My oldest daughter loved anything to do with numbers. Since I had been a bit of a math-hater in my younger years, I was quite pleased to have produced a child that not only sailed through math classes with top grades, but who also declared that Math was her favorite subject.
Imagine my dismay when her two younger siblings declared their hatred of the subject, almost from day one. Not only did they hate Math, but they struggled with math homework almost every single day and barely made passing grades in the subject.
My four grandkids are pretty much like my own kids were. The oldest excells in anything math-related, while the others wrinkle their noses whenever the subject is mentioned.
I think I have found the solution. We take our grandkids camping every summer and usually spend the long evenings playing board games, (along with making lots of s'mores, of course.)
There is a program called, "Making Math More Fun," that I am getting, not only for them, but also for me. It has all kinds of print outs of games and things that really do make math more fun. I know, because I've tried a couple of them already. (Their downloadable information page gives samples of the things that are available in the e-books that come if you purchase the course.)
The game I played had a set of hexagons. They were arranged in five rows of five, and each hexagon had a number on it. The first player colored in from 1 to 5 of the hexagons in a straight vertical or horizontal row. (See, they were already learning the meanings of hexagons, vertical, and horizontal, without even trying.)
The second player had to color in their row of 1 to 5 hexagons starting from where the first player ended. The fun part was that he or she had to add the number of the last hexagon of the other player to the numbers of his own line. The first person who managed to make his or her turn add up to exactly 28 was the winner. If the total of the colored in hexagons exceeded 28, the player lost.
It really was quite a lot of fun trying to figure out just how to get the right values colored in to equal 28 without going over it. You could vary the game by making the winning number something other than 28. If you do check out the website, be sure to check out the sample pages while you are there.
The 4 e-books cover all kinds of math games and activities for kids ages 5-12.
They are not only designed to reinforce and improve basic math skills, but also to help kids develop their thinking skills.
The price is what really hooked me. Only $27.97. For about the cost of a family dinner out at McDonald's, you can download enough math games to last your kids for years, and, best of all, you may be able to turn their negative attitude toward Math into a really positive one, instead.
To top it off, there are also 5 bonus books; Robot Reader (Reading games to print and play); Wiggle, Wiggle, Wink, Wink (Classroom phonics, spelling, reading, and concentration games); Make Your Own Board Games (Adults will like these, too); and Print and Play Game Sheets (These are pencil and paper games for 2 players).
The whole collection downloads in PDF form and comes with a 60-day money-back guarantee.
If your child is struggling in math, why not invest a little now to see if he isn't listing it as one of his favorite subjects by the time school is out this spring?
Check it out here: Making Math More Fun
Showing posts with label grieving kids. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grieving kids. Show all posts
Thursday
Sunday
Is Your Child Ready To Learn To Sew?
Most kids learn to sew on Mamma’s Singer….or Brother….or Viking sewing machine. I think my Mother had an old Kenmore that had seen much better years, but together, the two of us turned out a lot of garments, dishtowels and quilts before it finally gave up the ghost and ended up being replaced by a Viking that I inherited and have to this day.
Somewhere along the way, most young sewers decide they need a sewing machine of their own. Then comes the problem.
1. They need to buy a machine they can afford.
2. They need to buy a machine with a decent reputation for not having a lot of problems.
3. They need a machine that is fairly easy to operate, but which also has some extras that they will be using frequently.
Buying any appliance is risky, but in this day of the internet, we have a tool that can help us take some of the risk away. One of my favorite ways to check out an item is to type the name of the item in a Google search box followed by a comma and a term describing what I am looking for.
For example, Viking Sewing Machines, followed by the word reviews should give you even more than you wanted to know about Viking Sewing Machines. To get more specific information, include the model number of the machine. If you want to know where to buy a Viking sewing machine, enter something like Viking sewing machine, sources.
Take a peek at the book below if you are looking for a great way to introduce your young child or grandchild to machine sewing.
Somewhere along the way, most young sewers decide they need a sewing machine of their own. Then comes the problem.
1. They need to buy a machine they can afford.
2. They need to buy a machine with a decent reputation for not having a lot of problems.
3. They need a machine that is fairly easy to operate, but which also has some extras that they will be using frequently.
Buying any appliance is risky, but in this day of the internet, we have a tool that can help us take some of the risk away. One of my favorite ways to check out an item is to type the name of the item in a Google search box followed by a comma and a term describing what I am looking for.
