As part of our summer plans, we wanted to have some actual academic time amidst all the running through the sprinkler and playing in the pool. I have had my eye on Ron Paul’s home school curriculum for a while,
Ron Paul Curriculum Trial
Math Everywhere: Division
While preparing for our first family trip involving an airplane, we got to do a little hands-on math. Our kids’ pediatrician suggested we bring gummy bears along for the flight to help avoid painful ear pressure during take-offs and landings.
Preschool Math: Making Groups of Ten
Here’s a quick and fun activity to introduce pairs that add to ten — important math facts to memorize early! We used our Unifix cubes, but Duplos, Legos, or any other connecting blocks would work as well. I made stacks
Tessellation Tip
In order to keep them from crawling up the walls in their last week before summer vacation, I’ve given my seventh graders a tessellation project. There are about ten million youtube videos explaining how to do this, so I won’t
Pythagorean Theorem Follow-Up
Activity for the big kids today: Without using a ruler, determine whether this triangle is equilateral, isosceles, or scalene. Prove it.
Pythagorean Theorem
In over our heads with radicals in 8th grade Algebra this week, so we took some time to review the Pythagorean Theorem. Â Geometry is so beautifully concrete. Â In addition to demonstrations you can do with drawings and such, here’s an
Geometry in the Real World
Whenever I’m working on geometry with my students, I try to keep the focus as real-world as possible. So much of math operates in the abstract; geometry, by contrast, is thoroughly tangible. This is a time when we can easily
Geometry Across the Curriculum
I use geometric drawing across the curriculum in several projects. Below is an in-progress shot of an 8th-grader’s design for a stained glass window, an assignment from my medieval history unit that incorporates symbolism along with geometric design. In world
Construct a Hexagon
The construction for a regular hexagon is a favorite of my students every year and the one most of them choose as a basis for their geometric design project. We are simply going to begin with a line and use
Bisect an Angle
Today we’ll be bisecting an angle, i.e. cutting an angle in half without using a protractor to measure. Â Begin with any angle and draw an arc from the vertex (V) such that your arc crosses both rays of the angle.