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Math Fact Monkey on my Back

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Oh Golly.

You know.

I think this is probably one of THE MOST talked about subject in homeschool circles.

Or maybe it’s just me….
running around in circles
asking the question:

HOW do you get your kids to memorize those math facts?

What works with one of my kids, doesn’t even sink in with the other.

And everytime I DECLARE that we have learned our math facts,
I soon find out that, “OOPS! We didn’t learn our 8’s as good as we could have”

Tell me please that I’m not the only one.

This is the point in which you would inturrupt me
with a big, “I KNOW! Mine TOO! I tried this,
and that and the other thing but we still haven’t got them all down.”

Then we would laugh and hug and say,
“Oh I’m so glad your kid doesn’t know his 8’s either.”

Happy Happy Day.

Or
Something like that.

But you see,
over these past zillion days we’ve been struggling with math,
I’ve realized that there isn’t a MAGIC anything that is going to make
it sink in.

The only formula that seems (to me) to REALLY works is repetition and time.

One thing were doing this year to brush up,
re-learn, and speed-up are daily math drills:


More Minute Math Drills

(yes. in addition to our daily math lessons)

We simply take 5 minutes each day and dedicate it to learning math facts.

5 little minutes gives us time for 5 speed tests.

The book is a simple progressive collection of math facts.

Here’s how we spice it up:

-We set a standard beginning goal as we start each new set of facts
-Then the goal each day based on yesterdays performance
-Kids are rewarded with a sticker for meeting the days goal.
-A Full sheet of stickers (for us about 70) equals an ice cream social

It only takes Five simple minutes a day
and Math Fact Guilt is gone out the window.

(try it….it’s cheaper then therapy)

And yes, the children are getting FASTER and more accurate,
but seriously,
I’m more excited to kick the Math Fact Monkey on my Back to the curb.

We have both Addition/Subtraction and Multiplication/Division with this series.
I would definitely recommend using this system for
Five Minutes a Day x Four Days a Week

Yes.
You read that right.
Four Days a week.

On Day Five you might want to play a simple math facts game like this one.

You might even be able to WIN one exactly like this.

Sometime.

In the near future.

HINT. HINT. AHEM. HINT.


Bogged down by Math….

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It has been a long couple of weeks over here.
I have been meaning to post all sorts of wonderful ideas for you,
I have lots of photos and even a fun giveaway coming,
but too be honest our homeschool days have been DRAGGING along.

Drrrrrrrrr……Aaaaaaaaa….Giiiiiiiiiiiiiing

Sissy (9) has reached LONG DIVISION.

IF you missed our Curriculum post,
Sissy is using Math-U-See Delta, and so far (up to this point),
she has FLOWN through the book.
It’s been cake.

When we first hit long division,
She even FLEW through single digit divisors.

But then we hit double digit divisors and we literally came to a rushing halt.
It was like a smack in the face with cold broccoli.

The days of cake were long (division) gone.

It just wasn’t….sinking in.

We spent three weeks trying to get into a rythym with these,
printing off extra practice sheets and doubling our time for Math,
We kept our Base 10 blocks within arms reach of our dining table.

But nothing worked.
She would become frusterated.
She wouldn’t finish her lessons.
She would stay up to the wee hours struggling quietly in her room,
spending her nightly “reading” time with math instead.

“I HATE MATH”
was the new slogan around here.

It was really depressing, and
I finally talked with her ES about our frustrations.
(Education Specialist from a local charter school we joined)

And you know what she said?
“She’s just not ready.
It’s okay to put it up on the shelf and come back later.”


Whaaaaaat?
Oh.
Oh yeah.
I forgot.
We can do that.
We’re homeschoolers.

For some reason I thought that if we put enough hours into Math,
it would “CLICK” and a little lightbulb would go off right above her head.

And more honestly,
maybe I just needed permission to quit.
…mid book…
… before we finished…
…with pages left….

(ack!)

So that’s what we did.

We Quit.

Bunch-o-Quitters around here now.

Just kidding.
We tucked Math-U-See back up on the shelf for a while,
and decided we are going to give it another go in the Spring.

Obviously, we didn’t quit math entirely.
We brought out Envision Math instead, because
for some reason Math-U-See covers double digit divisors and Envision doesn’t.

