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The “Aha!” Factor

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

[Rescued from my old blog.]

For young children, mathematical concepts are part of life’s daily adventure. A toddler’s mind grapples with understanding the threeness of three blocks or three fingers or one raisin plus two more raisins make three.

Most children enter school with a natural feel for mathematical ideas. They can count out forks and knives for the table, matching sets of silverware with the resident set of people. They know how to split up the last bit of birthday cake and make sure they get their fair share, even if they have to cut halves or thirds. They enjoy drawing circles and triangles, and they delight in scooping up volumes in the sandbox or bathtub.

Continue reading The “Aha!” Factor

Hello, World!

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

My old blog over at A Home for Homeschoolers (update: a now-non-existent homeschool forum) is having technical difficulties, so I decided it’s time to experiment with something else. I’m not sure whether to try moving all the old posts over here or just to start again from scratch. I guess I’ll just play around for awhile and learn how WordPress works.

Meanwhile, let me introduce myself: I am a Christian, a wife and homemaker, and the homeschooling mother of five, ages 8yo to adult, all still living at home (though not for much longer, alas!) in the rural countryside of central Illinois. My hobbies are learning and teaching math, and reading anything I can get my hands on.

If you have questions about homeschooling or teaching math — if there’s anything about math that stumps you, or has never made sense, or you’re simply curious about — I’d love to hear from you! Contact information is on the “About Denise” page.

Math Quotes V: A Man Is Like a Fraction…

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

[Rescued from my old blog.]

The blackboard quotes for my math class have been a bit more philosophical the last few weeks:

A good problem should be more than a mere exercise; it should be challenging and not too easily solved by the student, and it should require some “dreaming” time.

—Howard Eves
An Introduction to the History of Mathematics

Continue reading Math Quotes V: A Man Is Like a Fraction…

Why Am I Always the Straight Man?

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

[Rescued from my old blog.]

Teen dd looks up from her Geometry book. “Hey, Mom, guess what? I finally figured out how palm reading works.”

Now there’s a career choice I really want to encourage, right?

With some tredpidation, I ask, “Um… How?”

“When you look at your hand,” she explains, “and it’s all covered with scars, then you know it’s time to declaw the cat!”

Math Quotes III: Five out of Four People

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

[Rescued from my old blog.]

I’ve been procrastinating my preparations for co-op classes this week, but I think I’m ready. I almost forgot the scissors, but now I have them in my bag, so we will be able to cut the “infinite pizza” pieces. And I have two fun quotes for the blackboard:

Continue reading Math Quotes III: Five out of Four People

Math Quotes II: The Ultimate Goal of Mathematics

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

[Rescued from my old blog.]

I thought you might enjoy the quote I’m going to use on the blackboard in math class:

The clearer the teacher makes it, the worse it is for you. You must work things out for yourself and make the ideas your own.

—William F. Osgood, quoted in
Out of the Mouths of Mathematicians
by Rosemary Schmalz

Continue reading Math Quotes II: The Ultimate Goal of Mathematics

I’m Ba-a-a-ack! (Math Quotes of the Week I)

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

[Rescued from my old blog.]

My computer and I seem to have come to a temporary truce: I pretend I’m never going to shut it off again, and it pretends it’s always going to come back if I do have to reboot. (Nope, no new computer in the offing at this point. We’re just at a cease fire here, until the next big thunderstorm throws a power outage at us…) So I thought it was high time for me to get back into the habit of blog posting.

Continue reading I’m Ba-a-a-ack! (Math Quotes of the Week I)

Story Problem Challenge

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

[Rescued from my old blog.]

Well, my computer is still being rebellious, so I’m at dh’s office again to check e-mail while the kids are gone to karate. But I thought it was high time I got another entry up on the blog…

One of my favorite activities for Math Club is to have my students write their own story problems. Then we pass the problems around so everyone can try to solve them. With all the discussion of problem solving on the math forum lately, I thought it would be fun to extend the challenge to you all. Can you come up with a word problem for us to practice our problem-solving skills on?

Continue reading Story Problem Challenge

See You Later!

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

[Rescued from my old blog.]

My computer just died. How frustrating! Computer-savvy ds says it probably needs a new motherboard. Blissfully computer-ignorant me doesn’t know exactly what that means, but I know enough to tell that it’s not good. I could tell by the way he shook his head and muttered, “Hmmm. Not good,” several times as he tried to get the thing to boot up.

Continue reading See You Later!