Although Epi Kardia doesn’t sell  math curricula, we have taught a lot of math over the years! Someone recently asked me what math curriculum I would recommend, and I hesitated answering because it seems as though there is a new program out every week! Whichever program you choose to use, here are a few ideas about  teaching math effectively, some living book recommendations on mathematical topics, as well as a few fantastic free resources you will not want to miss!

Charlotte Mason on Math

The practical value of arithmetic to persons in every class of life goes without remark. But the use of the study in practical life is the least of its uses. The chief value of arithmetic, like that of the higher mathematics, lies in the training it affords the reasoning powers, and in the habits of insight, readiness, accuracy, intellectual truthfulness it engenders.

Charlotte Mason advocated lots more talking about how we use arithmetic and math in our daily lives, rather than just making our students work endless problems. (Our modern equivalent to her slate is our worksheet.)  We must help our children connect arithmetic with real life situations. Cooking, measuring, telling time, traveling, buying groceries and even just cutting pizza are all routine activities perfect for incorporating ‘math’ conversations – and don’t forget to combine living books with your math study!

(Incidentally, my children have always had a miraculous ability with math when it comes to figuring out how to divide any dessert into an equal number of pieces so no one receives more than anyone else.)

Help Your Students See Math

We recommend a program that emphasizes mastery of concepts, beginning with manipulative use in the primary years for hands-on learning. It takes children a while to connect numbers with concepts. We know that the number 3 stands for three items, but young children need to learn this, and they aren’t all ready to grasp this concept at the same age.  Using buttons, toothpicks (be careful if you have littler ones around!), soup cans, M&Ms, blocks, or any other smaller objects can be extremely helpful in helping your child understand what numbers mean.  Especially as your child begins to learn arithmetic operations, it is very helpful to use manipulatives to illustrate problems. Continuing the use of manipulatives past the primary years is helpful for many students.

Another way to help your students see math is through making mini-books.  If you are not familiar with those, reading this post might help.  This photo on the right is a math fact mini-book we made.  These are ‘mini matchbooks’  in Dinah Zike-speak.    The math fact questions are on the outside and you lift the flap and look inside for the answer.

Making mini-books helps children with different learning styles as they are colorful, kinesthetic and provide a fun way to review.  My sweet friend Jimmie found this fantastic free resource: Dinah Zike’s Teaching Mathematics with Foldables. All of you Epi Kardia users have at least one Dinah Zike title in your library, I am sure, so you will be as delighted as I was to be able to download this 102 page tool for free!  Thank you, Jimmie!

One of the best things you can do for your children, especially if they tend to be more spatial in the way they learn, is to help them see the patterns in arithmetic.  One way to do this is encourage them to frequently count by twos, threes, fives, etc.  Additionally, using a one hundred number chart is very useful to help them identify number patterns.

As we approach the end of the school year and move into the summer, it is a beneficial time to review your math facts to get ready for next year.  Memorization of addition and subtraction facts by the end of 2nd grade promotes ease in dealing with 3rd grade concepts.  The same is true for memorization of multiplication and division facts by the end of 3rd grade in preparation for 4th – if your children are ready, of course. Gently practicing math facts throughout the summer is a helpful strategy for most elementary aged students!

Study Math through Living Books

Don’t forget to incorporate living books into your study of arithmetic and mathematics!  Reading about the real people behind the math helps bring it alive, as Charlotte Mason relates:

How interesting Arithmetic and Geometry might be if we gave a short history of their principal theorems, if the child were meant to be present at the labours of a Pythagoras, a Plato, a Euclid, or in modern times, of a Descartes, a Pascal, or a Leibnitz. Great theories instead of being lifeless and anonymous abstractions would become living human truths each with its own history like a statue by Michael Angelo or like a painting by Raphael.”

For the child that thinks she ‘hates’ math, letting her read as part of the math lesson might really help her learn to enjoy it more.  Here are some of our favorite living books with mathematical themes – check them out by clicking on the images.

Do you have any particular books that you would like to add that helped your students with understanding mathematical concepts?  If so, please leave the title(s) in our comments section below!  Thanks!

Blessings on your math studies!

Recently we had the opportunity of presenting a workshop on mini-books and lapbooks, types of graphic organizers, to our homeschooling support group.  We were pleased to have such a good turnout and spent a delightful evening with old and new friends.  It was especially enjoyable to see some ‘textbook’ moms learn that hands on projects such as mini-books and lapbooks were not only fun, but also educational!

What is a Graphic Organizer?

For the benefit of those of you who were not present, a graphic organizer is any tool that allows your student to organize his thoughts and record what he’s learned in a visual way.  Examples of common graphic organizers include:

• Charts and Graphs
• Venn Diagrams
• Scrapbooks, Lapbooks and Mini-books
• Library Pockets and Envelopes

We made two different types of mini-books at our workshop – an accordion book and a layered-look book, and we showed  examples of mini-books and lapbooks that had been made by our children as well as some we had made in teaching a Reluctant Writers class a few years ago.

