Welcome! I'm glad that you stopped by. So you won't miss anything, please SUBSCRIBE to my post feed so that you will always have the latest content! You can also find me on Twitter and Facebook.
Thanks for visiting!
There is one math concept that seems to trouble most homeschoolers. Surprisingly, it’s NOT Algebra, it’s multiplication. I remember learning to multiply when I was in third grade. I skip counted while playing hopscotch, used flash cards after school, took a lot of speed drills, and cried. A lot. I hated to multiply, and I never thought I would never remember all those facts.
That’s why I feel for my kids. Over 13 years I’ve taught 5 kids multiplication, and it always seems to be the same as when I was a kid. We skip count, do practice drills, use flash cards, and stress just a wee little bit over all those facts. I mean let’s face it: The rest of their upper level math skills hang on their ability to multiply, quickly and easily. No pressure or anything, right?
Since we always encounter the same things, I’ve had to become very resourceful. We have found some of the very best helps for kids to learn their times tables that I could possibly ever hope for. Some, I wish I’d had when I was 8!
Timez Attack is a full-fledged video game that teaches all the multiplication facts. Yes, really, an actual video game! Best of all, the basic version is totally FREE. If you upgrade to the premium version (which we did at Christmas time!) it unlocks 7 worlds that they can go through in addition to the Castle, which is the free world.
No matter whether you get the paid version or not, your kids will be able to learn ALL of their math facts with Timez Attack. My kids jump on this game right after breakfast frequently, and I have to tell them to go get dressed and make their beds first. That’s how cool it is! And this is the one resource I wished we’d had when our bigger kids were little. They totally missed out on TimezAttack!
Skip counting is the basic way to learn multiplication, and everyone knows that, but not everyone can SING their 3′s, 7′s or 9′s… but my kids can! I discovered One Hundred Sheep when my 17 year old was a second grader. We had tried two other skip counting tapes (yes, before CD’s were everywhere, lol). One was from Math U See (Mack the Muskrat, or something like that) and it was awful. We used Math U See curriculum, but that tape? Oh boy. NOT a keeper.
The other one we tried was one that just set the problems to music, “Two times two is four, two times two is four”… my kids couldn’t stand it and neither could I! Then we got this CD. Each skip counting song is actually a different SONG, with a catchy tune, and a vocalist who can sing! All of my kids have enjoyed it. We had the tape originally, and I lent it to a friend about 6 years ago and never saw it again. I finally tracked it down and bought the CD when the boys were starting homeschooling. We love it and I think you will too.
Some kids need that tactile input, and some need visual. Learning Wrap-Ups provide BOTH in a fast paced way. They just wrap the thread around the plastic board, from left to right, then flip it over and they can check their answers on their own! These are great for taking in the car when you need to run errands and have to bring the kids along. We have several sets of them!
Last but definitely NOT least, Donna Young’s resources are fantastic. Donna has this amazing website just chock FULL of printables for homeschoolers! Two of my favorite helps for multiplication are her free Tri-Flash Cards, and the multiplication charts. We have printed sets of the Tri-Flash Cards for addition/subtraction and multiplication/division and used them until they were worn out! I keep the multiplication charts and 100′s charts in plastic sheet protectors, and the kids practice with them using dry erase markers. If you have never explored over at DonnaYoung.org, go there now!
Multiplication can be tricky because there are so many facts to learn. Isn’t it great that we have access to so many different study helps?
Do you have any great ways to help your kids learn their math facts? Please share them in the comments!!
The posts, the tweets, and the Facebook updates are popping up all over. “What’s your WORD for the new year?” and “MY word for the new year is…” It made me think, hmm. A word? I have no idea. Why would you pick a word?
Then I began thinking back over this past year. On many occasions I mentioned in posts about how the Lord has made me really aware of the seasons of life and how they have changed over time. I realize now that my word for 2011, even though I never chose one, was seasons.
This feeling, this awareness, has not lessened for me at all. In fact, I am becoming more and more aware and with this feeling bordering on urgency I have come to my word for 2012: Transition.
Yes, our seasons are changing. Our feelings are changing. And our lives are changing. We have another new grandbaby, a senior in high school/college, and growing boys. There is a possibility we may be moving sometime this year, too. The where hasn’t been decided yet, although we do know the two possible places, but it depends on what E’s boss decides to do with his business expansion. One place is within 45 minutes from here, and the other place is several hours away.
We have also been feeling this season spiritually. Without going into details, I will just say that we are feeling led to look beyond our church. Things have changed drastically there, and we are feeling a bit disconnected. We haven’t attended a small group or Sunday school class in years because we serve in the cafe, and that has been our main ministry for over 7 years. We’ve loved it, but we feel this transitional time and know that the Lord is directing us.
