How to Teach Math to a Struggling Student

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

photo by MC Quinn via flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Paraphrased from a homeschool math discussion forum:

“Help! My daughter struggles with arithmetic. I guess she is like me: just not a math person. She is an outstanding reader. When we do word problems, she usually has no trouble. She’s a whiz at strategy games and beats her dad at chess every time. But numbers — yikes! When we play Yahtzee, she gets lost trying to add up her score. The simple basics of adding and subtracting confuse her.

“Since I find math difficult myself, it’s hard for me to know what she needs. What’s missing to make it click for her? She used to think math was fun and tested well above grade level, but I listened to some well-meaning advice and totally changed the way we were schooling. I switched from using workbooks and games to using Saxon math, and she got extremely frustrated. Now she hates math.”

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Math Games by Kids

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Photo by Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com.

The cold came back and knocked me flat, but there are compensations. The downtime gave me a chance to browse my overflowing bookmarks folder, and I found something to add to my resource page. Princess Kitten and I enjoyed exploring these games and quizzes from Ambleweb.

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Euclid’s Game on a Hundred Chart

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Math concepts: subtraction within 100, number patterns, mental math
Number of players: 2 or 3
Equipment: printed hundred chart (also called a hundred board), and highlighter or translucent disks to mark numbers — or use this online hundred chart

Set Up

Place the hundred chart and highlighter where all players can reach them.

How to Play

  • Allow the youngest player choice of moving first or second; in future games, allow the loser of the last game to choose.
  • The first player chooses a number from 1 to 100 and marks that square on the hundred chart.
  • The second player chooses and marks any other number.
  • On each succeeding turn, the player subtracts any two marked numbers to find and mark a difference that has not yet been taken.
  • Play alternates until no more numbers can be marked.

Continue reading Euclid’s Game on a Hundred Chart

Christmas Puzzle Answers

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Remember the Math Adventurer’s Rule: Figure it out for yourself! Whenever I give a problem in an Alexandria Jones story, I will try to post the answer soon afterward. But don’t peek! If I tell you the answer, you miss out on the fun of solving the puzzle. So if you haven’t worked these problems yet, go back to the original post. Figure them out for yourself — and then check the answers just to prove that you got them right.

Alexandria Jones and the Christmas Present Quandary

Magic Square Puzzles

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Magic Square Puzzles

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Lo-shu turtle

Alex handed her brother Leonhard a box wrapped in the rocket tessellation paper, with air holes carefully punched in two sides.

“Merry Christmas, Leon!” she said.

He ripped open the gift. Alex winced. Boys have no artistic appreciation, she thought.

“Oh, cool! Thanks,” Leon said.

“His name is Lo-shu,” said Alex. “But be careful. I used non-toxic tempera paint. The design will was off.”

Leon turned the turtle and studied the back of its shell. “Oh, that’s just like in the legend! I’ll copy it down before I let him near any water.”

  • What do the shapes on Lo-shu’s back mean?
  • Why are some dots white and some black?

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Pre-Algebra Picture Puzzles

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Balance problem

Maria at Homeschool Math Blog has posted a fun set of worksheets:
Pan balance problems to teach algebraic reasoning.

Princess Kitten, at nearly 9yo, keeps telling me, “I hate math, but I like algebra.” So I printed all four pages for her to try. These get pretty complicated, and the 2-variable problems had her flummoxed for awhile. But after an explanation and bit of pouting (I think she hates math because she’s such a perfectionist that she can’t bear to get something wrong, even the first time), she came back and conquered the toughest ones.

Fraction Models, and a Card Game

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Fraction cards

Models give us a way to form and manipulate a mental image of an abstract concept, such as a fraction. There are three basic ways we can imagine a fraction: as partially-filled area or volume, as linear measurement, or as some part of a given set. Teach all three to give your students a well-rounded understanding.

When teaching young students, we use physical models — actual food or cut-up pieces of construction paper. Older students and adults can firm up the foundation of their understanding by drawing many, many pictures. As we move into abstract, numbers-only work, these pictures remain in our minds, an always-ready tool to help us think our way through fraction problems.

Continue reading Fraction Models, and a Card Game

Game: Hundred Chart Nim

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Photo by Håkan Dahlström via flickr.

Math concepts: addition and subtraction within 100, logical strategy
Number of players: 2 or 3
Equipment: printed hundred chart (also called a hundred board) and beans, pennies, or other tokens with which to mark numbers — or use this online hundred chart

Set Up

Place the hundred chart and a small pile of tokens where both players can reach them.

Continue reading Game: Hundred Chart Nim