So now, Sissy is happily using Envision Math.
We started mid book near lesson 8,
which strangely evened the scales in my OCD mind.

Balance has been restored.
The long-division weight has been lifted and
The girl is smiling about numbers again.
Well not so much smiling, but
I haven’t heard “I HATE MATH” all week!

And me?
I’m feeling pretty blessed with this small reminder of why we homeschool.

 

If you’re looking to rediscover your Homeschool Joy, check out Bloom this Summer!

 

IXL: A TOS Review

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So.

Not to overwhelm you, but this will be my third math post this month.

You might say that math is on my mind.

Actually, math has been on my mind
ALL YEAR LONG.

3 Grader + Oregon = Statewide Math Test

It was our first BIG one.

It was required.

I was so nervous…

I wanted her to be prepared for it.

I wanted her to pass it.

I feared that if she didn’t pass the first time
that my imaginary liscence to homeschool would be revoked.

I poured over all the requirements.

I purchased any and all math books
that said “state standards” or “correlated topics” on them.

And pretty soon, Sissy was using FOUR different math books every day.

Yes. FOUR.

You see, I purchased ONE because it was the type of math I liked to teach.
ANOTHER because it dealt specifically with word problems, and
ANOTHER because it taught graphing and beginning algebra connections, and
STILL ANOTHER because it promised to get us TEST ready.

So I watched all year long.
My little girl, dragging her pile of math books to the kitchen table,
and I can remember thinking;

Wouldn’t it be nice to just have one math program,
that took her through each standard to the point of mastery.

And while I’m not for ONLINE math as the foundation of our curriculum,
I’m pretty sure that I could have replaced THE OTHER THREE filler
Math books with one simple subscription to IXL.

ixl homeschool review

In fact, it would have made things quite a bit easier.

Here’s Why:

Colorful and engaging.

ixl review homeschool

I know that might seem like a small “PRO” but when you’re staring at a website
every day, it’s nice to have one that appeals to children and adults.
It’s easy to tell that IXL is a professionally designed website,
because I don’t have to squint to see the font, navigation is simple and easy and there is enough
color to keep children interested without burning out our retinas with flashy gimicks.

State Standards:

When you register with IXL, YOUR state standards are made available.
Everything is easily outlined by grade and
you can simply click which one you want your child to work on.

Explanations:

If a child receives an incorrect answer, they are given an option to have the problem explained.
This is a great because sometimes topics are on IXL that aren’t covered in our usual Math book.

Ability to Change Grade Levels:

ixl review

Unfortunately my son figured this out as well and spent an afternoon on KG math because he was simply having too much fun getting ALL the questions right. Aw well….After reading the user guide I learned that you can easily change the settings to hide the grade level navigation bar from your children.

Reports!

ixl

I love being able to take a quick glance and see how a particular child is doing in a specific area. I also recieve an email report with details of their progress.

Here are some more specifications for IXL:

Membership benefits:

Complete coverage of math curriculum from pre-K to algebra.
Unlimited questions in over 2,000 skills.
Fun and colorful practice formats.
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.
Audio for all pre-K through first-grade skills.
Weekly e-mail updates on your child’s progress.
Informative, detailed reports pointing out successes and trouble spots.
Awards and certificates for you and your children to print out as they reach important milestones.

Pricing:

ixl

Pssst…..I just broke out my calculator,
and you’ll be happy to know that
$79 bucks a year is about $6.60 a month.

Read more about Membership options here.

Disclaimer:
As part of the TOS Crew Review I was given a family subscription for three of my children in exchange for my honest opinion about IXL.com

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Envision Math: TOS Review

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Math.

It must be taught.

It is certainly NOT my favorite subject.

In fact, once I hit High School,
it became an every night struggle for me
just to get my assignments turned in.

You remember public High School Math don’t you?
Late nights, dimly lit desk lamps,
and sometimes a peek at the odd answers in the back of the book.

You are laughing cause you know you did this too.
My teacher never assigned the odd numbers anyway

(there’s some classic rationalization for ya)

Anyway.

Fast Forward 15 some-odd years and here I am:

Homeschooling

And trying to make sure my children receive a good foundation in Math,
without all the dimly lit late night cram sessions.

