MAKE MATH FUN!!!

My four kids love Family Game Night. It's refreshing to see my kids enjoy board games and educational games of all kinds more than video games. The struggle is to make it a priority when life gets busy.

We playing math games and doing mental math. We also like Timez Attack for multiplication.

Our most recent math discovery happened when we were having a rough period with interruptions. I had been carrying on about how we need to catch up on subjects, etc. My husband came in the door AGAIN and my daughter was distracted. Finally she kept tapping me on the shoulder until I shouted, "WHAT?!?" She said, "Give me a math problem." I said, "Why?" She was persistent and said, "Give me a math problem- any kind". I wanted to get my husband busy and out of the way so I quickly wrote a complicated math problem and my daughter was quiet again. In about 10 minutes, she tapped me on the shoulder and when I turned to say a cranky, "WHAT?!?" again, I saw laid out better than she writes with a pencil, the entire math problem re-created in clay in TINY little numbers. She said, "There. See? I just covered math and art and when I press this shell I have been studying into it, we are then incorporating science." I laughed so hard I almost fell off the chair. The interesting part is that she not only did the entire problem I gave her, but then added her own calculations to that answer to make more connected problems. She is rarley this ambitious with paper and pencil! And the work was neat as a pin. The numbers with clay were TINY, very detailed and modeling clay does not dry out, so re-usable.

We tend to cook a lot, and I'll ask the kids to halve or double recipes, which is a great way to work with fractions. When we go shopping, I send the kids on missions -- find granola bars with less than 15 grams of sugar per serving, or figure out how much 5 pounds of apples will cost, or tell me how much the towels will cost if I use my 20% off coupon. There are also some math games we like, such as Double Shutter, Roll 'n Multiply, and Allowance.

We play monopoly. My kids have learned alot about how to make good money choices. It also helps increase their mental math skills so they do not always have to write things down but can answer quickly and accurately. I've done this with my 3 oldest and now do it with my 6 yr old and she loves it.

I have 4 kids (6th, 4th, 2nd and K). We make Math fun, by having a Practical Math Friday. We do a variety of things with this. We may cook, take a flyer and a menu and plan a meal saving money or combine coupons and see how much money we can save. We also sometimes get a set amount of money to each kid and then they can spend on whatever they want, but must stay in their amount without going over. It may be a snack, a meal, or maybe just a prize. This of course is their favorite! The ideas are really endless. =0) We love Practical Math Friday!!! =0)

I have a 5 year old and a 3 year old. When we are out and about we read the prices of things. I also let them quiz me on how many there is of a product. We have created a number book so they can start to recognize there numbers. At home I will set the table (cups, plates, and utensils) I make sure that there is always something missing. Example, there are 4 of us. I will have 4 plates, 3 cups, and 2 forks out and the kids get together and tell me if we have enough for everyone and if not then what we need and how many more we need of that item.

We use lego pieces (the boys favorite right now) as our manipulatives or use the cost of items that the boys desire to figure out 'how much more" our 7year old really got interested in banking and interest so we have found that real life math works best in our home.

We make math fun by baking. We often increase the recipes and change those amounts to strengthen math skills.

We've come up with Math Baseball while we use our flashcards for any subject. Easy problems answered correctly earn a single; questions we know a child may struggle with earn a double or triple; the hardest ones, especially if answered in record time, earn a homer! We keep track as our child or children move around pretend bases and attempt to earn as many runs as possible. Of course, incorrect answers are strikes... and three strikes, you're "out!" which means we clear the bases and start the next inning. Now that the weather is getting nice, we even play outside, which is even more fun!

We use Math games, manipulatives in the form of food, flash cards get to keep if you get them right. Maintain a sticker chart get reward at the end of the month.Consumer Math we use actually go the store and purchase own item with your own money. Give to tithes and offerings Tithes decimals 10%. Help write checks and spell the amount name on the check.

We use lots and lots of manipulatives, and we make sure we dont burn out, by covering different concepts to break up the drills. We also have handheld math games, and several fun math games on the computer for the kids to play. theses seem to help the kids with their basic math facts,

We make up songs. We begin with songs and end with them. It makes the day go by very nicely.

I kind of went overboard for my elders daughter and created a whole new math curriculum for her based on personification and treasures. It's called Arithmetic Village! http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/search?utf8= &term=ArithmetiC+village

We have continued to struggle with basic addition/subtraction fact so, to mix it up, we take the pennies out of our big container of pocket change and put piles one to fifteen, several of each, then I give her the fact and if she gets it right she gets to keep the pile of pennies.

We got Math Dice for Christmas which has been a big hit. We also enjoy Sum Swamp and Pie In The Sky for fractions. Cooking is a great way to reinforce fractions and conversions. We also use Sorry for all subjects---the player only gets to go if they answer a question right. For money we set up a "store" and they get to buy things. My older girl (11) can be the clerk and my younger (7) the customer. We do exact change some and then when change is needed to be given back. They really don't realize this is "school" I don't think. Lol! Hope this helps. :)

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Recently we've been struggling with basic addition/subtraction facts. So, we made little signs (that we then laminated) that have each digit 0-13 on them. We number the stairs in order with the bottom being 0 and the top being 13. I use our flashcards and they have to jump or find the right numbered stair for their sum or difference. Even my three year old likes to "play stair-math." :) For any answers above 13, they just stand at the top and tell me what it is. We love it!

My boys, 4th and 6th grade, use a popular math curriculum. Sometimes, the drill and kill method can be a bit much day after day. We have begun supplementing with The Life of Fred Series, Math as Serious as it Needs To Be. Fred has adventures and there are stories with each lesson. Following the lessons are about 5-8 questions of relevant mathematics. Also included in the lessons are topics like AM and PM, constellations, and answers to the 'why' questions. Why, when we divide fractions, do we multiply by the reciprocal? He applies mathematics to his own daily life and shows the reader how things are useful to know.

Most of the time, a math curriculum is like putting rocks in a cup. Life of Fred is the water that you pour in the cup over the rocks and it fills in the gaps that the rocks missed. My boys never complain about Fred!

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My son loves to play basketball! Each year college teams play in the March Madness Tourney. He prints out the brackets for our whole family to fill out. Then he keeps track of the point totals for each of us. The winner with the most points gets special treatment from the rest of the family. We look at field goal and free throw percentages and compare them. He loves it! It also encourages great family time and conversation, not to mention learning math concepts!

My little ones are still very little. Math involves learning their numbers and how to count. We sing counting games (5 little monkeys), or count items in books. We count blocks as we stack them, cheerios at snack time. counting is a game. At the play ground, i've taught my girls a number game using a hop-scotch with numbers 1-8. I yell out a number and instruction and the girls run to the correct number to follow said instruction. (Hop on the 7!! hurry hurry. spin on the 5!!!), since i participate the girls think this is great . when we get to addition and subtraction, i think I will include it in lessons on sharing. ("Mama needs to give us each a Popsicle. How many Popsicles should mama get out of the freezer? yes 3. lets count them. 1, 2.... mama has 2 Popsicles. How many more should she get out of the freezer so that we each can have one? 1? yes. 2 + 1 is 3. one for little girl 1, one for little girl 2 and one for mama. 1, 2, 3. If we got one for daddy how many would there be?"

They love football, so I had them mark their favorite team on a USA map. Then each week they marked where their team played or where their opponent was from. Next they calculated how far the traveling team traveled. I then asked them to figure out who traveled the farthest for one game, how far their team traveled during the season. I also had them do calculations with the team stats. Because it involved "their" teams, they loved it!

We play a game called unscramble for multiplication. You write all the multiplication index problems on index cards, like this.. 1x1, 1x2, 1x3, etc... Shuffle the cards and deal ten to each player. Place your cards facedown in a pile in front of you. One player shouts unscramble. Each player turns thier cards over and places them in a row. Players re arrange thier cards from lowest to highest answer by solving the problems on thier cards (you do not write the answer on the cards but if you have to use pencil, so you can erase and use over and over again) The first player to put thier cards in order wins the round. (erase the answers, if they wrote on them) Shuffle the remaining cards and play again. The first player to win two rounds,

We have used many visuals, we make up our own stories using teddy counter bears! We have done math problems with ritz crackers with peanut butter in them which they love! My little one loves to play dominoes which is a fun way to get them to count numbers! We also love to make up songs to learn our multiplications! They definitely have fun with math! And I do too!

