We’re going in a different direction for math this year.
I just love the idea of math journals.
I’m using Life of Fred math with Elizabeth. We just got the Fractions book. She does the lessons so quickly that I am having her complete a couple each day. We’ll try to do a journal every other day. I am so not a math teacher, so this will be difficult for me to get in the groove. I plan to start out slowly to help us get the hang of it. She can do her LoF work in the journals to keep everything together. I will supplement with mathbooking (math+notebooking!) as needed. Liz really hates lapbooks, so I will have to make it not so artsy, more note taking and visual interest. We’re collecting living books; a few I have already, and lots of others are at the library.
With Tori and Katie, we’re doing Singapore math 1B and I will supplement with Life of Fred and we’ll do journals maybe once a week or so. Tori really loves math and makes her daddy proud. I’m going slowly with these two because there’s no rush. We’ll do a Singapore lesson every Monday, then LoF on Tuesday. Wednesdays will be journal day. Thursdays and Fridays they can do apps, board games, or Funnix.
After searching the Internet for ideas, I’ve come across some awesome websites with a plethora of math ideas. I’ve listed them here in no particular order.
I love middle school math blogs since most middle school teachers only teach one or two subjects and if these math teachers have great blogs showing all their fun ideas, then they are probably great math teachers!
The elementary blogs often have lots of great fun teaching tips, but you may have to dig to find the math goodies in between all their other fun stuff.
Enjoy my ten go-to sites for math:
This is what started it all. I have ruminated on this for about a year, y’all. My husband is old-school. He would love to have a cute little one room schoolhouse in our basement, but that’s just not feasible or desirable with a toddler, 2 primary girls, and a middle schooler! Often, I have 4 different levels to teach! (Tori and Katie are a year apart in age, but eons different in personality and sometimes quite different in abilities!). Tori wants to learn cursive, for instance, and Katie is still mastering manuscript.
1. Middle School Math Madness. I think this lady really enjoys what she does! I wish I had had a teacher like her in 7th grade!
2. Runde’s Room has some great products for sale and lots of fun freebies. Very exciting stuff! She’s pinned all over Pinterest and has a great teacher store. I love her math journaling ideas.
3. Homeschool Share has some great math notebooking and lapbook materials! Subtraction lapbook and games and a division lapbook. These will be fun for Tori and Katie. Liz won’t do them, I bet. We’ll see. She can choose if she wants to or not.
4. Math N Spire: Some really great math lab ideas. Some really “getting in and doing it math.” Innovative! Liz might like the projects. Great for kinesthetic learners!
5. Step Into Second Grade: A good blog for primary work, not just math. I love the flip book idea! Also printables and freebies! Great pics and examples to help me, a visual learner.
6. Tales of Frogs and Cupcakes…is that not a great blog title? I’m so jealous, lol…Great pics and examples for math journals. Again, I’m visual and this has eye candy!
7. The First Grade Parade has many great ideas! I love this one for money learning. I have to adapt some stuff for notebooking since it’s classroom poster type stuff.
8. Homeschool Math blog with great resources and sister site Homeschool Math. Great articles!
9. Blog, She Wrote: math journaling article with great links to other sites. A mom in action with math journaling her kiddos! hurrah!
10. Our Journey Westward. Lovely examples of using living math books. Cindy writes her own curriculum at Shining Dawn Books – Now Our Journey Westward.
So, I hope to begin with our math journals in a couple weeks with our math journals. I have some lovely composition books, but I may go get some blank journals instead. Liz has a summer math course the next two weeks which I hope will give her some much-needed review and more confidence in math.
I’m kinda excited to get started. I fear math. I really do. I can do money math and the basics and that’s about it.
I am so pleased that Elizabeth loves the Life of Fred books. I probably projected my math fears onto her. My husband says so. This whole pre-algebra thing is at my math abilities limit. I really don’t know how I got through algebra I&II and geometry in high school. So, I’ll do things differently with Tori and Katie. I’ll probably have to do everything differently with Alex. He’s a boy. He throws me for a loop every single time.
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