How to Homeschool Math: A long page full of my best tips on homeschooling math in a low-stress, creative, playful way. No matter which curriculum you use—unschoolers, too!
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My Let’s Play Math Sampler ebook contains short excerpts from my most popular books. Find out how to get it for free, no strings attached!
Many parents remember struggling to learn math. We hope to provide a better experience for our children.
And one of the best ways for children to enjoy learning is through hands-on play.
In this conversational problem-solving game, students challenge each other to find the secret numbers that fit certain clues.
“What Two Numbers?” is free on this website for one week only. It’s an excerpt from Prealgebra & Geometry: Math Games for Middle School, which is available as an ebook at my publisher’s store (where you get all formats for one low price, and I earn higher no-middleman royalties) or through other online retailers, or by special request through your local library. Read more about my playful math books here.
Math Concepts: addition, multiplication, inverse operations, positive and negative numbers.
Players: two or more.
Equipment: no equipment needed.
This game uses double-6 dominoes to practice simple addition for young children. But it’s also a great strategy game for players of any age.
“Domino Bond” is free on this website for one week only. It’s an excerpt from Math You Can Play Combo: Number Games for Young Learners, which is available as an ebook at my publisher’s store (where you get all formats for one low price, and I earn higher no-middleman royalties) or through other online retailers, or by special request through your local library. Read more about my playful math books here.
The Math Game Monday posts will be available for one week only. If you missed this one, explore the links in the sidebar. There are more than forty free games scattered around the blog. Have fun playing math with your kids!
Here is one of my all-time favorite strategy games. The instructions below call for a hundred chart, but you can also play it tic-tac-toe-style on any paper.
“Gomoku” is free on this website for one week only. It’s an excerpt from 70+ Things To Do with a Hundred Chart: Number, Shape, and Logic Activities from Preschool to Middle School, which is available as an ebook at my publisher’s store (where you get all formats for one low price, and I earn higher no-middleman royalties) or through other online retailers, or by special request through your local library. Read more about my playful math books here.
The Math Game Monday posts will be available for one week only. If you missed this one, explore the links in the sidebar. There are more than forty free games scattered around the blog. Have fun playing math with your kids!
Help your children discover how much fun thinking hard can be!
You have slightly more than 24 hours left to grab the early-release 312 Things To Do with a Math Journal book on Kickstarter and pick up some great discounts on the rest of my playful math journaling books — including the popular Math Prompt Task Card sets.
Playful Math Journaling Kickstarter
But act fast! The deal disappears Thursday evening, U.S. Central Time.
“It doesn’t matter whether your students are homeschooled or in a classroom, distance-learning or in person. Everyone can enjoy the experience of playing around with math.”
—Denise Gaskins
Playful Math Journaling Kickstarter
[Side note: The free Math Journaling Sampler file will remain available on the Kickstarter page even after the campaign ends.]
This cooperative “game” is a fun way to play with prealgebra concepts, even with young children.
“Secret Number Challenge” is free on this website for one week only. It’s an excerpt from Let’s Play Math: How Families Can Learn Math Together—and Enjoy It, which is available as an ebook at my publisher’s store (where you get all formats for one low price, and I earn higher no-middleman royalties) or through other online retailers, or by special request through your local library. Read more about my playful math books here.
The Math Game Monday posts will be available for one week only. If you missed this one, explore the links in the sidebar. There are more than forty free games scattered around the blog. Have fun playing math with your kids!
Check out the latest carnival of playful math:
Each monthly Playful Math Education Blog Carnival brings you a great new collection of puzzles, math conversations, teaching tips, and all sorts of mathy fun. It’s like a free online magazine of mathematical adventures, helpful and inspiring no matter when you read them.
Johanna put together a beautiful collection of mathematical resources and activities for studying math in nature, biometric data, journaling, math poetry, and other delights.
Click Here to Read the Carnival Blog
The Playful Math Blog Carnival wants you!
The carnival is a joint effort. We depend on our volunteer hosts to collect blog posts and write the carnival each month.
Putting together a blog carnival can be a lot of work, but it’s a great opportunity to share the work of bloggers you admire and to discover new math-friends online. I love that part of being a host!
Classroom teachers, homeschoolers, college professors, unschoolers, or anyone who likes to play around with math — if you would like to take a turn hosting the carnival, please speak up.
This is a fun strategy game for students of all ages. Who doesn’t like chocolate?
“Chomp” is free on this website for one week only. It’s an excerpt from 312 Things To Do with a Math Journal, which is available for a limited-time preorder through the Playful Math Journaling Kickstarter. Discover how to help your children enjoy learning math through the richly creative exploration of numbers, shapes, and patterns.
The Math Game Monday posts will be available for one week only. If you missed this one, explore the links in the sidebar. There are more than forty free games scattered around the blog. Have fun playing math with your kids!
Math journaling helps students enjoy the adventure of learning math through playful exploration.
In a math journal, children explore their own ideas about numbers, shapes, and patterns through drawing or writing in response to a question. Journaling teaches them to see with mathematical eyes. Not just to remember what we adults tell them, but to create their own math.
All they need is a piece of paper, a pencil, and a good prompt to launch their mathematical journey.
You can launch your family’s math journaling adventure today. Download the free 16-page printable (pdf) Math Journaling Sampler, which includes:
Click here for the Math Journaling Sampler
And if you like what you see, I’d love to have your support for my Playful Math Journaling Kickstarter project. Check it out:
This game is a great way to build mental math and strategic thinking skills with students of all ages.
“Jenna Laib’s Skip-Counting Game” is free on this website for one week only. It’s an excerpt from 312 Things To Do with a Math Journal, which is available for a limited-time preorder through the Playful Math Journaling Kickstarter. Discover how to help your children enjoy learning math through the richly creative exploration of numbers, shapes, and patterns.
The Math Game Monday posts will be available for one week only. If you missed this one, explore the links in the sidebar. There are more than forty free games scattered around the blog. Have fun playing math with your kids!
As queen of the house, Cimorene insists on being involved in anything that happens in her domain. This includes promoting the Playful Math Journaling Kickstarter.
So she created a cat math journaling prompt to help your children experience the fun of playing around with math.
But first, she encourages you to visit the Kickstarter page and download the free 16-page printable Math Journaling Sampler file. Your kids will love solving Cimorene’s puzzle on one of the parchment-style pages!
“The Princess of Cats has a luxuriously soft tail about 12 inches (30 cm) long. Her tail is three times the length of her noble head. Her beautiful, furry body is as long as head and tail together. How long is the Princess from her delicate nose to the tip of her majestic tail?”
So, how does math journaling work? What do children do with a problem like this?
They may want to make a list of the things they know from the story. Perhaps they will draw a picture of the cat and label the proportions. Each will take their own approach to figure it out.
And then the best part of any math journal prompt is when kids make their own math.
Encourage your children to share their math creations with their friends and family.
Cimorene would love to read it, too! If you share your story in the comments section below, I will be sure to show it to her.
And remember to back the Playful Math Journaling Kickstarter so your whole family can enjoy the adventure of playing with math!