I try to use visuals whenever possible in Math. Cookies is usually the first thing that comes to mind..."if I had 3 cookies and I gave you 5 more, how many cookies would you have?" It's amazing how quickly they can relate to cookies! I also use small dry erase boards to draw out problems in groups with dots or boxes or silly pictures for addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and fractions. It is a lot easier than using a bunch of paper, and colorful dry erase markers make it more fun, too!

We've used facebook to ask our friends a graphing question. After waiting a couple hrs we go back and check for answers...it's like opening a present. They can't wait to see what's "inside".

Perhaps this seems oversimplified...however, what makes math fun? When my boys feel like they are making progress. It excites them and makes them feel good. Heck, makes ME feel like I'm doing my job in helping them achieve things. Effusive praising when they at least tried when they couldn't figure it out. Nothing puts a damper on fun better than frustration and the feeling your not getting ANYWHERE. Sure...I've tried the little food enticements for -/+...but that gets a bit hard when you start trying to figure out the least common denominator with exponents involved! So...what makes it fun for all of us (I get that way more than my children to...) is knowing we all pressed forward and didn't give up and it was NOTICED. I'll still eat those chocolate chips with my boys any day. :)

Finding a way of making practicing math facts fun was tough. Cheerios were boring, and candy ....was candy. One day I was making cookies and my daughter kept sneaking chocolate chips. The idea was born. We kept a baggie of chocolate chips in the school room to practice addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. It was great for showing the carrying, borrowing, and grouping. Funny how she always enjoyed the subtraction the most!

I try to make math fun by writing math stories that include my children's names and things that they like and like to do. We were learning about sales tax, so I made a story about how my son went to the sporting store and bought his favorite items. He had to pay sales tax and then presented the cashier with a % off coupon. I think this also gives him an idea of how much products really cost.

My 5 year old daughter really loves hopscotch. We have been learning numbers but I was looking for something fun, so I wrote one number per sheet of paper towels (still on the roll). She thinks this is great fun to hopscotch as she counts.

We start each lesson with a fact sheet. My daughters used to hate having to do it but now I have them each time the other one and they love encouraging each other. "Go on faster you have 30 seconds left" the older would say. Now they enjoy the sheets and they have become faster. They remind me now if I forget. They've also learned to time from a timer and a regular watch. I have them start at whatever time it is when I say start.
For word problems we draw pictures or charts and they really enjoy it.
We end the week's lessons by playing Flip4 we all enjoy it. My youngest only does subtraction and addition and her sister does the multiplication and division for her.

My kids love to play math applications on our iPad but also enjoy any math questions and counting that we put into normal day activities, like swinging or going on walks.

My boys love to play games like yahtzee to practice mental math. We also picked up a few games at the dollar store to have fun with math. One is a piggy bank and you use the coins you have in your pile to create the amount shown on the piggy bank. Also, anything with food demonstrations helps to solidify math concepts. We add, subtract, multiply, divide, etc using grapes, cake or whatever looks good! ;-)

We like to play 'store' by putting price tags inexpensive toys/books and envelopes labeled with special activities(museum, park, Monkey Joe's, etc) in a special box. They use their allowance and grade points to 'purchase' things. The use addition, subtraction, and multiplication(gotta pay sales tax!) without complaining.

We do math all day long since my son loves it so much. We count everything, I give him random questions and he makes up hard ones for me. I think he actually enjoys making up the questions for me the most. We do a typical lesson each day as well, but we always have fun counting and manipulating numbers through the day. Also, he counts the prices for groceries and tries to help me find the change before the checker does.

I don't get too creative, but I sometimes have the kids stand up if they get a problem wrong and sit down if they are right. I also use a dog cutout at the end of a ruler and say, "Yeah!" or "Boo!" for answers for my 1st grader. Thanks!

Math is every where. It does not matter what we are doing, we make it a math lesson and always have. Our son is now 7 years and he takes the lead in making it all about math. It really is cool to see him do this now. The funnest one we do is grocery shopping. He gets a prize of his choice(usually chocolate) when he gets with in $5 of the total grocery bill. He has his note book and I have mine, we both play now and who ever gets closest gets to get the prize...I won today, but I shared with him, as he usually shares with me. I hated math as a child, I am loving it as an adult and enjoy watching my son loving math!

We do a couple of things. First we play all kinds of math games in the house. We find things that we can count (if doing laundry - how many socks, how many pjs - what is the percentage of items that get hung up, etc.), for fractions, we do cooking - measuring and comparing is terrific for really seeing the differences between the sizes. Then when we go out - grocery stores - which item is cheaper (figure out the cost per ounce, etc.); if shopping - it says 10% off, what is that percentage and how much is the final amount? I think they like seeing how math actually ends up being a part of their day to day life instead of something they just have to learn.

We work in an integrated way for all of our subjects, so that removes a lot of the barriers to start with. We draw constantly and play with clay a lot. We use it when we are running and jumping or cooking or looking at patterns. I show them more complicated things that come "later' and how seeing patterns can shape their thinking. We talk about mathematics as a way exploring and a state of mind, rather than a set of exercises to perform. I remind them that calculating is only a minor part of seeing the world mathematically and, for the most part, we don't do it until we come across someplace where the calculations are necessary and work on number sense and mathematical thinking using ideas from Patricia Kenshaft's Math Power book, Life of Fred books, Art of Problem Solving, Vi Hart, Khan Academy and the Kitchen Table Math books. We make our own manipulatives and do calculations using different methods to keep it fresh and find the most ways we can to understand what is "really" happening. The kids are not mathy but they started a Math Club and we do math as part of that ... it gets very silly and that also helps. We do zero drill. But we do sing songs and play different games that rely on knowing or learning math facts up to 20. (My kids are

Making math fun in our house can be a challenge some days and fine others...lol! My older son hates math and my younger one loves it! So we have created games. Like paper hopstoch ( where the obeject is to read a flash card and then hope on the answer as fast as you can) which we play right in our kitchen. We also have made up a racing track on bristolboard and use toys from around the house, a die and flash cards. Whoever gets to the end first gets to pick our morning snack for that day. We also use MathWhizz daily, that we purchased through the Co-op and my boys love it.

To make math fun for my 4 yo, we race against the clock. I put the numbers he knows all over the room and set a timer. His job is to find the # in order 1 by 1 before the timer goes off. He is not allowed to pick up more than one # at a time.
For my 6 yo, we do basically the same thing, but with addition and subtraction family facts.

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I make math fun for my son by setting a clock and allowing him to race against it, because he likes competing. I also use tangible objects and relate math to every day life, like cooking, doing my budget, etc. Another thing I do to make math fun is play math games on the computer along with my boy.

Math being the least fun subject and the least favorite, finding a way to make it fun was a priority. We chose to incorporate a notebooking style to our Math curriculum. Using templates,art, and making Math manipulatives. My daughter will decorate a small shoe box and make shapes numbers, graphs she designs and decorates that match what ever unit we are doing. Or she will use templates and make flap books, matchbooks, shutterfolds,etc to show her work. By using her own artwork and creativity it allows her to aid in and retain more difficult concepts.We then store each unit in a colorful file folder that we hole punch, lable and put in a 3 ring binder. It gives her an encyclopedia style book she made and can easily reference for review.

Math being the least fun subject and the least favorite, finding a way to make it fun was a priority. We chose to incorporate a notebooking style to our Math curriculum. Using templates,art, and making Math manipulatives. My daughter will decorate a small shoe box and make shapes numbers, graphs she designs and decorates that match what ever unit we are doing. Or she will use templates and make flap books, matchbooks, shutterfolds,etc to show her work. By using her own artwork and creativity it allows her to aid in and retain more difficult concepts.We then store each unit in a colorful file folder that we hole punch, lable and put in a 3 ring binder. It gives her an encyclopedia style book she made and can easily reference for review.