Math Curriculum has been a hard one for me.
I’ve used a different publisher for each year that I’ve taught.

This will be my second year using Envision Math.

pearson homeschool

Envision Math is published by a company called Pearson.
You may have heard of them. :)
Well, Pearson is now branching out into the Homeschool community with products tailored toward home educators, and a new website to help get the word out.

PearsonHomeschool.com

Tip: Sign up for their newsletter to be entered to win free curriculum!

From what I hear, the homeschool website is pretty new,
and there aren’t really any “sample” pages of the different curriculum
packages. So today I thought I’d share with you lots of photos
from our new Envision Math Grade 4 Math book.

To be frank, even when there are a few sample pages,
choosing a math curriculum can be tough so I added in some thoughts along the way.
So grab a cup of joe and “virtually” flip through the pages with me!

And just a little back drop here;
Envison Math comes in a Homeschool bundle for $99.99
The bundle includes the following:
Student Edition, MindPoint® Quiz Show CD-ROM, and Teacher Edition CD-ROM

Table of Contents

Topic 1: Numeration
Topic 2: Adding and Subtracting Whole Numbers
Topic 3: Multiplication Meanings and Facts
Topic 4: Division Meanings and Facts
Topic 5: Multiplying by 1-Digit Numbers
Topic 6: Patterns and Expressions
Topic 7: Multiplying by 2-Digit Numbers
Topic 8: Dividing by 1-Digit Divisors
Topic 9: Lines, Angles, and Shapes
Topic 10: Understanding Fractions
Topic 11: Adding and Subtracting Fractions
Topic 12: Understanding Decimals
Topic 13: Operations with Decimals
Topic 14: Area and Perimeter
Topic 15: Solids
Topic 16: Measurement, Time, and Temperature
Topic 17: Data and Graphs
Topic 18: Equations
Topic 19: Transformations, Congruence, and Symmetry
Topic 20: Probability

You can see that everything is VERY clearly laid out.
You could easily hit just the topics you are wanting to teach for the day.

Problem Solving Handbook
(Love this….I can hear myself now….”Check your Handbook!”)

Lessons:

Start with Review:

New Lesson across the Top:
I believe this is standard with Envision Math.

Practice:

Connections:
Every so often there is an additional page to lay some algebraic ground work.
I hear this is very important!

E-learning:
I appreciate that the INSTRUCTIONS are geared toward the child.
Children can easily count some of this time as technology learning as well.

Testing:
There are tests at the end of each unit.

Reteaching:
Now this is something to be excited about! Detailed reteaching points for trouble spots on the test. What a great way to encourage mastery.

So that was the Student Text.
The Teachers Guide and all other printables and resources
come on a CD Rom.

Here are some screen shots:

There are learning center activities, games, vocabulary cards and much much more.
Everything is organized by the exact lesson the child is on.

This is very handy for finding a specific help.
But not so handy if you just want to PRINT ALL.

This is disappointing because I would really like
to QUICKLY print up the Answer Key for the daily assignments but alas,
There is no PRINT ALL button.
Darn.

Also included in the Homeschool Bundle is the MindPoint GameShow Software.

This is basically a game for children to be tested on each specific lesson.
When children get a wrong answer, there is no explanation as to WHY the answer was wrong, but it does show the correct answer.

So it’s more like a pretest then a learning tool. As a teacher you can pull reports to see what scores they got in each category (not specific questions) to help reteach before moving on to the next topic.

So there you have it!
What are my thoughts?


Pros:

Non-consumable…..meaning you have your child write their answers on a separate sheet of paper Also meaning that you get to use it again and again for all of your children.

Reteaching opportunities are very easy to implement.

Problem Solving Handbook & E-Learning encourage child to initiate finding their own answers.

Lots of additional teaching resources & printables.

Cons:

No Physical Teacher Guide. Yes there is an e-guide, but unfortunately it’s not a simple “print” either. You must put in the CDrom, and access each file individually and choose which you want to print. (i.e. you print one page at a time) That is simply too much work when you’re paying for a product. The Teacher Guide should come as one continuous file for easy access and grading purposes.

Software game was a bit obnoxious when children get a wrong answer. It was like those game shows with a sarcastic host, and might be off-putting and discouraging to children who are struggling with a certain topic. There is no “Explanation” button to reteach, they simply move to the next question.