I’ve seen quite a few posts in the blogosphere lately about people leaving churches, or leaving organized church completely. I don’t think that is where we are headed, but I am open to where ever the Lord directs us. Honestly, I just want to have a solid year where no one expects anything from me, where I can just receive. I’ve given just about all I have.
Transition can be scary, but it can also be very liberating.
Ever since he could finally talk, D1 has had a favorite sandwich. He made it up himself, when he was about 3.
“What do you want for lunch son?”
“Eenut utter an eese.”
“Peanut butter and cheese? On a sandwich?!”
“Es, eese!”
That first time he asked for it, I was pretty much shocked. (And yes, that is how he talked. We dealt with childhood apraxia of speech for many years.)
And he came up with this all by himself! Peanut butter and cheese sandwiches. He’s 11 now and not much has changed. He still LOVES these sandwiches, but now he makes his own, and he uses THREE pieces of bread for a double decker sandwich!
I love that my son, who we were told would be very delayed, came up with his own sandwich. I love that he enjoys preparing food (ok truth be told the boy can OUT-EAT all of us and so it’s pretty self-serving, but still!) And I love that the “expert” was wrong about him. He struggles but not to the extent she said that he would.
Creativity? We’ve got that covered. God’s got the rest. Are you trusting God with your kids?
Burnt offerings, grain offerings, fellowship offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings: These were God’s way of providing a way of atonement for us. He couldn’t look at us, couldn’t have anything to do with us, but he wanted to. So he provided a way. As I delve back into the Books of the Law again, and Leviticus especially, I am continually reminded…
There was no way that the Law could be kept, not even by the Priests! Trying to avoid sinning is like deciding to stop breathing. It just happens, and sometimes there is nothing you can do to stop it, because we haven’t yet attained perfection. That doesn’t happen until we’re with Christ in Glory.
God cares, oh SO MUCH, about the details of your life. He cares about what you think, feel, have, and do. The things that you think are insignificant are significant to God! He will always provide a way for you.
We don’t give those burnt offerings any more, those blood sacrifices to atone for the sins we have committed “whether he realizes it or not”… so what do we bring Him?
A heart of flesh, open, willing…
A spirit surrendered, seeking, loving…
A sharp mind, thinking, praying…
Hands for serving, touching, helping…
Love for the lost, unloved, disconnected…
These are my offerings to the Lord. We can’t sit idly by and be spiritual hoarders! I do not seek nor offer religion, rules taught by men. The further I walk down this road of faith the more I realize that being zealous for the Lord does not mean being zealous for religion or for the rules and expectations that the Church enforces.
It has nothing to do with what you walk in the door wearing, how much to give in the offering, whether you serve coffee or usher or go to Bible study, volunteer with the children’s ministry, or stand on a street corner witnessing.
I read somewhere that religion is man’s attempt to reach God, and Christ was God’s way to reach man. Which one works? I’ll let you decide. Check out this video that illustrates it so well!
There is only One Way to receive the Grace and forgiveness that God provides. Aren’t you glad for the final, once and for all atoning sacrifice God provided for us?!
It seems like most homeschool families have it all together. They have their workboxes and lesson plans and time schedules, and they all work for them. I say seems, because I do know better. People think WE have it all together too. They think that since I have a blog and I write about what we’re doing from time to time, we must be doing everything right.
Let me tell you about my family.
We lose things. More than once, D1 has lost his math books or other curriculum. As I type, we are missing his entire set of Teaching Textbooks Math CD’s. He is on the second CD, and has not been able to do any of his regular math since we started back to school a week ago. Sure, we are filling in, but I’m stressed because we need to find those CD’s! For the time being, it is Timez Attack to the rescue.
We have lost lots of things. Camera cards, small dry erase boards, flashcards, math books, pencils, notebooks, and library books. Oh yes, THOSE little babies cost money if you lose them! Then there are cell phones, car keys, glasses cases, phone numbers, and birthday money. Lost is a Being Verb. OK maybe it’s not but it should be, because it IS a state of being in this house!!
I’ve come close to losing my marbles too. Lately, actually. Still overwhelmed with the clutter I have allowed to build up, I just started on it. Just. And I’m sure that somewhere in the piles of papers and books and stuff, either in my room, or in the school room, is D1′s set of Math CDs. And I am also pretty sure this won’t be the last time something like this happens, since it isn’t the first time either.
What have you lost lately? Or what’s the worst thing that you lost?
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links which, if you click over and make a purchase, help to support this site and you will have my heartfelt thanks.
Timez Attack is a full-fledged video game that teaches all the multiplication facts. Yes, really, an actual video game! Best of all, the basic version is totally FREE. If you upgrade to the premium version (which we did at Christmas time!) it unlocks 7 worlds that they can go through in addition to the Castle, which is the free world.
The posts, the tweets, and the Facebook updates are popping up all over. “What’s your WORD for the new year?” and “MY word for the new year is…” It made me think, hmm. A word? I have no idea. Why would you pick a word?