Every Spring Break, I tend to take my 3 kids away for a few days. Because it's just me and the kids, as Dad has used up all of his holiday time by then!, we turn it into a fun way of learning about money and the value of money. I give the kids our per diem per day, and we all decide together with pen and paper, or calculators, what we're going to eat that day - will it be diner, or fine dining, and if we do that, how much will it cost?
Does it fit into our per diem? If they pick an expensive restaurant, then, we'll go there for brunch, and have a light supper. We always make sure that there's enough money left over to take in at least 1 attraction of that particular city! It's a fun, co-operative way for the kids to learn about money and, more importantly, the value of money.

When my children were small, I allowed them to use crayons, colored pencils , or ink to complete some math pages. Using a white board makes it fun. We have a multiplication bingo game we've played. Now we enjoy math related games like Yahtzee, Rumis, & Rummikub. We have practiced math place values, facts and problem solving by making problems to solve by drawing cards from an Uno deck. This can be limitless as you can draw cards that make values into the thousands. I also bought a dollar store beach ball and wrote facts or numbers on each panel. We played catch, then they applied an operation : +, -, x, or divide the two numbers their hands were near when they caught the ball. Currently, for my high schoolers, I use Quarter Mile Math for skills retention & speed.

Squinkie STORY PROBLEMS-- My K5 student enjoys using toys for her math manipulatives. She especially loves when I make up "math stories" with her Squinkies. It's a simple and fun introduction to word problems.

I have a 17, 13, 11,11,10,8 this is my second group of homeschoolers. I found hands on learning. Creating and referencing day-to-day activities with Math helps children retain information. For example, my girls help cook using Math so the portions they make are exactly how much we eat. My sons however I use sports ahd basic building tools to help with the larnng of math and showing them heir ability to create with their minds and hands.

When you have 4 kids 7 & under, the BEST way to learn math is to EAT IT! Sometimes it's addition (and subtraction ;) with chikcen nuggets. Sometimes it's division with Papa John's pizza! We also use workbooks and MathRider. Just ordered Maria Miller's Mammoth Math, we'll see how that goes :) Oh, and the "one more" concept is best taught by M&Ms!

When teaching our kids to put together small lego kits, I show them how to count the bumps. First we count the number in one row, then then number of rows. This leads to adding and eventually, multiplying. We also look at the pictures to see if they match the legos. Later, we count how many bumps across and how many up or down. This helps prepare for graphing. Recognizing shapes that have been rotated is also a math skill. All this can be done with pre-readers or slow readers.

I use seasonal worksheets to supplement her math program. My daughter asks for them and is disappointed when we are out. Also, we've viewed a few Khan Academy videos. Also, I just found a free math games program online that I'll be adding to the laptop today.

We signed up for a math game online as a supplement to their regular work. They enjoyed the games, but not as much as they enjoy OTHER games. So, they work really hard on mastering their regular work so they don't have to play the educational game. LOL. Not quite what I expected when I bought them the program, but hey, it works ... :)

My children are older, so I have incorporated math kills into our everyday "life" training by dividing their chores into two categories: "Just because you're in a family" chores and "pay" chores. We negiotate raises and "bonuses" based on added responsibilities; some permanent and some temporary. Then we apply it further to expenditures. Some items they must use their own money. Since we are military living overseas, an added dimension is currency conversion. They can choose to be paid in US dollars or Great British pounds. On their own, they have done things such as borrowed money from each other, developed savings plans for desired items, and decide which currency to receive based on our shopping habits. They are also included in our weekly family shopping trips and have been trained to compare prices using price-per-unit to select the least expensive products, to decide when to stock-up, to calculate sales (percent-off), and to utilize coupons. I started this training when they were all younger. To make grocery shopping more tolerable for all involved, they were given "exercises" or puzzles to complete while in the store such as alphabet scavenger hunts (list two products that begin with the letters of the alphabet - A- apples, B- barbeque sauce, etc. and budget games. They were given a budget of X amount of dollars and they had to choose and record how they spent it during our shopping trip. This didn't happen overnight and I had to be creative, but now that they are older the hard work is paying off well. All this has helped them develop a sense of control over their earnings while directly applying math skills.

As a mom of two active boys, I needed something that would help them learn their math facts AND use up energy. So, we now practice skip counting and other math facts while jumping on the trampoline, while bouncing a ball, while kicking a ball to mom......you get the picture!! They love it!

I made up "menus" with my kids favorite restaurant foods and assigned them prices. The kids picked a name for their restaurant and we printed and laminated the menus. They love to take turns being the waiter/waitresses, cashiers and customers and get a chance to use math that makes sense to them since it is something they know they will really use.
Now, they like to look at the bill when we really eat out and make sure it's calculated correctly.

In addition to using child-friendly curriculum, we try to play a lot of games that use math - Fudge, Knock-Out, Pirates and Plunder, Mall Math and others. Also, I always try to point out where use is math in our regular lives, be it deciding in what fractions to cut a sandwich, talking about the physics used in constructing bridges. For older kids, I've found some of Key Curriculum Press's titles to really fascinate - "Functional Melodies", for example, explores the connection between music and mathematics through algebra, geometry, etc..

I am just finishing a "Circus Math" lapbook with my 6 year old twins. This simple adding has given them confidence, especially my one daughter who says she hates math. :o( They love playing the creative addition games at the end that summarizes all they've learned. Not only are they learning math, but they are also improving their cutting skills since I have them activitly participate in getting the lapbook together. Next week they get to show their creativity as we put the lapbook together! The have so much fun and are so proud of their work!! (and so am I!)

I take my 3 kids ages (1yr-6yrs) to the grocery store with me. I point out prices, etc. We add up items as we go, then discuss the check out process. When we get the receipt I talk about the fact that we need to hold on to it so when we get home we can record and keep track of how much we have spent.

My husband does much of the math training since he is a math teacher in his job. He will often relate math to real life situations to help in understanding and make it fun. So he and our daughter (7) will play restaurant or store, writing up price lists, using play money, doing the equations required, and making change. She loves it!

My youngest daughter started learning about fractions this week and was having a hard time "grasping" the concept, so we cut up an apple in her lesson yesterday to demonstrate the concept. It really helped with that "lightbulb moment"! We've also played Time Bingo, made our own flash cards and they've helped me with cooking/baking too.

My daughter hates grocery shopping, so to stop her asking repeatedly "How much more do you need?" I hand her my phone and let her add what we have in the cart on the phone calcutalor. We also play Monopoly and Life. Another game we play is we each roll the dice and multiply the numbers together, the first person to get to 1000 wins and gets to pick a small treat.

To practice ordering fractions with unlike denominators with our ten year old son and to prepare him for real life use of those skills, he uses ratchets and wrenches. He keeps several bags filled with different sets up to 32nds at his desk. In each of the bags is a list of fractions represented by the tools enclosed. He sets the tools aside to order the fractions on paper then checks his work by putting the tools in the same order and comparing the size. Not only is he getting a good grasp of fraction values, but it will be so nice in the future, as he is repairing a piece of equipment, to be able to glance down and correctly choose the next size tool without having to set the tools side by side nor having to get a pencil and paper to convert the denominators.

We add the groceries up in our heads as we go shopping. If our son (he is in grade 1) guesses how much it will all cost within $5 he gets to purchase a treat. He has a blast doing this and gets so very excited when he gets close. The closest he has gotten was 0.08, his reaction was priceless.

We love to get up and move!! When doing division for instance I made the division steps on pieces of paper and put them on the floor then she would jump to the first step and go to the white board and start working that part of the problem ,then jump to the second step and go to the white board and start working on the next step of the problem and so on. The four steps are divide, times, subtract and bring down .It is always fun to incorporate a game into learning I have found out. They catch on faster and remember longer!!

I like to teach my daughters their math in real world situations, so they can not only understand the method, but the purpose. If it is just done out of a book or off of worksheets, it is just numbers and too abstract. When we go shopping they have to add up the groceries and see if they gat the subtotal right. Stuff like that, it has made it so much easier for them to grasp.

I went to the bank and got a few rolls of fresh, shiny coins. We began by counting with them and adding, subtracting. He likes for me to make up "bills" so he can pay the amount with his coins which has led to the early concepts of represen...tation as well as counting by 5's and 10's. Also helps with less and more than, and IOUs have been his first concept of negative numbers. To make it all easy to remember I photocopied each type of coin onto a page and wrote it's name and value next to it. So much fun!

