Food For Thought; Literally! (Get Those Kids of Yours in the Kitchen!)

November 14, 2010 By 7 Comments

I’m sure I’ve been forthright about this before, as much as it makes me feel a little bad to say out loud.  (Figuratively speaking.)  But there always moments in time when these things come up, and there is some purpose in being truthful in the matter. Right?

Well, this is one of those times.

So the truth is, <whisper> my mother was just not very domestic in the kitchen. Nor was her mother. <end of whisper> Which says something not good.  Doesn’t it?

I’ll answer that.  Yes it does.

It says that the chances of me being one, was slim to none.… Read More

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The Math and Science of OOBLECK!

June 9, 2010 By 14 Comments

It wouldn’t be surprising, if many of you have already heard of and made some ‘Oobleck’, with your kids.  Some may know this crazy-fun concoction by another name.  My sister says they call it ‘Goop’.

My kids have indeed made and played with Oobleck before.  I first heard about it at least a few years ago, from my friend Maria, over at Very Blessed Mommy. It’s a downright fun little activity, that will keep your little ones  happy and busy for quite awhile!  It’s appropriate for ages 4-42 (at least ; )

We’ve made it several times since that first, but this time, we looked closer at the educational aspects of math and science, that come with this very intriguing activity!  If we were going to keep playing with the stuff, it just seemed like a good idea to get a little more intellectual about it.    So here we share the recipe for Oobleck, what we learned or reviewed, and as always, too many photos.   (Thanks for understanding.)

Necessary ingredients:  corn starch, water, food coloring, bowl(s), wooden spoon(s), and measuring cups.… Read More

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Math Games

November 24, 2009 By 5 Comments

Our three second graders, { J, O & S}, have been working pretty hard in math, lately.  They were getting stuck on a particular concept, and so taking advantage of the perks of home schooling, we didn’t move on in their workbooks until they ‘got it’.  We had some extra long math classes even, working on that concept.  So I decided we needed a little FUN with math, today, and made up a couple of games.

MATH BINGO!

If you have any kind of BINGO game, with whatever pieces to draw numbers, you can do these math games with your kids.  You can also alter how the game is played, to suit the age and skill level of your own kids.   So I’ll share with you how we played, and maybe have a suggestion or 2 of how you can make it easier for younger grade level kids.… Read More

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Math Boy

March 22, 2009 By 4 Comments

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As I pondered this post I had coming up, I had a vague recollection of blogging something similar before. So I went looking and found this post from almost a year ago; Math Madness and Memorization.  So today’s post is basically talking about the fact that nothing has changed….but merely progressed quite a bit since then.  I especially love the last 3 paragraphs of that old post, as my feelings have not changed, but only grown as well.

From the time this boy, {S} was about 1 year old, he has loved everything about letters and numbers.  He was less than 2 years old when he already knew the entire alphabet.  Not just saying/singing the alphabet…..but recognizing any letter, upper case or lower case, any where, any time, in any letter style.  He gave the same zealous interest to numbers.… Read More

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Math Madness! & Memorization

May 8, 2008 By 4 Comments

Our Kindergarteners ( {J} {O} {S} ) have been working on addition and subtraction  in their workbooks throughout this year. Their curriculum had introduced math problems in both numerical sentences, as well as stacked, and as of recently, even in math story problems. Their aid right along has been a number line on the page to use for adding or subtracting. They start at the given number, and count going forward (adding) or backward(subtracting), and the number they land on is the answer to the problem. I have thought right along that this technique was rather clever, in that the kids are learning now, for the future, how to line their number columns up properly as they write their answers, and to get the idea of adding some to, or taking away from, and just the whole general idea of how math works. It’s been the fastest subject every day for them, unless we add an extra math activity with manipulatives — like money or time telling.… Read More

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