For example, Viking Sewing Machines, followed by the word reviews should give you even more than you wanted to know about Viking Sewing Machines. To get more specific information, include the model number of the machine. If you want to know where to buy a Viking sewing machine, enter something like Viking sewing machine, sources.
Take a peek at the book below if you are looking for a great way to introduce your young child or grandchild to machine sewing.
Saturday
Need Some Help to Talk to Your Kids About Death?
A recemt conversation with my 7-year-old granddaughter in which she asked me some questions about death made me wonder about just when should we talk to kids about dying?
Do we wait until they ask, or should we start educating them before it touches their own lives in some way first?
Death is an intimidating subject for most parents. Many are uncomfortable with the subject themselves and so they hesitate to bring it up with their children. Maybe they think that talking about death will cause their child to become overly frightened and wonder if their parents, or they, themselves, will be dying anytime soon. The don't want to scare them about death, but they don't want them to be totally at a loss should someone close to them die unexpectedly.
Good books can help parents cope with this part of educating their children long before such a loss occurs. Some such books describe the loss of a pet goldfish or hampster. Others deal with the illness and expected death of a loved one, and still others with the actual death of someone close to a child. Some are written for very young children while others are better suited to elementary school or teenage kids.
If you have children in your home, and the subject of death is a tough one for you to discuss with them, take a look at some good books on the subject and see if they would help in your situation. Don't wait until a sudden death in your family sneaks up and leaves your children unprepared.
Some of my favorites are available at Amazon and are listed below. If none of them appeal to you, check out some of their other offerings until you find one or more that do.
1. Grandpa Bunny is a much-loved Little Golden book that some of your kids may already have on their bookshelf. Even though it is about death, it isn't scary at all, and shows kids that their is a special time for everything, even death.
2. Help Me Say Goodbye is for kids a little older than the Grandpa Bunny book and encourages kids to make pictures and write down short memories of their loved one to keep as a memorial to that person.
3. Tear Soup is for young people but even adults find comfort in this story of making a pot of tear soup. While you are making it, the tears may flow freely, but when you have finished, you put it away for a while, only taking it out from time to time to add a few more tears.
4. Angel Catcher is a journal, but before you say, "I hate writing," check this one out on Amazon. It has lots of readers singing its praises for helping them verbalize their feelings about the person they have lost to death. One girl tells how leading questions the journal asks helped her to say things about her brother that soothed her grief. Several adults commented on how much theyappreciated this book for helping them through their own grief; so much so that they bought extra copies for friends who were also experiencing the loss of someone they loved.
Do we wait until they ask, or should we start educating them before it touches their own lives in some way first?
Death is an intimidating subject for most parents. Many are uncomfortable with the subject themselves and so they hesitate to bring it up with their children. Maybe they think that talking about death will cause their child to become overly frightened and wonder if their parents, or they, themselves, will be dying anytime soon. The don't want to scare them about death, but they don't want them to be totally at a loss should someone close to them die unexpectedly.
Good books can help parents cope with this part of educating their children long before such a loss occurs. Some such books describe the loss of a pet goldfish or hampster. Others deal with the illness and expected death of a loved one, and still others with the actual death of someone close to a child. Some are written for very young children while others are better suited to elementary school or teenage kids.
If you have children in your home, and the subject of death is a tough one for you to discuss with them, take a look at some good books on the subject and see if they would help in your situation. Don't wait until a sudden death in your family sneaks up and leaves your children unprepared.
Some of my favorites are available at Amazon and are listed below. If none of them appeal to you, check out some of their other offerings until you find one or more that do.
1. Grandpa Bunny is a much-loved Little Golden book that some of your kids may already have on their bookshelf. Even though it is about death, it isn't scary at all, and shows kids that their is a special time for everything, even death.
2. Help Me Say Goodbye is for kids a little older than the Grandpa Bunny book and encourages kids to make pictures and write down short memories of their loved one to keep as a memorial to that person.
3. Tear Soup is for young people but even adults find comfort in this story of making a pot of tear soup. While you are making it, the tears may flow freely, but when you have finished, you put it away for a while, only taking it out from time to time to add a few more tears.
4. Angel Catcher is a journal, but before you say, "I hate writing," check this one out on Amazon. It has lots of readers singing its praises for helping them verbalize their feelings about the person they have lost to death. One girl tells how leading questions the journal asks helped her to say things about her brother that soothed her grief. Several adults commented on how much theyappreciated this book for helping them through their own grief; so much so that they bought extra copies for friends who were also experiencing the loss of someone they loved.
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