With one child that has math difficulties, we try all kinds of things to make math fun. We use different curriculums and hands-on materials whenever possible. For fractions, overlays are the best! The youngest child thinks math is fun anyway, and claps her hands when I say, "It's test time." Recently the eldest started a math vocabulary notebook, to help her with some math language issues and is now making B's on her math. Hallelujah!

We have recently begun to supplement our math curriculum with Khan Academy online. My boys really enjoy this more than their regular math! The like being able to see the progress they are making on the big board.

We use a variety of different curricula and games to keep things fun and interesting. We use Rightstart, Math Mammoth and Life of Fred. We play various card games, and just try to use living math-cooking, baking, saving for a special toy. This keeps it fun and makes the numbers feel real!

I do my best to do math away from the "desk" as much as we can... baking and cooking (measuring, counting, multiplying and dividing recipes), trips to the store (money, adding, fractions, decimals, and percentages for sale items), crafts (cross stitch, knitting, and crochet are counting; weaving is good for patterns and measuring as well as predictions; drawing and sculpture are good for measuring, scaling, and geometry); field trips (algebra, distance and speed measurements). I make sure while we're doing said fun activity/problem that I point out that they're learning math. They're always so surprised!

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We have been trying involve our girls in real life money issues...helping write out the bills, clipping coupons and comparing items at the grocery store, going to the bank with us and going inside to the teller, not the drive-up...They feel grown up and it's a little bit of math at the same time!

My boys love Legos, so I create math problems that involve Legos. With my younger child, we look at the number of pieces in a set at the store or in a Lego catalog and learn about rounding numbers. We also learn about decimal addition (as Lego prices ALWAYS end in 99 cents), and talk about fractions (what fraction of the Lego pieces in a set are red, yellow, etc.) For my older son who is a fan of the minifigures series, we talk about the probability of getting a particular figure. For example, find the probability of getting a female minifigure OR a minifigure with two accessories, or determine the ratio of non-human character minifigures to the total number of minifigures in a series. We also incorporate functions in Lego math problems, and show solutions in visually, numerically, symbolically, and in words whenever possible. The ideas are practically endless...

Board games! My daughter (5) gives me difficulties when I try to get her to do workbook pages or answer math questions for me. But if I pull out a number-heavy game, she's happy to do math problems over and over. A current favorite is Number Ninjas. Math Dice Jr. is good, too. In Hi-Ho Cherry-O, I added a rule that we have to say how many cherries are left when we lose or add berries - getting a little bit of addition and subtraction in.

When my 6, 7, or 9 year old (two with disabilities) have trouble understanding concepts in print, I get out the Legos or Duplos. Though we have math manipulatives too, somehow by pulling out something in the "toy' category rather than "math" category, their attitude changes. I've also had great success with my dyslexic learning her times tables with Times Tales from Trigger Memory Systems.

I am finding that my boys (5 & 3) both enjoy flashcards - from calling out numbers & putting them in order to adding & subtracting. They also love playing store. I have a container of real coins & they divide the coins (pennies, nickels, dimes, & quarters) & place each group from least to greatest & then proceed to "purchase" their favorite toys I've marked with price tags. Both LOVE playing store & it's wonderful to see my 5yr old help little brother recall coin value & how much he needs to "pay" mom:)

I let my kids choose Dominos and Monopoly after they have finished their math assignments. They get to take a break from "work"and have fun. Little do they know they are improving their math and decision making skills all at once.

At times our ds hits a road block. So that's what we do. We pull out a Road BLock. We have created a Math-MAZING Race... and he has a certain amount of time to complete all the clues to the Road Block - (using a previously learned process or equation or solution) once completed depending on what time it took to get finished with the MathMAZING Race - will pull out a number coupon. On the back of the coupon is some type of reward for his extra effort. Usually - he is good to go after that because the energy created gives him a new thrust to keep going.

Avoid teaching algorithms and "shortcuts" before conceptual understanding. Short, frequent practices work best for retention of skills.

We use Math U See which makes use of manipulative blocks - always fun - but the real excitement comes when you know what you are doing and can actually do it correctly! As a former "math failure" I am experiencing this firsthand!

One of my kids' favorite activities is playing "Roadblock." I made a "city" on a piece of cardboard, then covered it with contact paper. It has a road winding through it. I use it to review anything from math facts to spelling words. If they miss one, they have to go back and start over. They get a prize for finishing within 2 or 3 tries (depending on what I am reviewing). My sons hate to write, so sometimes I will write the answers to all of their math problems on stickers. They have to solve the problems, then find the right sticker. This works great for fact review pages! Sometimes we move around while practicing facts, like jumping for each one, or throwing a ball, or something like that.

We liked having a "mathathon." Last year I made a "hitting the wall" marathon game to review the things my daughter needed. We had 26 short activities and problems to solve just like the 26 miles for a marathon. The cardboard wall had tissue paper holes that she "hit the wall" when she was ready for the next challenge. We made mathlete T-shirts, had water breaks, and even had a streamer line for her to break through when she finished complete with medal. It was a great way to finish up the year and tie up all the loose ends.

We do "real life" math as much as possible...if we need six keys and we have two, how many more do we order? How many apples make 1 lb? Is that number different for grapes? My son loves applicability, so we try to apply everywhere we can. We even did rudimentary fractals using mom's quilting patterns! We also sing whatever we can...after all, I remember all the capitals of South America from a song I learned in 1st grade...so we've already memorized the times tables sung to his favorite tunes.

We get up and move - times tables are done while throwing the football back and forth. We take breaks between problems and run up and down the hill. We skip while skip counting. Anytime we can move while doing math, it makes it more fun.

My oldest has just been starting math (she's five) and was really taking a dislike to it. She insists that she won't need math because she's going to be a dance teacher when she grows up (who apparently don't need to know any math, according to her). So I started "ballerina math." I made a bunch of little games using ballerinas to teach number recognition, skip counting, understanding place value, comparative size, basic addition, and writing numbers. It's based on activities that a dance teacher would have to do in her studio: taking attendance, arranging the program and choreography, etc. She still doesn't love math, but she does at least accept it more readily when it's about being a dance teacher. :)

A few of the ways I keep math work fun is (1) have a white board day when all problems can be done on the white board in a variety of colors, (2) student-teach-the-teacher day is another huge confidence builder - I allow my children to teach ME the concept and it is amazing for them to realize they can understand it well enough to communicate the process, (3) I provide them with a monetary reward whenever they achieve 100% on a test which helps them stay motivated to do their best.

I encourage my kids to think outside the box when it comes to solving computation problems. When they arrive at an answer I always ask them how they got their answer. Telling me gives me insight into how their brains work and provides them with an additional review, as well. Most often, they have a new and original way to figure something out.

Kids frequently get confused when working with coordinate graphs--not remembering which axis to go on first.

I use the analogy of visiting a friend in an apartment. First you walk in the street (the x-axis), then you take the elevator up to the right floor (y-axis).

The kids are never confused after we practice "visiting" on the graph.

My kids have learned fractions and made some wonderfully tasty recipes. They've not only learned their fractions but have learned to multiply and divide them by increasing and reducing the recipes. By doing this they've gained not only math skills but cooking skills to last a lifetime.

We play board games from Stratego to Monopoly and Wits & Wagers Family. We also play math video games. Our favourites are Star Wars Math CD-Rom and MathRider!

My two boys needed extra help with learning mulitplication facts, so I created homemade games to help them. One of their favorites was called, "Connexagons." I used a colored file folder as a game board, and on it I drew hexagons in a grid, all sides connected. Inside each hexagon on the grid was a number which was the product of a multiplication fact. I then cut out hexagons the same size as those on the board, in different colors, to use as markers during the game. Using a stack of flash cards, each player draws a card, says the equation out loud, and answers it. If his answer is correct, he can then find the product on the game board and cover it with one of his colored markers. The winner of the game is the first person to have five or more markers of his color all connected in a line (it doesn't have to be a straight line, just connected!). We frequently varied the number of connected hexagons that were required, to make the game longer and get in more practice.

