Half a Hundred Acre Wood

Christian homeschooling integrating Classical and Charlotte Mason principles

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We interrupted our normal math routine because I landed on a site called Three Jars (which is no longer an active website) to assist children in budgeting. And because we are trying to be more intentional about “living” math in our home, I seized the opportunity for the boys to once again count their coins.

We selected their share-save-spend distribution, and now they can keep a log of their allowance – a little more accountability for everyone!  I was even able to connect what their allowance is to their chores.  In the end, they will receive a report that tells them how they could have earned more.

David has been learning the difference between pennies and dimes in his Saxon Math 1 book, and to assist in that effort, we’ve been using some presentation flashcards I put together when the boys did a presentation on coins and the U.S. Presidents last year.

And then there’s the U.S. Mint site, which has several lesson plans and activities for kids.  The great thing is that these lessons tie history and geography in to the study of coins.

Stephen has read 2 more books in the Life of Fred series.

Above: Reading Life of Fred Apples in spare time. The books are not in color and the cover is not that attractive – which says a lot about the content.

At this rate, he’ll be through all of the elementary books by the end of next week.  I have not ever been able to really rave about any one math curriculum, but I will say that my sons love reading math textbooks from only one series – Life of Fred.  We still have a core math program (or in Stephen’s case, two – Math U See Gamma and Christian Light Education, with Calculadder Drills thrown in there as well), but Life of Fred is now a given in our math library. Not only is our son learning about math, but he’s also learning about things like Archimedes and deciduous trees.  Plus, I overheard him talking in x’s and y’s earlier today.  He has worked with them in other math books, but he has never actually talked about them!  And, last but not least, he’s teaching David how to draw animals with Fred heads.

Above: A cat with a Fred head.  The boys cackled over this for nearly five minutes.

To check out Life of Fred:

Other ideas for making math fun

I am not an expert when it comes to making math fun.  I love math even when it’s monotonous, and it takes me way out of my comfort and effort zone to prepare games and play games and do the fun math stuff.   But I love to share what I have discovered and what has worked.  But just so you know, we do workbooks more than anything else.  And if you do everything on this page, you will have surpassed me a quadrillion-fold. Having said that, we love picture books. (I even used them in middle and high school!)  Here’s just a few we’ve been reading lately that have helped with even and odd numbers, fractions, telling time, geometry, and other math concepts.

One of my all-time favorite math videos is Donald in Mathmagic Land, which closes with a favorite quote “Mathematics is the language with which God has written the universe.”

Ellen J McHenry also has some great games, as well as a math curriculum called Professor Pig’s Magic Math.

For Living Math Ideas, download these math printables, activities, and games from Confessions of a Homeschooler.

And then there’s Homeschoolshare’s Math Games.  I need to put some of these together for our youngest, but that won’t happen till this summer, knowing my tendency to procrastinate.

Free Math Programs

Finally, I thought I’d mention that there are free math programs out there.  Here are a few, but I know there are others.(These are the only ones I have used).

Math Key – Grades 1 -5:  http://www.freemathprogram.com/

Bridges in Mathematics – Complete practice books with blackline answer keys and student workbook pages for Grades K-5.  Go to the lower right side of the screen to find the Practice Book Blackline pdfs (in green text).  You can also access supplemental activities (in the center).

Khan Academy – on-line videos teaching just about any math concept from arithmetic through Calculus.  (And almost any other subject, too!)  Then go to the exercise dashboard to practice what you’ve learned!

XtraMath:  For drill and practice, Xtramath.org is a great, free site that even provides progress reports.  (Discovered this one from a friend – aka, My Virtual-Be-Real Pen Pal.)

Math Resources


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