For example, here is a very simple mini-book that can be made by an elementary aged student:

Directions:

1.  Using one single piece of 8 1/2 x 11 inch colored paper, hold the base piece of paper vertically, then fold it in half lengthwise.

2. Out of contrasting paper colors, construct a simple flower clearly showing the petals, leaves, stem and roots, as shown in the picture on the far left.

3. After gluing the flower to the top half of the folded paper, cut through the flower and the top half of the paper, to the fold.  Make three cuts so that the flower, leaves, stem and roots each have their own section.

4. On the inside of the flaps, label each section, as shown.

5.  Write a short description of each flower ‘part’ opposite each label.

What is a Lapbook?

A lapbook is a innovative, visual, creative, kinesthetic, way to organize information.  Examples abound of lapbooks online (and see our resource list at the bottom of this post), but on the right is an example of one my son made a while back about space.  The base is simply made from two file folders glued together.

Directions for making the lapbook:

1.  Take two file folders, laying vertically open on the table in front of you.

2.  One at a time, take the outside edges of each file folder and fold them in towards the center fold.  Crease well, then let them open.

3. Glue together the sides of each folder that are next to each other.  Voila!  That is all there is to it – you can make lapbooks bigger by gluing on more folders or attaching additional flaps inside.

At the left is a photo of the inside of the lapbook.  There is space for vocabulary, illustrations, charts, book reports, clip art and anything else your study included.  The multicolored mini-book is a favorite of ours, the layered-look book.  It allows students to do a fair amount of writing, depending upon the number of pages it contains, but is much less intimidating than that dreaded big, blank sheet of paper because it is divided into many different sections.

Lapbooks are not only fun to make but:

• they are kinesthetic and visual, maximizing other learning modes
• they beg to be shown to others, giving students an automatic and painless review of the material contained in their lapbook, every time they show it to someone else
• they can be used for studying almost any subject and easily may integrate several subjects, maximizing learning
• they are great at enticing reluctant writers because they are divided into many smaller sections
• they can also be used as an assessment tool, especially when assigned with an accompanying rubric outlining what is to be included in the lapbook
• they can be used for all ages, kindergarten through high school

As with all graphic organizers, anytime your elementary student is organizing information, he is building a foundation for learning more advanced writing skills as well as for learning how to take notes.

At every grade level and in every type of curriculum we have,  Epi Kardia curricula uses mini-books, lapbooks and graphic organizers!

Online Resources for Mini- and Lapbooks

Here is a resource list for mini- and lapbook resources including instructions, ideas and even free lapbooks:

• This site has every type of mini book imaginable as well as  free templates!

• This site has guided reading materials and  MANY mini book ideas and resources for elementary ages.

• This is one of our favorite original sites with great instruction and ideas. Check out the blog for this site as well.

• This has an array of lapbook information for all ages. In fact, at The Homeschol Lounge (highly recommended!) you can join a group of homeschooling moms who share lapbook ideas and resources.

And for those of you who want to incorporate notebooking and scrapbooking into your homeschooling (or you like to scrapbook yourself):

• These are resources and other links for educational scrapbooking.

• This is a free software download (full version) to begin digital scrapbooking immediately.

If you read our last post, Six Steps to Start Second Semester, mini- and lapbooks might be just the thing to add some pizazz to your homeschooling this semester.  Even if you use a traditional curriculum, please give your students a chance to do some thing hands on, colorful and creative!  Enjoy!

In His Service,

P.S. If you have a reluctant writer or two at your house, in addition to trying mini-books, you might find our reluctant writer series helpful.  See Reluctant Writers – Part 1 The Early Years, Reluctant Writers – Part 2 The Middle Years and Reluctant Writers – Part 3 High School and Beyond.

Good Morning!

This is just a quick note to share a couple of references that might be of help to you.  First, you may have noticed a new ‘widget’ added to our blog’s right sidebar called the Carnival of Homeschooling.  Ever heard of a ‘blog carnival’?  It is a bit like a blog ‘magazine’ that is ‘published’ on a regular schedule, often weekly or monthly, that centers on a particular topic.  It is hosted by various bloggers who pull together a number of different authors/artices.  It is a great chance to be exposed to different authors who write about homeschooling topics.  You may also submit posts of your own to possibly be included in an upcoming carnival.

The second resource that I would like to share is a website that offers one free downloadable homeschooling resource every day, Monday through Friday.  These include free lesson plans, e-books, mp3 stories and more! You can check the site every day to see what is free for that day, or you can join their mailing list and they will send you a weekly e-mail every Monday that describes their freebies for the week so you can plan ahead of time what you want to download. They do occasionally send other e-mails with special offers, but they are not frequent or obnoxious.  The website is http://www.HomeschoolFreebieOfTheDay.com.  Enjoy!

Have a great week!

Warmly,

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