Because the game board was drawn on a file folder, it fit very well into my file cabinet along with several other games I created.

My oldest is almost five and learning her addition math facts. I found my daughter was more interested in learning them when there was some kind of game involved. I bought many math board games and curriculum that uses all kinds of creative manipulatives and different colored cards and activities to help make it more enjoyable. My kid loves beating Mom when we're playing, and she's almost got them all memorized!

My 8th grade daughter has been struggling with math since last year. We use SOS which is nice since its all on the computer. She has a tendancy to read the questions wrong though. So during her last test I had her read aloud all of the questions to me before she tried to answer them. She did much better!

My daughter is 6 and just learning math facts. She loves to use the new window markers to do math on the sliding glass doors and windows. We also have used bath crayons to do math practice in the tub during bath time! One more thing, she has also learned multiplication by playing Yahtzee!

My kids love to use personal white boards and multicolored dry erase markers.

I've been struggling with ways to teach my children math since we started homeschooling 10 years ago. We switched around to different curricula several times. Nothing worked. My children hated math and nothing was sticking. It wasn't until we found Teaching Textbooks that things are finally going well. My 7 year old tries to get his sisters to let him "play" math all the time.

I let my son work out his algebra problems on the window with window markers. He loves it and will ask for more problems.

We like to make number paths with sidewalk chalk on the seldom used road by our house for the kids to race through with their bikes. For example, last year my then 5 year old was learning to count by 2's and 5's. I would make two paths with these patterns and he would have to maneuver his bike to ride over the correct path while calling out the numbers. We would time him to see how fast he could go. It was great -- speed and math!!! This year his brother is learning to do it and lil sister is often running behind the bikes mimicking the boys. :)

Manipulatives! We use toys, blocks, our abacus, jelly beans, mathlink cubes and anything else we can get our hands on. We made puzzles out of popsicle sticks last week for practicing number order. I made 1-10 for my PreK child and 5-100 by 5's for my Kinder. I also let them play with their math manipulatives independently. They build with their pattern blocks and mathlink cubes, and they make up all kinds of silly shapes with their pegboard and rubber bands. :)

For my son, we often used his lego pieces when learning addition, subtraction, renaming/regrouping. We always had plenty of pieces with which to work. While we didn't use them much for multiplication/division, I'm supposing they could be used for this when multiplying/dividing smaller numbers.

Very simply, we take the math off the page and onto the sidewalk! Sidewalk chalk math is great in nice weather.

I have one math lover and one math hater. For the lover, I use curriculum that we enjoy and go at his pace. At times, this meant we finished three years of math in a single school year. We also have fun with random non-typical topics like alternative bases, Serpinski's Triangle, and math contest questions.

My math hater no longer hates math, but I doubt she'll ever love it. We switched curriculum (now Math-U-See). She spent half a year solidifying fractions with Life of Fred; I stayed completed hands off for that. And when either of my kids prove they understand a topic, we move forward rather than completing every page and problem.

Finally, we participate in a math salon. At a math salon, people get together to play at math...math, strategy, and logic games and puzzles. Both of my kids love going to these, and I'm working on starting one closer to home.

I couldn't be more pleased with our RightStart math program. My just turned 7 yr old has just started level 3, after less than a yr in "formal" HS and he LOVES it. He's adding and subtracting in his head and has even done some division without thinking about it. This program intelligently uses manipulatives, introduces concepts in a way that children can understand and incorporates numerous games into the learning and he asks to play games and tells me how much he loves math. His concept awareness is striking to me. His just turned 4 sister will sometimes blurt out answers before he does because every day has some oral/memorization review. She's also started to play her own games with her cereal and numbers. We do incorporate math, and science, concepts into our everyday tasks as well, but couldn't be where we are without the great basics that they are getting with their program.

Our favorite fun way to practice math facts is using dice. We get 6, 8, and 10 sided dice. You can add, subtract, or multiply to get points. When they are litte we just do one roll at a time and see who gets the most points. As they get better at math we add up points to 100.

Using games and anything hands on really helps my boys, but nothing had them more interested than when we used M&Ms to practice counting, addition/ subtraction, and to make a tally and a bar graph! :) We have also made cookies and pizza to demonstrate fractions. Food works every time! :)

My daughter is only 4 years old, but she LOVES math! When we do addition or subtraction, we sometimes use nerds to help her visualize the problems. If she gets the problem correct on the first try, she gets to eat the nerds!

We also play bingo - where the bingo cards have the answers to the math problems and the problems are on the cards that we turn over.

To learn money, we gave her a purse with play coins in it. We will periodically tell her that she needs to pay a certain amount to do something - "That will be $0.43 to color a picture." or "It will cost you $0.87 to come into the kitchen." We make it fun and joke about it, but it's really helped her to figure out coins. We'll also sometimes put "prices" on her favorite toys at night and then the next day she "buys" her toys back from us before she can play with them.

Sorry, I didn't mean to post twice.

We make math fun with lots of games. **I have used black electrician's tape to put lines on the floor that can serve as a football field if we want. Then I throw the ball to either son, and if they catch it, they can answer a question. If correct, they move up to next "10 yard line", if incorrect, move back 5 yards. **Also I have written the answers to multiplication (or addition or subtraction) questions very large on pieces of paper and taped them to the floor in a random sequence. When I fire out a question ("What's 8 X 7?"), my son has so many seconds to hop or jump to the answer on the floor and stand on it. **On a piece of paper I have drawn a baseball diamond and then laminated it. I made little baseball markers in different colors and laminated them. I have a card on the table that says what each number on a die would score: 1=single; 2=double; 3=triple; 4=homerun; 5=foul; 6=out. I can have both of my boys, even at totally different grade levels, play together. Each kid takes turns rolling the die, and then I ask an age appropriate question in math for him. If he answers correctly, he may put his baseball according to what he rolled (single, homerun, etc.). **I have drawn large cartoonish pictures of flies (can also be found on internet) and written numbers on each one and taped them to the wall. I then give each kid a fly swatter and have them race to swat the bugs that answer the question you call out. **I have used a permanent marker to write the numbers 0 through 9 all over a medium sized ball. I throw it to my son and wherever his thumbs end up, those are the two numbers he either has to add, subtract, or multiply. **We use cards and play games, too. For addition, my sons loved blackjack. We "bet" with silly things, like little mounds of pretty platic jewels, etc. **By the way, all these games work for vocabulary, history questions, or anything you want.

We make math fun with lots of games. **I have used black electrician's tape to put lines on the floor that can serve as a football field if we want. Then I throw the ball to either son, and if they catch it, they can answer a question. If correct, they move up to next "10 yard line", if incorrect, move back 5 yards. **Also I have written the answers to multiplication (or addition or subtraction) questions very large on pieces of paper and taped them to the floor in a random sequence. When I fire out a question ("What's 8 X 7?"), my son has so many seconds to hop or jump to the answer on the floor and stand on it. **On a piece of paper I have drawn a baseball diamond and then laminated it. I made little baseball markers in different colors and laminated them. I have a card on the table that says what each number on a die would score: 1=single; 2=double; 3=triple; 4=homerun; 5=foul; 6=out. I can have both of my boys, even at totally different grade levels, play together. Each kid takes turns rolling the die, and then I ask an age appropriate question in math for him. If he answers correctly, he may put his baseball according to what he rolled (single, homerun, etc.). **I have drawn large cartoonish pictures of flies (can also be found on internet) and written numbers on each one and taped them to the wall. I then give each kid a fly swatter and have them race to swat the bugs that answer the question you call out. **I have used a permanent marker to write the numbers 0 through 9 all over a medium sized ball. I throw it to my son and wherever his thumbs end up, those are the two numbers he either has to add, subtract, or multiply. **We use cards and play games, too. For addition, my sons loved blackjack. We "bet" with silly things, like little mounds of pretty platic jewels, etc. **By the way, all these games work for vocabulary, history questions, or anything you want.

We play (or often for real) with their pocket money (allowance), and choose things from catalogues, then work out if they have enough money to buy outright, and either how much more they have to save or how much change they will have. The reality of this, so works wonders in their understanding of how relevant maths can be even in their young lives.

