Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Math and Science Resources We Will Be Using


 I really had the best of fun this summer planning our math resources with the kids. I can't tell you enough of how pleased I am with the resources we will be using. All of the subjects that they are learning, some new and some at a deeper level just came together. At first I was going to just type one longer post to include all of our subject resources, but I am positive that you probably would of taken a nap and then came back (maybe). LOL.

O.K so first we created our motto " We are Detectives, solving the unknown".  We all enjoyed the book " The Number Devil" and "The Lemonade War" and I just followed their way of mathematical thinking and the next thing I knew we were learning about Sherlock Holmes. We have falling in love with Sherlock Holmes!
                                                                     

I was reading  All Things Beautiful and Phyllis was sharing about her 2013-2014 math curriculum. The book titled Mathematics...a Way of Thinking, immediately grabbed my attention. I spent a lot of time going through and reading every sample, which is a lot! I called the kids around the computer and then they browsed through it too. They love the concepts of games and I am completely thrilled with how easy it is to implement. Once we all committed to doing the activities I purchased it  used on Amazon for just $3.99

Nice approach, rules sneakily taught and they are detectives, detecting the rules.

I also discovered Family Math, which will be such a confidence booster for all of us. I found this book used on Amazon for $6.00. We make our own math kits and do the activities together. Again this is easy to implement and still do math hands on. We needed something for math just like this, life is just so busy right now and at this moment we need our spending time together to be more than material making. OH! But we will eventually come back to that when the time is right!


We have also committed to learning Chess.
We are starting with No Stress Chess. The kids know way more about Chess so they are teaching me, and as a result they will be deepening their thoughts on the game too. I brought two sets so we can all play at the same time and rotating who is playing who. The other side has notations which none of us know about, although I heard them finding out some information about it on the Internet. This is going to be fun and rewarding. Bring it on!

We are including logic puzzles that will be posted on the board  until the puzzle has been solved. We haven't started yet, but what will be our first logic puzzle is what I wrote on the poster board in the picture above.

                                              Pencil to Paper

There is a requirement to documenting math problems. 
                          

Ken will be starting to document her math with solving math riddles involving multiplication and division, I'll be making simple booklets of graph paper for her and DJ will be documenting his work with multiplication and division with booklets I make using these  various worksheets.

And no we haven't abandoned our Montessori math materials. We still need them and last year we barely scratched the surface of what these materials are capable of assisting them with. Oh and the Pink Tower isn't in the picture by mistake. I got a few casualties with the move, still looking for two parts missing from the Fraction Circles. We also plan to go in depth with Fractions and this fraction kit will be added in and they will  learn more geometry using this.

                                                                        
Math is also incorporated into our science. We are focusing on Forensic Science with a group of children led by me. We are using the The Mystery of Lyle and Louise. The first course that we are doing is Bad Impression:  Bite Mark Analysis. This course is intended for high school and up, but I have a feeling that they will be very successful in this class, especially since they helped with prep work. We will see! Science just happens around here anyway.

As the kids and I are getting more comfortable with our homeschooling life it  is getting easier, and much more fun! How are we going to fit this all  in?  "We will be Detectives, solving the unknown"  one day at a time.



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