On this page, I've collected together a few articles on home-schooling that I think are particularly useful.
Also, just to help you out, I've gone through all the games on this site, and evaluated them with you, the home-schooler, in mind.
It's my sincere hope that these resources will make your home-schooling a little more joyful - or a little less burdensome - wherever you may now be in your home-schooling journey.
First, the articles
There's so much information on the net about homeschooling. I've picked out some articles I particulary like, and with the author's permission, I've reproduced them here.
- Pamela Connolly has written an excellent three-part series on "Learning Styles". Each child is unique, and each learns in a different way. That's one of the main points about homeschooling, of course - you can tailor your teaching to each tyke's temperament. The big question is how? Pamela answers by showing you how to understand your child better, and giving tips on what kind of activities will really gel the most well. Start at Part 1, or skip forward to Part 2 or Part 3.
That's all for the articles (so far!). Now for the games!
- The 1 to 9 game, being a two player game, is just perfect for the home environment. The game's page shows how to vary the rules to make it suitable for any age group.
- The Arithmetic Math Game is a game where players roll special dice and do arithmetic based on the results, hoping to reach a specific number goal. It is most suitable for grades four or five, but you can modify the rules to make it easier or harder.
- Feel like something different? A break from the normal pen-and-paper routine? Try Mathteroids, the math asteroid game or the other interactive games on this site.
- There's enough Addition and Subtraction Worksheets here to last a month of Mondays, including one special one, carefully designed to teach the important links between addition and subtraction.
- This Set Of Tiles can be used to help teach kids how to add and subtract numbers of more than one digit. Good for, say, first to third graders, or anyone who just doesn't 'get' the idea of carrying and borrowing 1's.
- An Advent Calendar, besides being a great Christmas tradition, helps teach younger kids counting and calendars in a fun, exciting way. Download and print this free advent calendar, make up up with a trimmer and glue, and enjoy the Christmas countdown with your child.
- This Angle Geometry Quiz tests your knowledge of a few facts relating to angles. Race against the clock as you prove your skills! Topics covered include the interior angles of triangles and quadrilaterals, angles near parallel lines, lines meeting at a point and others.
- These arithmetic puzzle worksheets could keep your kids occupied for hours. If you need some time, but the kids need some school, this may be just the trick.
- In this Chess Jigsaw Puzzle, a chess (or checker) board has been broken into eight pieces. See if your children can join the pieces back together!
- If your kid need fractions practice, teach them the Fractions Card Game, and watch them drill each other in addition and subtraction of fractions. Or play it with them yourself!
- In a Cryptarithm puzzle, each digit of an arithmetic sum has been replaced with a letter of the alphabet. The aim of the puzzle is to restore the original sum. These puzzles are sometimes called alphametics or crypt-arithmetics. You can get many more such puzzles from the resources available at www.cryptarithmania.com.
- You can use the Dot Joining Game just as a fun game for the kids while camping, or as a classroom exercise to help children realise that math often forms hidden patterns behind ordinary things.
- If you are using flashcards, try this simple game with your child. It's quick to set up, and will add a bit of variety to the normal flashcard routine. The goal of the game? Travel along a trail of flashcard stepping stones to obtain a special prize!
- Try Fish Plus One if you are looking for a simple two-player math card game, to teach basic addition facts up to 10. Have your kids mastered adding 1 to numbers? Try Fish Plus Two, Fish Plus Three, or maybe even Fish Plus Plus...
- Foldable number sheets are a tool for helping younger kids "get" three- or four-digit numbers. Write the number in the blank squares, and unfold it to see its meaning. Or write out the meaning, and fold it up to see the number.
- Print out and make this set of Fractions Dominoes. It's a fractions activity designed to help kids recognise how much of a circle each fraction represents. Unlike some other math games, winning is not just about being better at math - but the game nonetheless provides great learning opportunities.
- This Fraction Simplifying Puzzle challenges kids to simplify a collection of fractions and observe which ones can and can not be simplified. There are variants of the puzzle that make it suitable for kids just learning fractions, all the way up to lower high school.
- In this puzzle, the goal is to cut a Heart-Shaped Biscuit into three pieces, so that each piece contains only one color of sprinkles. The cuts will be very twisty and wiggly, but that's fine for this puzzle. Because of the shape of the biscuit, this puzzle is perfect for around Valentine's Day, but it can also be used at any other time of the year.
- Try the Magic Square Puzzle Worksheets on this site. Almost 40 magic square puzzles to try, as well as ideas for how to use it in a classroom. Good for grade 3 and up.
- Print these Magic Number Cards, learn how to use them, and with a bit of practice you'll be able to amaze your friends with your number guessing skills! This page provides the traditional version of this trick, as well as a few variations of my own invention. Full instructions and a video example are available at the web page.
- In the Math Architect Online Game the goal is to design an apartment with the given area. The catch? Each room is a square, and you must have as few rooms as possible! This makes the game challenging enough to keep kids occupied, and deep enough to keep them learning as they play. There is also a high scores table showing the best players each month, year and for all time, and some ideas for playing math architect as a paper and pencil game.
- This Math Board Game will ensure kids get a lot of mental arithmetic practice! Good for grade 4 and up. This site also has a Times Table Board Game... see below!
- Traveling with kids aged 10 to 99? Take along this Math Card Game and keep them up to speed on their arithmetic! Good for grade 4 and up.
- Math Lines is like 'Zuma' with a math twist. A twisty row of colorful numbered marbles winds its way across the screen. If they get too far, that's the end of the game. Blast away with marbles of your own, and if you join two marbles that add to 10, they'll explode and give you more time to win. Can you make it to the next level?
- These Math Mazes should be good for kids who love mazes, and need a bit of encouragement with their 7 or 8 times tables.
- Playing Mathino is a card game you canm play with an ordinary pack of cards, which will make your children keen to practice their mental arithmetic!
- This money counting memory game allows kids from the United States, UK, Australia, the EU and Singapore to practice counting money in a familiar game
- Does someone need Practice Multiplying Or Dividing By Ten, Hundred or a Thousand? This worksheet generator lets you create as many practice questions as you like for manipulating powers of 10. Create easy or difficult worksheets, long or short ones, or even create individual worksheets for each member of your classroom to prevent copying...
- Try your 2nd graders to 7th graders on the Pizza Cutting Puzzle! This puzzle can be made as easy or as hard as you like, so you can tune it for any age group.
- These Sight Number exercises, inspired by "Salisbury Sight Words", are designed to help your kids memorise their addition, subtraction and multiplication tables in the optimal way.
- Do you use Speed Math Worksheets to help kids improve their mental arithmetic? Then you'll want to download this spreadsheet, because it can generate new worksheets every day. The worksheets can be either times tables or addition/subtraction worksheets, and you can choose the difficulty level. The spreadsheet is available in either Microsoft Office or OpenOffice formats, and there's a video on the web page showing how to use it.
- Is your child artistically inclined? Try him or her on this Spirograph Applet. As they enjoy themselves making swirly whirly designs, they are actually picking up some math too.
- Times Tables Memory is a memory game that will help transfer times table facts from short-term to long-term memory. It can be played solo, or with a friend.
- If your kids like more action, and they are at the same level with their times tables, try Times Tables Snap!
- This website has a host of times table charts and grids that you can download and print - even up to the 20 times tables!
- These timetable worksheets will give your child practice reading timetables, schedules, itineraries and the like.
That's all for now. Of course, there are many more games on this site than these. Perhaps some of those I missed would make excellent home-school resources, but I just didn't see it. Browse around and see what you find!
Yours, Mike H...
Games