We play pretend (anything... from supermarket, bakery, bank etc) then I give them some play money. I have a menu which states the prices of everything and they go shopping. For example: So I have a jar of cookie shapes I set them up like a bakery and my kids come in and go cookie shopping (as long as they can afford it) they have a blast! It helps them understand how to use their pennies, nickels, dimes & dollars.

My son is in "grade 3", and while he loves math and playing with numbers, sometimes the workbooks get boring. I like to change it up a little with baking together to help with fractions and playing with Lego blocks to help with things like perimeter and area. I also found at first, that while he couldn't always remember that 4 x 25 = 100, he always remembered that 4 quarters is a dollar and that there are 100 cents in a dollar. :-)

Sometimes, we will do them out loud, using a white board. I also let dd11 write her own math problems, and we use it in science. The integration of math in so many different areas really helps her learn the concepts, and gives her some choice in how she learns it.

My son was hating his math program. I knew he could do it, but he was taking a long time and getting half the answers wrong in his book. He's in 1st grade. So, we checked out the Homeschool Buyers Co-Op and purchased Math-Whizz... he loves working hard to get credits to make his "Bedroom" nice and he's doing awesome now even in his math text book. It was a great purchase, and now Math is fun!! :)

We bought blow-uo dice. We throw them in the air and use the numbers they land on as addition problems. My 4yr old likes to throw one up and my daughter (7) throws the other one. They're also are good for subtraction and multiplication. You can play indoors or at the park. :)

We play games. My son is having trouble with simple addition and we played a card game using only the number cards and aces. We each had 4 cards and would find the cards that added up to 10 and who ever had the most after all the cards were gone won. Well he liked that so much he decided we should play go fish with the cards adding up to 10 instead of the matches. Then we played snap, with the cards adding up to 10. I was very proud of him to come up with the other games himself. He was learning his addition and having FUN!

My daughter actually loves worksheets! For her the sense of accomplishment at finishing one is great. She also responds well to the math materials "talking" to her and saying how much they miss her and are jealous of the reading books she was paying so much attention to. :)

I am just getting started with homeschooling, and math is my least favorite subject. Because of this I not only try to make math fun for my child, but also for me. ;) So far, we like to sing songs about numbers and count with our food. I also work on shapes with her by asking her what shape everyday objects are and reviewing them on a homemade chart I made. She already has a favorite number - 5.

I keep extra, small gifts on hand for birthdays and holidays. When it gets close, we set up "Mom's Secret Store". I give the kids my change jar and lay out the gifts they can choose from for their siblings. I will name random prices for the different gifts, and they choose which one they want to 'buy' and count out the money for it. I also make them purchase their choice of wrapping paper, bow, and gift tag. Then we wrap the gifts together. Not only is this their favorite math lesson of the year, but it helps Mom out!

We have a child with autism who is very hands on but this could work with any hands on learner. We had a small carnival in the backyard to teach about money. Each kid was given play money and had to pay a certain amount for each game. They got free prizes for how well they did for each game. It was lots of fun for everyone.
Also before our last son learned to do graphs, he had a science fair project where he needed to tell how fast an item lost heat. We had him use a number line with hot on one side and cold on the other. When he subtracted the heat lost he could tell which ones stayed hotter by where the answer was on the number line. It was an easy intro to graphs.

Songs, songs and more songs with numbers. We love Schoolhouse Rock. My three year old can skip count by 3s!

We play games to reinforce math concepts. Like Math War, involving many variations on the game war - currently we each turn over two cards, and the highest sum wins. More information is available on the "Let's Play Math" under the post entitled "The Game that is Worth 1,000 worksheets" http://letsplaymath.net/2006/12/29/the-game-that-is-worth-1000-worksheets/
Another one is Mathino, from Dr. Mike's math games for kids. http://www.dr-mikes-math-games-for-kids.com/mathino.html
And, we occasionally use http://www.coolmath4kids.com/
Which has fun, free, ad-free, math games for kids.

One fun thing we do to review math facts is to take our triangle flash cards and spread them out on the table in a pyramid shape. Then we cover one of the numbers on each card with a poker chip. We set the time and see if they can all be solved by the time the timer goes off. It is great for the kids as it is self checking and they don't feel like I am the one telling them they missed a problem. My kids really get into reviewing this way.

Sly bribery! I keep a jar of change and will throw a handful in the pool when they are swimming. I allow one of the kids to gather all the coins that land heads up, and the other gets to gather the tails up coins. Then, if they add the coins' sums up correctly, they get to keep the money. Exercise and learning fun when they think they're just playing :) If it's not swim season, and they need a break, I'll play a version of this on the kitchen floor.

I use a variety of methods to keep math fun for my 6 kids. We use Singapore for our guide but I supplement with many things including pattern blocks and patternables, tanagrams, cuisenaire rods and activity books, a huge variety of board games, and geoboards and activity book too. They love changing recipes to fit our large family (fractions!) too. My older boys are now applying their skills to computer science and programming too.

I teach my son to count on his fingers. It gets faster than with a calculator and it is highly accurate, and, best of all, it is fun! Counting on our fingers used to be the no-no when I was growing up, but in Korea it is like using an abacus. The method is called Chisanbop. We have family championships and what a blast when my 7 years old can do multiplications better than his parents!

I have a wiggly child. Here are a few fun things for a wiggly child to learn math facts.
1. Write facts on a ball. Then throw the ball back and forth with the child. When he/she catches it, he needs to say the fact that his left or right thumb landed on. You do the same when you catch it. 2. Use an old sheet to make a "twister" style board. Instead of colored circles, write numbers in the circles. The spinner will be math facts instead of colors. You spin the spinner, call out the math fact, then they find the answer. 3. Make a life size game board. Use computer paper (or any other paper that size) and write a math fact at the top. Then at the bottom write "move ahead 3 spaces", or "go again". Anything like this. I also like to add some fun activities like "hop on your left leg three times", do 5 jumping jacks", etc. Also have a start and a finish square. Now arrange the papers in any shape/order/length that you like. Use any die that you have. ( We actually have a large foam one that he loves. ) Roll the die and the child moves that many spaces. The child then performs the math fact and task on the card. Hint: You can use contact paper to cover the game board squares so they hold up to be used many times.

My kids love the Sounds Like Fun CD that Discovery Toys sells... and no I'm not a distributor! ;) They have songs that teach how to count to twenty and how to count by tens. There is also one with some addition facts too. They love it and don't really even realize they are learning!

We play War, but not just any war! :)
I made cards with the numbers 0-9 on them with card-stock. Younger players play war just comparing numbers. Older players lay 2 cards down and add them and the higher sum wins. Then even more advanced players will multiply with the higher answer being the winner. This has helped my kids master their math facts and they ask to play it quite a bit. A good way to mix things up. :) Hope you find it fun with your kids as well.

My 7 year old son and I love to play store. Our last name is Cilley so we have a sign hung up that says "The Cilley Silley Store". We have a little cash register & an apron and take turns being the customer & the store owner. We pull all sorts of fun stuff from around the house & price everything. Sometimes the customer has $10 in cash and he can purchase whatever he wants, as long as he has enough money for it. Other times we will mix it up and will try to get as close to the amount of cash we have without going over. We make it fun by having silly things for sale, or by wearing silly hats, accessories. We have a melissa & doug cake & pizza and we also have to order it in fractions! (i.e., "may I please have 1/8th of that cake?"). Another thing we do is to take out a big jar of coins & I will ask him to find 4 different ways to make $.61 or I'll say "how many different ways can you think of to make $.74?" He loves the challenge of trying to find different ways to count it out. His favorite is when I ask him to use the least number of coins he can to come up with something. I love that because it gets him thinking of how to make change properly & how to count coins the fastest. Our make believe time is the best time of our day!

