Advice on how to teach well and make the most of your homeschool math lessons.
Ever wonder what exactly to do with all the math manipulatives that came with your math curriculum? Or wonder if using more manipulatives would help your kids understand math better? In this article, you’ll learn six facts about math manipulatives so you can use them effectively and confidently with your kids.
3 steps to help your children get the most out of homeschool math manipulatives without becoming dependent on them.
Reading math is much harder than reading fiction! 5 skills to teach your kids so they can learn from their math books and be more independent in math. Why is reading math so difficult? When your kids read a novel, …
Does your child often write numbers backwards? No need to panic! Here’s how to handle number reversals in homeschool math.
These ten strategies will help your kids develop a growth mindset for math and for life. Use them in your homeschool to help your kids learn that accomplishment comes not from inborn talent, but from perseverance, mistakes, and hard work.
Very few books have changed my life, but Mindset is one of them.
If you worry that you’re not good enough at math to teach it, or feel anxious that your kids just aren’t “mathy” enough to understand math thoroughly, it might just change your life, too.
In this book review, you’ll learn the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset. You’ll learn why a growth mindset will help you empower your kids to work hard, face new challenges, and learn from their mistakes so they can reach their full potential—not only in math, but also throughout their lives.
Later this week, I’ll be reviewing Beast Academy, an offbeat math curriculum for grades 3-5. (You’ll notice the cover features cartoon monsters!) My son uses Beast Academy and loves it, but it has no teacher’s guide or suggested schedules. I tend to be a super-scheduled box-checker, but it has been so freeing to use a curriculum without any suggested pacing or lesson structure. I try to follow my son’s lead and work with him for as long as he has stamina and interest. We usually spend fifteen to twenty minutes working together each day. Sometimes, he completes two workbook pages in that time, but often less if the problems are difficult.
One day last week, my son completed just one problem during his entire math session. He wasn’t dawdling or goofing off—in fact, he was extremely engaged and working hard the entire time. If your math education was like mine, it probably sounds like heresy to spend a whole math lesson on just one problem. But sometimes, it’s much more beneficial to dig deep into just a few interesting problems (or even one problem) rather than fly through a bunch of easy problems. In this article, I’ll describe the benefits of unhurried homeschool math problem-solving and explain how you can reap these benefits for your children.