!
There are games, factor families, money activities, and lots
of pizza!
This is just the tip of the iceberg compared
to all the math products we offer. You can click HERE to view a complete
list.
~Dena
PS - If you have math-phobic
children, or simply want to add a bit of fun to your
curriculum, Times Tales allows your
child to memorize their upper multiplication facts through fun
memorable stories. They won't even realize they're doing math
until it's too late! Times Tales Deluxe
applies the same stories to division and Memory Triggers uses
the same fun, mnemonic devices to help your children remember
tricky math terms like sum, factor,
etc.
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 It's Just Common Sense
Ruth Beechick, Curriculum
Specialist
You can't hate a
subject if your mind is engaged in it. So if a child says "I
hate math," I would try to figure out what his mind is doing.
For example, at the lower arithmetic levels, curriculums often
spend too much time with memorizing math facts. That is
mindless and boring. So parents buy games to make memorizing
less boring. But that is still mindless, and it omits the
understanding that engages the mind. And that understanding is
what helps to maintain interest and make higher math
easier.
Daily life activities
constantly use the math facts. "We need to return 5 library
books and only 3 are here." Games are excellent for this too.
Not a genre marketed as "educational games," but the real old
fashioned kind are best. Counting, keeping score, following
directions, and strategizing all contribute to arithmetic
thinking. Dominoes and dice provide practice in seeing numbers
as groups, or as two groups such as two rows of 3 make
6.
After enough
experience like this, children know all the addition and
subtraction facts up to totals of 12. From that they can
figure out many higher facts. For instance, they know that 6
plus 6 is 12, so 6 plus 7 must be 13. For speed someday they
can see the need for memorizing the few facts that still elude
them, but at least they understand what's happening because of
their understanding of the lower numbers. (See
"The Three R's" at www.MottMedia.com)
The same principle of
understanding applies to other matters such as why we write a
long division problem a certain way. A thorough understanding
in early arithmetic pays big dividends for understanding
higher math.
A child already
brought to the "hate" point can benefit from a recess from
math for a few months or even a full school year. With a new
start he can tackle it with his mind.
~Ruth
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The Familyman
Todd Wilson, Familyman Ministries
I'm
not a math guy. Whenever I see a bunch of numbers all lined
up, my vision clouds and my tongue swells. Now that doesn't
mean I'm totally inept. I can count - pretty high and get by
with your basic math skills. But don't ask me to do any
algebra or anything else that involves Pythagorean's Theorem.
I can't do it! And I still have flashbacks to my sophomore
year in high school, looking up into the depressed face of my
battle-weary algebra teacher as I explained why I did what I
did to a certain story problem.
So here's my theory on
math: people who can do math; can do math. People who can't -
can't. Now don't send me mean, nasty, math-loving letters. I
just don't believe that most kids will use the higher math
that we assume we have to teach them (& a lot of other
stuff for that matter).
Children who love math may end
up doing something math related, but those who don't - won't,
and that's okay.
Now the issue comes up, what if you're
a math-hater but need to teach your children math? What are
you to do?
Just do the best you can (or involve your
husband or a program that teaches it for you) and then don't
sweat what you can't do. Teach them the basics, remember your
goals, and see if any math-lovers arise in your students. Then
let them go. If they've been created to do math - they will do
math.
Now to all you math-lovers, you have no idea what
I'm talking about. You love math, after all. But remember
this, not all your children will love math. Don't try to make
a math-hater into a math-lover: it won't work. You'll only
frustrate yourself and
your child.
So with all that said, enjoy the gifts God
has given you, accept the fact that He hasn't given you
others, and love your children.
Be
Real,
Todd
|
 Homeschool Freebies
Julie Nott, Freebie
Finder
My boys have been struggling to get their
times tables memorized and I need all the help I can get. In
addition to the helps you can get in our Schoolhouse Store,
there are some freebies online to help your kids practice.
Another helpful tip I read this week is to make your
practice worksheets larger! What a revelation!
Sometimes all those problems in smaller print on one
sheet save printer cartridges and paper, but is it
overwhelming our kids? Try enlarging the font size and then
printing them out on two or even three sheets of paper - print
to the front and back if necessary. They may initially balk at
having more sheets to do. Show them the one page print out and
they'll see it's the same number of problems - only bigger!
Let me know how this works for you!
Here are some
freebie math places to visit:
Math
Worksheets
Printable Math
Workshets
Video Math
Lessons
Math Games
Math
Printables
~Julie
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Meet Some of Our Friends
Are your children prepared for a future of financial
freedom? Cardamom Publishers' Life Prep for Homeschooled
Teenagers can help get them ready to live as morally
and financially responsible adults. Learn more (and get your
free sample project from the book) at www.cardamompublishers.com/cardamom-life-prep.htm
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So
you're not a perfect parent? You're wondering just how all of
the pieces of this puzzle fit together-how do you do it all?!
The Values-Driven Family is your comprehensive, yet practical
guide to Biblical family living that helps you manage your
family life in a proactive way. Visit www.valuesdrivenfamily.com
today!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Flying
Point Press announces that Landmark Books are back! Long
requested by homeschool families, many great non-fiction
titles are back in print with new covers, new maps, but with
the original texts. Look for 23 titles in the Sterling Point
series (including 10 Landmarks) with more to come. Available
at your local bookseller and online at www.flyingpointpress.com.
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