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Alexandria Jones and the Mathematical Carnival

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Alexandria JonesMaria Jones hung up the phone and collapsed at the kitchen table. She buried her head in her hands and groaned. Alex looked up from her game of Solitaire.

“Let me guess,” she said. “Can’t-Say-No Syndrome, again?”

Mrs. Jones nodded. “This time I volunteered to plan an activity for next month’s homeschool group meeting.”

Leon wandered in and pulled an apple from the fruit bowl. “Ha!” he said. “She means she volunteered us to plan an activity, right?”

Mrs. Jones smiled. “That’s my motto: When in doubt, delegate!”

Continue reading Alexandria Jones and the Mathematical Carnival

Math Teachers at Play #30 via JD2718

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Check out the mathy blog entries in this month’s Math Teachers at Play blog carnival, hosted by Jonathan at jd2718. Topics range from preschool to high school, including songs, games and much more. Fun!

Welcome to the September 17, 2010 edition of math teachers at play. This is MTaP #30. This MTaP may look a little different. There is no theme weaving its way through and unifying the sections. We are not opening with a discussion of the number 30 (no matter how many cool things we could have come up with), and the sections are, um, different. It has occurred to some of us that the experience a student has in mathematics may differ greatly from p … Read More

via JD2718

Pirate Treasure: Free Elementary Math

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

CurrClick is running a Talk Like a Pirate Sale through Wednesday, October 22, and they hid 20 virtual treasure chests around their website — each with a free e-book inside. I haven’t found them all, but here are a couple of preschool and early-elementary treats:

Who knows what else may be hiding in those CurrClick treasure chests? Have fun exploring!

Sept-Oct 2010 Math Calendars

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

As I was preparing for Wednesday’s Homeschool Math Club Games & Activities meeting, I remembered my old math calendars and thought, that would be a fun activity to offer. So I pulled up the files and discovered that the days of the week matched perfectly. What a cool coincidence!

So in case you missed the math calendars last year, or in case it’s been long enough that your children have forgotten, here are the “new” versions:

Addendum

Umm Ahmad created an easier version for young students:

Continue reading Sept-Oct 2010 Math Calendars

Planning a New Math Club

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

[Photo by Waponi.]

A few years ago, I had several (potentially) future engineers in our homeschool math club, and we enjoyed the challenge of MathCounts and AMC puzzles — but the current crop of local homeschool students is another story.

Last year’s contest-based club meetings dwindled to one student. Even before the recent MathCounts rule changes, I knew I needed a new plan. The final straw was Kitten, whose moaning complaint that she “hates math” has begun to drive me crazy.

So, what’s a homeschool math teacher to do?

Continue reading Planning a New Math Club

Carnival of Mathematics 69 (via JD2718)

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Jonathan serves up plenty of fun in this month’s Carnival of Mathematics. And he will be hosting the Math Teachers at Play blog carnival in two weeks — submit your entries here.

Carnival of Mathematics 69

Normally a Carnival of Mathematics opens with a discourse on its ordinal. But 69?

It is 1000101 in binary, 1011 base 4, 105 base 8, 45 in hex… If we used 32 as a base?  25. And that would be 15 in base 64.

69 is odd. But there are as many odd numbers as there are ________. I still love that!  It is one of a bunch of surprises that Dave Richeson lists  at Divisio …

Read More

via JD2718

Math Teachers at Play #29 via The Number Warrior

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

After a slight delay, the new Math Teachers at Play carnival is up at The Number Warrior, with a nice variety of blog posts to browse. Enjoy!

Math Teachers at Play #29 The last time I hosted Math Teachers at Play I attempted to start a tradition of including a math puzzle pertinent to the number of the carnival. Alas, it didn't take, but now that I'm hosting again I can mention an old classic: Three people check into a hotel. They pay $30 to the manager and go to their room. The manager finds out that the room rate is $25 and gives $5 to the bellboy to return. On the way to the room the bellboy reasons that $5 … Read More

via The Number Warrior

MathCounts: Grandfather Clause for Existing Homeschool Teams

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Click here for the official update. Small schools are not mentioned, but it seems logical that their existing teams would also be grandfathered in. Maybe? and according to Mathmom’s comment below, small schools are left out in the cold.

… After taking all concerns into account, a compromise was crafted that would grandfather in homeschools and virtual schools that participated in the 2009-2010 program year to allow them to participate on teams in this year’s Competition Program. All new homeschool and virtual school participants must abide by the new eligibility rules that require those participants to register only as individuals. This compromise was brought to the MATHCOUNTS Board of Directors and approved unanimously.

Therefore, for the 2010-2011 school year, all homeschool and virtual school groups that registered for the MATHCOUNTS Competition Program either as teams OR individuals during the 2009-2010 program year will be allowed to register teams or as individuals for the upcoming 2010-2011 program year, following all of the 2009-2010 requirements for participation.

MathCounts: No More Homeschool Teams

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

MATHCOUNTSIf you’ve heard rumors about the new ruling, here is the official take.

I try to avoid ranting on this blog, but I’m deeply disappointed. My students always enjoyed the team aspect of working/suffering together. I don’t know if any of them will be willing to participate as individuals.

Update: MathCounts: Grandfather Clause for Existing Homeschool Teams

How to Start an Argument: The Monty Hall Problem

Posted on by Denise Gaskins


[Photo by MontyPython.]

You can get a good argument going in almost any group of people with the infamous Monty Hall problem:

Imagine you are on a TV game show, and the host lets you choose between three closed doors. One of the doors hides a fancy sports car, and if you pick that door, you win the car.

You pick door .

The host opens door to reveal a goat. Then he gives you a chance to switch your door for the unopened door .

Should you switch?

What if you say you’re going to switch, and then the host offers to give you $5,000 instead of whatever is behind door ?

Try the game for yourself at the Stay or Switch website.

Continue reading How to Start an Argument: The Monty Hall Problem