Susan's Blog
Top 10 Rules for Back-to-School Success
Written on August 15, 2008
Special thanks to John Bishop of Goal Setting for Students.com for contributing this entry to our Blog.
These ten life skills will help your children develop a YES! Count On Me attitude that you can use in the classroom and in life. Good luck!
1. Use the "YES! Count On Me" words: yes, I can, and I will.
2. To get ahead in school and in life - read more, learn more, do more.
3. Learn how to set and achieve goals and how to use these principles in the classroom.
4. No Vision = No Direction. Write down what you want to accomplish in the first four weeks of the school year. Repeat for the next month.
5. Don't find a fault; find a solution.
6. Minimizing the Bummer Words - no, can't, won't, never, maybe, and if. These six words will hold you back from reaching your full potential.
7. Eliminating excuses.
Read more »Olympic Math
Written on August 14, 2008
Today I'm sharing with you a great site reviewed by Clickschooling. Thank-you Diane for your permission to post this here for our math lovers. Check out her site for an archive of other site reviews for homeschooling or afterschooling.
Recommended Website: Scotto's Place: Fun With Olympics
Age Range: 6-10 (approximately)
This website is provided by Scott Weberg, a Christian homeschool dad who works in software development. He and his wife homeschool their four children. He creates resources for them to use, and posts them to his website to help other homeschoolers. He has developed a Summer Olympics curriculum that you can access for free.
Read more »Summer Math & Family Travel Math
Written on August 01, 2008
Did you know that your children could lose one to three months' worth of learning during the summer? Math skills do not need to be lost during the summer. Opportunities to practice math are everywhere and can easily be made a part of so many activities we do. They can be fun activities like card games, cooking, gardening, building, crafts, shopping - talk about fractions as you cut up a watermelon, double a recipe, measure the area for your new garden. You can even find math watching the Tour de France – it has become such a science.
Here are eight great ways to keep up those skills!
Read more »Summer Math Contest
Written on July 11, 2008
Crazy 4 Math Contest Deadline August 15th
The Crazy 4 Math Contest is once again receiving entries from all over the world, showing that mathematics, the universal language, is enjoyed by children everywhere.
This annual contest was founded in 2005 to help students keep up their math skills over the summer. Research indicates that children lose math skills over the summer. But this does not need to be the case. Math skills can actually advance! Summer is the perfect time for children to experience the wonder of learning by exploring and developing new interests. It's also a chance for them to discover that learning happens all the time, not just in school.
Read more »Mother's Day Math & Free Gifts
Written on May 05, 2008
Mothers just love when their kids do math!
Here are some Mother's Day math activities to make any mom proud.
How many ways can you line up these kids?
Gas Price Math
Written on May 03, 2008
We might as well make the best out of the soaring gas prices by using this opportunity to get in some extra math lessons.
Maria Miller, author of the Math Mammoth Series posted a discussion on creating word problems from data from some graphs she found - a line graph comparing it to the past and a world-wide comparison.
Earth Day Math
Written on April 14, 2008
April 22nd is Earth Day!
There are many opportunities to integrate math into your outdoor activities during your Earth Day Celebrations.
In addition to doing your regular math outdoors and working on outdoor math problems, you can also find mathematical patterns hidden in nature.
Look for patterns in nature such as Fibonacci numbers, the Golden Ratio, symmetry and fractals in leaves, snowflakes, shells, pinecones, flowers and insects.
- Listen to our Golden Mean and Fibonacci dialogue from our Crazy 4 Math album — this explains the relationship between Fibonacci and the irrational number Phi.
Sustainability Thinking for Children
Written on April 07, 2008
Sustainability Is a Way of Thinking and Living
To me, sustainability implies a way of thinking and living. I have tried to teach my children and students that our dear planet Earth is a closed system and that everything is inter-related. Healthy natural cycles are essential to the well being of this system. I want them to understand their part in the system, to care for the planet and others and to feel empowered that they can make a difference.
I've posted a new article How to Help Children Become Sustainability Thinkers for the Future.
Definitions of Sustainability for Children...and from Children!
More Pi Anyone? Videos
Written on March 12, 2008
New Pi Videos Have Been Added!
Don't forget our other pi resources:
Pi Day Article - Plan Your Celebration
Pi Day Section -a complete list of pi resources and ways to celebrate Pi Day.