We play an addition game with one deck of cards and two dice. (It's a real game, but I don't know the name) Remove the jokers, 2's, & aces. Shuffle and deal out 10 cards to each player and set aside the remaining cards, which won't be used in this hand. All players put their cards face up in front of them and can stack any cards that have the same number or face card (suit doesn't matter) . Playing begins by one player rolling the dice. Add the sum of the dice. If it equals a number (example 8) the player turns over his stack of 8('s) if he has any; the player can roll again until he does not get a match, then the next player takes a turn. If a player rolls the dice and does not have a match, his turn is over. The first player to turn over all their cards wins. Face cards values are as follows (Jack = 11, Queen = 12, King = snake eyes (each die =1) A person could make this into a subtraction, multiplication, and/or division game by adding more dice or changing the value of the face cards.
My kids love going to the local candy store with a certain amount of money and spending it accordingly. They need to figure out how much they are spending and tax (depending on grade level). It's also fun to give them their own money to spend at a restaurant...they will make wise choices (like choosing to drink water instead of pop, or splitting a meal) They get to keep the money that they don't spend!

For my 14 year old, I work the Alg problems on paper and he works them on a white board. We compete to see who can finish the problem first and then whoever gets the problem right explains to the other how they got the problem. If both are right, we move on. He really likes doing the Math together and I learn right along with him.

My son has always been a mathy kid and is advanced by several grades. We do a lot of math literature. He's always loved the math books and calendars from Theoni Pappas. If you have a young student, start with her Penrose the Cat series. Other math authors we love are Edward Zaccaro, Edward Burger, Arthur Benjamin, Cindy Neuschwander, and Jon Scieszka ("Math Verse").

My son also loves to learn different base systems like Mayan math, octal, hexidecimal, binary, etc. He loves watching the math courses from The Teaching Company, especially Edward Burger's.

We play math basketball ~ winter time we use an inside nerf hoop! I call out a problem, they say the answer. If they get it right, they get to ask the next problem!

My daughter is in college now but I have many memories of making the rote memory flashcards for addition, subtraction, and multiplication fun. While she despised answering all the cards herself she would gladly allow all her stuffed animals to answer. Lining them all up on the couch, she would answer for her 'friends' while I called out the question. Each animal would get a point if 'it' answered correctly. Although she was actually doing all the math, she never complained because she was helping her 'buddies' .

To practice math facts, we sometimes played Bingo. The kids had various bingo cards that we made, with numbers that were the "answers" to the math facts. I used flash cards, said the math fact to them (e.g. 6 x 8 for the older kids, 6 + 8 for the younger kids) and if they had "14" or "48" on their card, they covered it with a penny. We played various kinds of Bingo: one row, whole card, square, etc. We had fun little prizes like gum, candy, pennies, etc.

To make math fun, we enjoy file folder games and games with lots of movement for my energetic children. The kids sit on the bottom stair and I give a math problem. If they answer it right, they get to move up a stair. If they are wrong, they move down. When they get to the top, they get a little treat. I also like to use file folder games available from filefolderfun.com. The pieces can be laminated and written on with a wet erase marker so the problems can be changed and the games used over and over again.

We bake! We double, and triple recipes and sometimes cut them in half. Lots of math fun in the kitchen.

We play grocery store to learn money. I label the little boxes of play food (that come in plastic shopping carts) with prices. I let the boys (5,6 &7) take a shopping cart and go shopping for any item they want. They have to read the price, count out the correct money, and take it all to the cashier. We take turns being cashier. The cashier has to recount the money to be sure the 'customer' is paying the correct amount and enter the numbers in the play cash register. I started off with change. Some items were really easy like 3 cents but other items were harder like 82 cents. I plan to make it even harder by adding dollar amounts and having the boys make change.

We play grocery store to learn money. I label the little boxes of play food (that come in plastic shopping carts) with prices. I let the boys (5,6 &7) take a shopping cart and go shopping for any item they want. They have to read the price, count out the correct money, and take it all to the cashier. We take turns being cashier. The cashier has to recount the money to be sure the 'customer' is paying the correct amount and enter the numbers in the play cash register. I started off with change. Some items were really easy like 3 cents but other items were harder like 82 cents. I plan to make it even harder by adding dollar amounts and having the boys make change.

We eat! I just have one in K right now, so we eat graham crackers (fractions), m&ms...subtraction, addition. It makes it much more fun. And my daughter can never seem to have enough to eat so it makes for a good snack too. Often when we need counters, I go to the kitchen for goldfish, apples, etc.

We love, love, LOVE "The Life of Fred" books! My son used to grumble with various other math curriculum we used but now he happily sits down and does his math by himself. My husband, a mathematician, doesn't like any of the math curriculum out there but really likes "The Life of Fred" because it's written by a mathematician--not an educator, it teaches how to think mathematically--not just how to do rote exercises, and it's fun and engaging--the way he says math should be taught.

We like to give each other high 5s and 10s to prepare for multiplication facts. We jump by 25s.

change to names and words used in problems to familiar/fun objects or people they know. For example, for my 6-yr. old Thomas fan, "You have 24 Thomas trains. How many will you have when you buy 2 more?" My 3rd grader once struggled with some money word problems one day. The next day I kept everything the same, but substituted the things bought for "legos" and the people buying to names of friends. He got the problems right!

FOOD! This is the way to keep my childrens attention! We use their favorite snacks (raisins, cheerios, m&m's, gummy bears etc.) as math manipulatives. It works great, they enjoy learning the different concepts (and getting a treat) and you don't have to worry about storage space for extra math manipulatives (which is always an issue here)! It's especially great when the older kids get involved and "help" the younger ones with their math. They think they are being sneaky (just getting a snack), but really they are getting extra review practice w/ math facts and spending some quality time w/ their younger siblings.

USE IT IN DAILY ACTIVITIES.........COOKING, GARDENING, SOPORTS STATS.

My son (7) hates to write anything, so I let him do most of his math in his head. He thinks he gets of easy, but I know he is learning so much more and such an important skill just doing it in his head. Otherwise we play with cuisinaire rods or the math manipulatives from Math-U-See do learn new concepts or figure out more complicated things.

We are using legos to help learn multiplication. A brick that has two rows of three bumps teaches us that 2 times3 equals 6.

The way to my children's heart is through art...and food...and story. We base the early math skills (numerals and number sense and the four processes) on stories, in the Waldorf tradition. Using art, food (our two favorite things around here, remember?), and dramatic play, we bring these concepts to life! Traditionally, it's gnomes that carry the story: Gnome Add, Gnome Times, Gnome Divide, Gnome Minus. For one of my children, I made up stories about fairy sisters -- much more her forte! She played out these scenarios, drew them, painted them, used fairy stones to move from concrete to abstract. The math was done in water, mud, and fairy dust, of course! Sometimes the notebook was completed in pencil, but more times than not, my daughter used crayon or colored pencil -- it's just more lovely and fairy-like!

One of the best things I've done to make math fun for my kids is to take advantage of the many programs out there and choose the program that best fits them. In that vein, I won't change math programs unless it is clearly not working. I think change for the sake of change leads to missed steps and then frustration for the child. I also eliminate needless repetition within the program once my child understands a concept. There's no reason for a child to do 20 three by three multiplication problems once he knows how to do it. One or two a week to keep the skills fresh is enough. I know one reason my kids love math is that there's no pointless repetition.

We make math fun by using math for cooking and playing lots of math games--Numbers League, Muggins, and Fudge, for example. I also use a lot of critical thinking products in our homeschool. Math Perplexors and Math Path Puzzles are two obvious ones that tie into math, but I think anything that builds problem solving or spatial skills helps make math easier.

My daughter LOVES the game "War" so we use it to play math. We take two decks of cards and shuffle them together so it's one big deck split the deck in half (like you do when playing the regular game of war) instead of placing one card each, we place 2 to 3 cards each and then either, add or multiply our cards to find out who has the most. It is SO much fun! And a great way to teach addition and multiplication. You can also try adding the first card to the second then multiplying the third card or in any order you choose, to really get them thinking :-D

I try to make it as fun as possible. We do all kinds of different things for math - the kids especially love hands-on practice as well as computer practice. We do Math Mammoth for our main math curriculum with others mixed in. The kids practice on the computer each week day as well on IXL, Dreambox, or Big Math Time. They love practicing with measuring, weighing, and counting things.

We use math games whenever possible - it seems like almost everything we do holds the opportunity for learning and practicing math in a fun way. Games that involve physical activity are the most loved - beanbags, jumping off of chairs, etc.!

