math & science

go to the dump

Posted by on Sep 13, 2011 in homeschooling, math & science | 4 comments

I cannot rave loudly enough about the RightStart Game Pack. Can you hear me shouting? EVERY SINGLE HOME NEEDS THIS SET OF GAMES!!! Okay, back to my normal voice now. We have owned it for many years and I consider it indispensable. It is probably the best $50 I have ever spent. I love these games and more importantly, my children love these games. Jessica over at Balancing Everything recently did a whole write-up about the RightStart materials. I don’t have time to write about everything...

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catapult contest

Posted by on Apr 28, 2011 in homeschooling, math & science | 2 comments

This semester in Math Alive! we studied Archimedes’ life, inventions, and discoveries. We built Archimedean screws, pulleys, levers of all types, discovered pi by circumscribing a circle, figured out how many popcorn kernels it would take to fill our classroom, learned about the library in Alexandria, constellations, food and customs of his time period, exponents and super-duper large numbers, built mobiles for real and figured out pretend mobiles with numbers, learned about square,...

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hue knew? and cross-eyed

Posted by on Apr 21, 2011 in homeschooling, math & science | Comments Off

I found two new math games at DI the other day…gotta love thrift store finds that actually have all the playing pieces! We have played them at Math Alive! the last two weeks and they have been a huge hit, so now I will share them with y’all. Hue Knew? is a great thinking game. It consists of 10 colored pegs and a gazillion cards that have each color name written in different colors. Two of the color names are written in the same color as its name and whomever grabs those pegs first...

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make ‘n’ break

Posted by on Mar 30, 2011 in children, homeschooling, math & science | Comments Off

Tonight I pulled out a game to play (all I really wanted to do was go to bed, but I decided to focus on the question “how does it feel?” and decided my children needed some feel-good attention from their mama and papa tonight) and we had so much fun. We have had this game for years, but it hasn’t gotten much use lately. My Math Alive! boys love it and I thought maybe it was time for my own children to play with it as well. What a hit! The game has cards with pictures on it...

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pulleys, levers, and screws, oh my!

Posted by on Mar 17, 2011 in homeschooling, math & science | 1 comment

pulleys, levers, and screws, oh my!

A few weeks back we made pulleys and all three types of levers in our Math Alive! class. The children loved it! They were each able to pick each other up in the pulley and to test out the levers to see if the fulcrum’s actually made their loads easier to lift or not. Here are some pics: Hands-on math is super fun…we should all do it more...

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the famous blocks

Posted by on Jan 18, 2011 in homeschooling, math & science, pics | 17 comments

the famous blocks

The deal-of-a-lifetime blocks were a huge hit at math class last week. The children LOVED them. We had scorpions, corrals, ships, snakes, cars, and a tower built by standing on a chair that was ON TOP of a table. Super fun stuff! Find yourself some Kapla, Keva, or Citi-Blocs and find yourself amazed at the creativity that emerges! These blocks are built in a 1:3:5 ratio and are perfect for discovering balance, geometry, weight, and strength principles. Because of the before mentioned...

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book bonanza – the king’s chessboard

Posted by on Sep 4, 2010 in book bonanzas, books, homeschooling, math & science | 1 comment

We read The King’s Chessboard at my Math Alive! class this week. The children all loved it and I hope it taught them the power of knowing math, the foolishness of pride, and the immensity of the doubling principle. This book tells the story of a proud and foolish king who wants to reward one of his subjects. The man does not want to be rewarded, but the king insists. The man then allows the king to give him one grain of rice on the first day, two grains of rice the second day, four...

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g is for googol

Posted by on Nov 18, 2009 in books, homeschooling, math & science | 2 comments

I found another math book I love and have to share it with you! G is For Googol by David Schwartz is an alphabet book with each letter standing for a mathematical concept. The concepts are all explained thoroughly and hilariously. It is sure to draw in math lovers and math haters. Blythe started it last night and was giggling on every page. An example of its humor: “I am sure you are wondering how to write 2 billion with exponents. If you aren’t wondering, start wondering...

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read any math lately?

Posted by on Oct 24, 2009 in books, homeschooling, math & science | 9 comments

I have a rather large collection of books that teach math principles as part of the story. I thought everyone did. I thought everyone would know about these books and have an obsession with collecting them and strewing them throughout their homes so that children grow up reading books that teach mathematical concepts and it is just part of their daily life. I was wrong. Time after time I have had people tell me they have never heard of these types of books. Well, I am here to spread the...

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