Life in General – Page 29 – Denise Gaskins' Let's Play Math

More Math Resources

Posted on May 30, 2007May 13, 2022 by Denise Gaskins

My math resources page continues to grow, with new discoveries and with pages I had simply overlooked. (Shame on me!) As I add new entries, I will occasionally post them on the blog as well. Like this:

1000 Problems to Enjoy
A large collection of challenge problems for grades 7-9, or for anyone who wants to play around with math and logic. Answers are in the Doc files, but don’t peek. Figure it out for yourself, and use the file only to check your work. It’s no fun when someone just gives you the answer!

Hexa-Trex Puzzle of the Day
“Object of the game: Find a path through all the tiles to make a math equation.” Difficulty ranges from easy to quite challenging.

Continue reading More Math Resources

Free (Mostly) Math Resources on the Internet

Posted on May 28, 2007May 13, 2022 by Denise Gaskins

Please take a few minutes to look at my handy new math resource page ~~(in the “For Your Information” box at the top of my sidebar)~~. I moved all the math resource links from my sidebar onto a page of their own, where I could add descriptions and comments.

Whew! That was a lot of work. I hope you find it useful. If you know of any other great math pages I should add to the list, please tell me.

My Favorite Unpopular Posts

Posted on May 21, 2007May 13, 2022 by Denise Gaskins

I get a bit tired of the various memes [definition: things to blog about when you have no ideas of your own, a state with which I can easily identify!] that float around the blogsphere—songs from A’s iPod, irrelevant things that nobody knew about B, or C’s favorite TV commercials… But Dana at Principled Discovery has a new meme that actually looks interesting.

Objective: Share ten of your favorite posts, although they went largely unnoticed in the broader blogosphere.

Continue reading My Favorite Unpopular Posts

Spring, the Season for Planning…

Posted on May 12, 2007May 13, 2022 by Denise Gaskins

Oops! No Alexandria Jones post this week. My writing time has been overtaken by the monster school supply catalog (“Mom, haven’t you ordered my books yet?!“) and by yesterday’s co-op planning meeting and today’s 13 (so far!) follow up emails.

Planning a homeschool co-op is a little bit like juggling kittens. No matter how careful you are, something is going to get scratched. Several of the classes I was hoping for did not draw enough interest in the public polling, but of those that remain, I would like my students to study:

dd#1 — drama, photography, sewing, Spanish, writing, guitar, and biology lab
ds — drama, photography, writing, Spanish, guitar, PE/health, and maybe biology
dd#2 — art, sewing, cooking, music, science, and maybe PE/health
[Wouldn’t you know it, not a single one of my kids wants to take any of their mom’s math classes. 🙂 ]

Problem: We only offer three class periods. And dd#1 plans to teach karate during one of those time slots.

Well, whatever else works or doesn’t work out, I sure hope we can get the lady who took these pictures to teach that photography class.

Spring Cleaning My Blog Links

Posted on April 25, 2007May 13, 2022 by Denise Gaskins

Our whole family is coming down with something again. What a nuisance!

Since I don’t feel up to real cleaning, I guess it’s time to spruce up my sidebar. If you haven’t posted since November or December of last year, you’re outta there. And for those of you who use Blogger — well, I’m sorry, but if I get a persistent “Blogger: 404 – Page Not Found” then you’re gone, too. If you are still actively blogging, please send me an email.

Continue reading Spring Cleaning My Blog Links

Weird Things People Search For

Posted on April 23, 2007May 13, 2022 by Denise Gaskins

Sometimes I laugh when I read the search engine terms that have led people to my blog. Other times I’m left scratching my head. What in the world are these people thinking? So, for your reading pleasure, I present a few phrases that must have meaning to someone:

man falling off a cliff applet

Well, it sound more dramatic than the cannonballs and flying arrows we used when I took physics.

crazy math challenge free worksheets

As in, “I’m crazy about math”? Or is it, “Math drives me crazy”?

Continue reading Weird Things People Search For

Thou Surly Bat-Fowling Hugger-Mugger!

Posted on April 19, 2007May 13, 2022 by Denise Gaskins

Here is another highlight from my “To blog about it someday” folder: the Shakespearean Insulter. What fun!

There’s no room for faith, truth, nor honesty in this bosom of thine.
It is all filled up with guts and midriff.

Taken from: Henry IV, part I

And if you are interested in actually studying the bard, here are some links you may enjoy:

Shakespeare. Yes, again. And again.
Advice on teaching Shakespeare to children.

Bardolatry
Many links to teaching advice, book recommendations, and more.

Folger Shakespeare Library

Shakespeare for Kids

There is no reason to put off Shakespeare until your student reaches high school. My then-kindergardener enjoyed the Trevor Nunn version of Twelfth Night so much that she wanted to get her hair cut, “So I can pretend to be a boy.” This is homeschooling at its best: each of us learning at our own level — and loving it.

Happy Birthday, Sweet 17!

Posted on April 12, 2007May 13, 2022 by Denise Gaskins

I described in a previous post our family tradition of hiding one present on each child’s birthday. Today’s hidden present rhyme was more successful than recent ones — the birthday girl was temporarily stumped and needed a hint from her older sister. Can you guess where they found the gift?

As always, the outside of the envelope is the same:

I’m your last present.
Can you find me?
I’m hiding some place
That you can’t see…

Continue reading Happy Birthday, Sweet 17!

You Know It’s Winter When…

Posted on February 27, 2007May 13, 2022 by Denise Gaskins

You know it’s winter when you drive the kids to karate practice, and along the way they alternate between arguing with each other and singing along with the radio — and when you come out after practice, before you can drive them home, you have to scrape the frost off the inside of your windshield.