Cost. Based on what I have budgeted for Math in the past, I would say that Envision Math is on the higher end of a math curriculum.

Hope you enjoyed our virtual journey!
 We’ll be using this text over the years to come….
I’m actually pretty tempted to have my children write in their name and year on the inside cover.

Oh how that brings back memories!

You can read more about other grade levels of Envision Math
and other Pearson published curriculums here.

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Disclaimer: As part of the TOS review crew I was sent free product for review purposes. All opinions stated are my own.

Math Master Printable Chart

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Just popping in with an easy Summer School FREEBIE for you!

My children recently finished up State testing,
and while they each passed (phew)
one of the things I noticed was the lack of SPEED
with which they attacked the math portion of the test.

And can I just say for a moment that:
It’s wonderful to be allowed to WATCH your children take a test!

btw-That is NOT my kid taking a test.
That is a picture of a kid taking a test that I found on the internet.
I certainly would not hound my children with a poloroid moment mid-test.

But there is really something to be learned about (unobtrusively) watching
the way your child processes and manages everything you’ve (hopefully) drilled
into their little brain.

So I was excited for such an opportunity, and as I saw focus and progress,
and clicking of next pages I was reassured in my ability to actually teach at home.
It was great.

HOWEVER.

When the Math portion of the test came around…
I was a tad disappointed to see lots of finger counting and (gasp) calculator clicking
(which apparently they allow for some reason now? Was it always like this?)
Ack! I was cringing. It was a classic pride before the fall double whammy.

Doubts crept in.
Didn’t they already learn this?
I know I taught them this.
I thought we had it covered?
Must we go back again?

So this Summer we will AGAIN be reviewing Math facts.

I found THIS GREAT WEBSITE for printing up some drill sheets.

And I whipped up this Math Master Printable Chart.
(There is no better motivation then positive/intrinsic I say!)

We’ll be attacking this DAILY, with the goal of increasing ACCURACY & SPEED
and WE WILL PREVAIL!

And TELL me I’m not the only one here!

What have you taught your children over and over and over and….

(you know…..besides not to Hit their brothers)

Multiplication Pocket Folder

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We are all about Multiplication Facts around here lately
(Did you see our Math Keys)
(And our File Folder Games)

Well, I’m pulling out all the stops trying to get these important facts into my children’s heads.
Sometimes adding a bit of color….and incentive….helps!
So today I made the children a Multiplication Pocket Folder:

It’s really just a fancy way to store our multiplication flash cards
(we’re upgrading from ziploc baggies)

But the important part is the Multiplication chart on the front:

Everytime Sissy can get through a set of math facts she’ll get a sticker.
Ten stickers equals a small treat.
Each day she can earn up to 12 stickers
One for each digit….and no more.
(Ahhh……now you see my genius)

And if you want to make your own,
I’ve uploaded instructions, templates and printables for you too!

Make Your Own Geo Shapes!

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Oh….How I want these:


Folding Geometric Shapes

But I’m in the middle of Homeschool Recon, and I just don’t think I’ll be spending any more money on math manipulatives this year.

(Someday, I’ll take a photo of our math resources…you’d think my children we members of Mensa or something)

But this week Sissy has been struggling with geoshapes, and I needed to make something quick for her to get a visual of all this “face” “sides” “edge” business. Not to mention help with the idea that there are hidden faces when the shape is presented in 2-d on paper. Uggh. I’m over trying to explain it, and I’m off to make some shapes:

I found this fantastic site where you can print a slew of buildable shapes!

I got out my colored cardstock, and started printing:

And Walla! Geo Shapes for tomorrows lesson.

I was so excited I had to share!

Have fun printing!

10 Days of Multiplication!

By 1 Comment

Okay, I admit it.

I’m a sucker for anything that promises to teach my children something in a matter of days.

Especially when it comes to math.

I’m not BAD at Math, per-se I just know there are probably WAYS to teach it so that
we all don’t end up crying at the kitchen table.

Enter awesome promise from Learning Wrap-Ups:

When I see something like this I really get my hopes up.

(and my wallet out)

So we’re now on a 10 day challenge to prove this can be done!

Will we succeed?

Stay tuned for a review!