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Book Updates

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

letsplaymathcover-mini

My ebook Let’s Play Math has a new cover. Do you like it?

After wrestling with the files for a couple of months, I finally figured out how to add the toc.ncx navigation (the ebook magic that lets you skip ahead to the next chapter). While I was messing around, I added a few more references, expanded a couple of sections, and fixed all the typos that we’ve found so far.

I sent Amazon an email asking them to give everyone who already bought a copy the option to get the latest version. Unfortunately that’s not automatic, but if the powers that be decide that these changes were “major,” you should get an email telling you how to update.

Continue reading Book Updates

2013 Mathematics Game

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

feature photo above by Alan Klim via flickr

New Year’s Day

Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.

Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink, and swore his last oath. Today, we are a pious and exemplary community. Thirty days from now, we shall have cast our reformation to the winds and gone to cutting our ancient shortcomings considerably shorter than ever. We shall also reflect pleasantly upon how we did the same old thing last year about this time.

However, go in, community. New Year’s is a harmless annual institution, of no particular use to anybody save as a scapegoat for promiscuous drunks, and friendly calls, and humbug resolutions, and we wish you to enjoy it with a looseness suited to the greatness of the occasion.

— Mark Twain
Letter to Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, Jan. 1863

For many homeschoolers, January is the time to assess our progress and make a few New Semester’s Resolutions. This year, we resolve to challenge ourselves to more math puzzles. Would you like to join us? Pump up your mental muscles with the 2013 Mathematics Game!

Continue reading 2013 Mathematics Game

Math Teachers at Play #57 via So I Teach Math and Coach?

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

From preschool through high school, mathematics offers a wide range of puzzles, games, and interesting ideas to explore. The Math Teachers at Play blog carnival brings you a variety of mathy treats every month. Check it out!

Math Teachers at Play #57

Welcome to the 57th Edition of Math Teachers at Play the Blog Carnival!

The number 57 has often been used in entertainment. As in Agent 57 from the Hit TV Show Danger Mouse, Bruce Springsteen once sang about 57 channels (and nothin’ on), and I can’t forget one of my favorite movies Passenger 57 staring Wesley Snipes.

Click here to read this month’s entries.

Quotable: Why Study Algebra?

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Blocks

[Photo by AlphaTangoBravo / Adam Baker via flickr.]

One reason to study algebra: because it’s a building block. And just as it was really hard at first to get those blocks to do what you wanted them to do, so also it can be really hard at first to get algebra to work. But if you persevere, who knows what you might build someday?

Algebra is the beginning of a journey that gives you the skills to solve more complex problems.
…
So, try not to think of Algebra as a boring list of rules and procedures to memorize. Consider algebra as a gateway to exploring the world around us all.

— Jason Gibson
Why Study Algebra?

Let’s Play Math Book Update

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

I love math, but had forgotten why I developed a love for math in the first place. This book made me realize how experiences in my childhood lit a spark in me … Denise Gaskins shows us how we can ignite this fire in our own children.

I believe her suggestions are invaluable for homeschoolers, but essential for the many parents whose children are learning to dislike math in school.

— Carrie
Review at Amazon.com, December 1, 2012

If you’ve wavered on whether to pick up my math book, be warned: This is the last month for the introductory sale price. In January, the ebook price will go up to $5.99.

Continue reading Let’s Play Math Book Update

A Mathematical Advent Calendar

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

It’s always a challenge to keep up with homeschooling during the holiday season, but here’s a wonderful way to weave mathematics into your daily schedule: The Nrich Advent Calendars offer a fun math game or activity for every day in December until Christmas Eve. Click the image to visit the calendar that fits your student’s level.

Advent Calendar 2012 – Primary

Advent Calendar 2012 – Secondary

Welcome, TIME Readers!

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

[Photo by Luis Argerich via flickr.]

If you’ve come here from Bonnie Rochman’s article, Bedtime Math: A Problem a Day Keeps Fear of Arithmetic Away, thank you for dropping in! I have nearly 800 published posts about learning and teaching math, which can seem pretty overwhelming.

Here are a few good places to start:

  • Tell Me a (Math) Story
    What better way could there be to do math than snuggled up on a couch with your little one, or side by side at the sink while your middle-school student helps you wash the dishes, or passing the time on a car ride into town?
  • Homeschooling with Math Anxiety Series
    Our childhood struggles with schoolwork gave most of us a warped view of mathematics. Yet even parents who suffer from math anxiety can learn to enjoy math with their children.
  • How to Conquer the Times Table
    Challenge your student to a joint experiment in mental math. Over the next two months, without flashcards or memory drill, how many math facts can the two of you learn together? We will use the world’s oldest interactive game — conversation — to explore multiplication patterns while memorizing as little as possible.

I hope you enjoy your visit to my blog.

Math Teachers at Play #56 via Another Step To Take…

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Would you like to learn about math books, games, puzzles, teaching tips, and more? Check out this month’s Math Teachers at Play:

Math Teachers at Play is a Blog Carnival for teachers, parents, homeschoolers and anyone else interested in learning and teaching mathematics.

According to the tradition of MTaP we start with some trivia related to edition number. Fifty six is a tetrahedral number, the sum of the first six triangular numbers. To model this number we laid out tiles to for the triangular numbers and then stacked them…

Click here to read the whole post.