Our Power Outage Adventure

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

[Photo by Nestor Galina.]

Our power finally came back on this afternoon after a couple of cold, dark nights.

Staying Warm

We heated the house with candles and stove-top burners (propane). We found that if you get enough candles lit in a room, it really can make a difference, and the stove was able to keep the kitchen in the upper-50’s, even above 60 degrees at times, which was pretty comfortable. We dressed in lots of layers and wore gloves, drank a plenty of coffee and hot chocolate, listened to oldies on the battery-powered radio, and went to bed early each night. (Hooray for sleeping bags!)

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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?

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A Little Bit of This, a Little Bit of That…

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

funny pictures of cats with captions

It’s high time I got back on track with my Alexandria Jones posts, so I’ve been working hard on a short introduction to probability, to go along with The Birthday Surprise. Or, more honestly, I’ve been procrastinating on a short intro … well, anyway, here’s a little of what I’ve been reading around the interwebs lately.

Continue reading A Little Bit of This, a Little Bit of That…

Congratulations, Kitten!

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

[Photo by dougwoods.]

Today is my daughter Princess Kitten’s blogiversary. Check out her post:

And then take some time to browse her blog. I think you’ll enjoy her stories. She’s even written a few things about math:

[Update: I just noticed that this is the 500th post to be published on Let’s Play Math! blog. Wow! I guess Kitten and I will both be celebrating today…]

Rate Puzzle: How Fast Does She Read?

Posted on by Denise Gaskins


[Photo by Arwen Abendstern.]

If a girl and a half
can read a book and a half
in a day and a half,
then how many books can one girl read in the month of June?

Kitten reads voraciously, but she decided to skip our library’s summer reading program this year. The Border’s Double-Dog Dare Program was a lot less hassle and had a better prize: a free book! Of course, it didn’t take her all summer to finish 10 books.

How fast does Kitten read?

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Hobbit Math: Elementary Problem Solving 5th Grade

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

[Photo by OliBac. Visit OliBac’s photostream for more.]

The elementary grades 1-4 laid the foundations, the basics of arithmetic: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and fractions. In grade 5, students are expected to master most aspects of fraction math and begin working with the rest of the Math Monsters: decimals, ratios, and percents (all of which are specialized fractions).

Word problems grow ever more complex as well, and learning to explain (justify) multi-step solutions becomes a first step toward writing proofs.

This installment of my elementary problem solving series is based on the Singapore Primary Mathematics, Level 5A. For your reading pleasure, I have translated the problems into the world of J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic, The Hobbit.

UPDATE: Problems have been genericized to avoid copyright issues.

Continue reading Hobbit Math: Elementary Problem Solving 5th Grade

Prime Numbers Are like Monkeys

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

[Photo by mape_s.]

I’m afraid that Math Club may have fallen victim to the economy, which is worse in our town than in the nation in general. Homeschooling families have tight budgets even in the best of times, and now they seem to be cutting back all non-essentials. I assumed that last semester’s students would return, but I should have asked for an RSVP.

Still, Kitten and I had a fun time together. We played four rounds of Tens Concentration, since I had spread out cards on the tables in the library meeting room before we realized that no one was coming. Had to pick up the cards one way or another, so we figured we might as well enjoy them! She won the first two rounds, which put her in a good mood for our lesson.

I had written “Prime numbers are like monkeys!” on the whiteboard, and Kitten asked me what that meant. That was all the encouragement I needed to launch into my planned lesson, despite the frustrating dearth of students. The idea is taken from Danica McKellar’s book Math Doesn’t Suck.

Continue reading Prime Numbers Are like Monkeys

Buddy-Style Math: Doing Homework Without Tears

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

My daughter Kitten strongly dislikes math when forced to do it on her own, so I am trying to get back into the habit of doing “Buddy-Style Math” with her. We take turns working the problems in her workbook: mine, hers, mine, hers, and so on down the page. We work each problem out loud, explaining how we got the answer and checking each other as we go.

In a way, it is like Charlotte Mason-style narration applied to math, since my daughter has to process her thoughts in order to explain how she worked the problem, which fixes the math concepts more deeply in her mind.

Continue reading Buddy-Style Math: Doing Homework Without Tears

Homeschool Kids Write

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

homeschool-kids-writeNo, it’s not math, but it looks like a great way to kick-start Princess Kitten’s long-neglected blog. She sat down at the computer and browsed the links to other kids’ posts for over an hour last night, occasionally laughing out loud. Then she opened her Dashboard and started to type a response to the green assignment.

I’ll have to let her know there’s a new post up today. Check it out:

  • Homeschool Kids Write

Maybe I can even get her to send something in to the next Homeschool Kids Blog Carnival. It’s worth a try…

Update

Unfortunately, Homeschool Kids Write has disappeared from the web. The Wayback Machine link gives a taste of what the site was like, but It’s just not the same without the Mr. Linky connections to all the children’s writings.

Kitten did three of the writing assignments. And not only did she enter the Homeschool Kids Blog Carnival, she even hosted one edition!

My baby is growing up…