I turn the house into the real world. Well kind of. Heehee. I make simple signs like Penny Island or Audatious Audy's Hotel on the Island of Brian. The kids then come to the Island on the boat (our couch) and the captain (me in a funny hat with a funny accent) tells them that they must apply for a job to earn money. They apply to yet another person in a funny hat (me again with new accent). The jobs are all their normal chores. Some get promoted to manager as they lead the others to do the chores (jobs). They get paid real money. They also get taxes taken out (this never goes well). They then have to use the money to buy their lunch at the Mommy Cafe. The kids love this time and they learn how to apply for jobs, figure out what they will earn, how much the government gets, what they need to get the food they want, how to waitress, how to cook, and how to give out change.

We use an online program, and although my son likes math and I use various techniques to mix up the week and the material one of the best things I have done is enlist a family member to give him two tutor sessions a week via skype. It is an excellent way for my son to engage another adult, get a new perspective/teaching style, and talk math - he loves it!
If you don't have someone to tutor you could try asking a family member/friend to call via skype and simply have your child discuss what they have been doing in math that week or month. You may be surprised at how excited your child will get to chat about

We use Right Start Math for my younger two (5 and 8). They really enjoy the manipulatives and the games. My oldest was having some difficulty with math, and was getting frustrated and teary. I realized that he was mentally shutting down because I'm mom, and he can do that with me. I decided that a temporary tutor might get him over this hump. I found a high school honors student who has to do 5 hours of tutoring for National Honors Society. My son really enjoys being with an older boy who is patient and he is eager to please his tutor in a way he is not eager to please me. I was reluctant to allow someone else to "teach" him, but this has worked out great. My son enjoys it, his tutor is satisfying a requirement at school, and best of all, it's free!

When we go shopping, I might ask my boys to figure out the sales tax on a particular item. We might discuss at least two different ways to figure it out so that we can each decide which way works best for the situation or for our own personal preference in calculation. Then we figure out how much the total price will be. Then I ask what the change should be if paid with a certain amount of cash. I like to always discuss at least two methods of calculation as options.

My boys love army men... So we play army with them and decide how many men need to be sent into battle for a particular mission. (I make them up as we go depending on my sons level) we divide the army men up between my 2 boys and then I call out missions. Such as team 1 needs 1/3 of his men for this mission and team 2 will need 12 of his men for this mission. They set their men up accordingly and then I allow them to have battle for awhile before I interject for another mission!!! The boys have a blast and at the same time review there math skills!!

We draw squares on our driveway with sidewalk chalk and number them from one to ten . Then I write a problem in the ground like 2+3. My sons stand on the number two and hop three times forward to get the answer. They love hopping and it's a great way to visualize the difference between addition and subtraction. Here's some pictures of "math hop" in action: https://picasaweb.google.com/cariandanthony/MathHop?feat=directlink

I have older boys and we have created a Fantasy Hockey League for kids to help learn math/statistics. Each child has to go through a draft system where they are given an amount of money to have to "purchase" players and a team. Players have been assigned values and children must keep to their money cap to form their teams. Then throughout the NHL season, they follow their players statistics (which can all play for different teams) and they follow their chosen team for statistics and through a number of simplified math and statistics, weekly a leader is declared. The children get very excited to document their stats and love to follow their results on a blog. In the end, the student with the highest points based on the year long statistics wins the Fantasy League Stanley cup and bragging rights. Every we draw in more and more children....even those that don't like hockey but love statistics. So many math skills are learned.

We use recipes to work on multiplying and dividing fractions. We either increase the recipe, or decrease it. Sometimes you don't want to make 3 dozen cookies, after all. This fulfills both math and life skills.

We use the grocery store for math practice. My children count out produce, check the price/unit for best deal, bag and tag the produce and once a month we shop for the food bank. They have a set amount of money to spend and must get the most nutrition for the money. They read labels and look for the "2 for" deals. Then I let them pay with cash. I also let them use a calculator as we shop. Then we take those groceries to the food bank. This shopping knowledge has an extra payoff in that when we are in a hurry, I give each child a short list of things to get and we meet at the center Isle. We set a time limit and try to get out of the store as quickly as possible ( politely of course). We call this a "surgical strike".

After perusing "Carschooling," during our numerous trips in the car, we play add the license plate numbers. We all enjoy it and I tailor it to each grade level. My youngest two adds the plates and the oldest multiplies. They take turns picking whether Mom adds or multiplies when it's my turn. The driving time passes quickly. I also have them help me add up costs of things when we are shopping or dining out, especially when it is skip counting.

Use window markers and windows [home & vehicle] and mirrors for solving the problems. We also use card games like golf, cribbage, 13 solitare. They all help with adding quickly.

we play fun math games and count everywhere we go!

We have "fun" books of math word problems. Like Cranium Crackers or Alien Math, and I'll read the question aloud while we're eating a meal at the dining room table. Then the question is up for grabs to whomever thinks they have a way to answer it, but I'll also let them all work together. This is a great way for my younger kids to hear my older kids solve a problem and learn from them. (Of course on some of the easier ones I send my older child a wink and he knows to button his lip and let his siblings have a chance to work alone) Good stuff!

We practice math facts on the trampoline. For example, I will say 3 + 9. With one of my children standing on the trampoline and one sitting, they take turns jumping the individual numbers and then together jump the sum, product, or difference. It's good fun and good exercise.

I have my son help me double or quadruple recipes when we're cooking for our dinner co-op. Our kids love to cook with us!

We also love to play math games, such as Yathzee, Monopoly Jr., Blokus, Racko, dice games, or dominoes.

We do many different activities so that the variety and novelty helps keep it fun. Some of our favorites are
: 1. Math races - Our son tries to beat himself on a math speed test.
2. Math games - such as right start games and an assortment of other math games.
3. Board games that use math skills - games such as Battleship, Monopoly, etc that use math skills
4. Seasonal / Holiday math games, worksheets, and activities - I usually find these online and we use them for reviewing skills he has already learned or learning new skills. These are some of his favorite because being young elementary age he is always very excited about the holidays.
5. Baking and Cooking - a great way to learn fractions especially.
6. Building projects
7. Video games - Games like Jumpstart World, Math Blasters, etc. We limit computer time, so getting to play these is a real treat and they are very self-motivating

We only do math in real situations (ages 4, 6 and 8 - so still okay for now!) like at the store with money, measuring our rooms for perimeter, area, etc., measuring each other in inches, cooking for fractions. we do not do flash cards or worksheets or anything like that. when i sat my 8 yr old down to assess her math skills last month, she was at a 5th grade level! my 6 yr old is at 2nd grade level! there's my proof! :)

While doing flash cards I throw them in the air one at a time. It then becomes a fun interactive game and my son is running around the room yelling out the answers. Lots of fun!

We play a game called "Don't Fall off the Board".
Items needed: a dice, a game piece per player, a sheet of paper with a 100 square grid printed on it. (The numbers should be in numerical order. 1 to 100.)
How to play: Each players picks a number to start on. This can be any number on the board. Decide whether you are going to be adding or subtracting. Roll a dice, the player add (or subtract- depending on how your playing) the number on the dice and jump that many places with their game piece.
(EX. Jane is on space# 18, she rolls the dice, rolling a 6. She then moves her game piece to space# 24.)
The point of the game is to NOT fall off the board by going over 100 or under 1. The last one on the board wins.

We do math facts races with our two sons. I start them on one end of our tiled floor, and with each correct answer, they jump forward a tile. For kids working on different area, tailor the question to the child. We also do this with spelling words, or any drill or comprehension question on any subject. Great fun!

Fraction lunch!

"Nathan, how do you want your sandwhich/ quesadilla cut?" In thirds Mom. This is helping my 1st grader who was needing to see fractions in his life.

Better yet cut after they eat a third, cut the last two thirds into halves, eat one of the sixths, and ask, "How much is left over?" This would fit my 5th graders math.

I started useing a plain deck of cards and lay them out face down. The kids turn two over at a time and either add, subtract, or mulitpy them. If they get the answer right they get to keep those cards. Whichever child has the most cards after they are all turned over wins the game. This is perfect for Mom's like me whose children are spread across different learning levels. It's also very portable, cards easily slide into a purse or backback and are not heavy at all !

My son is really good at Math, but doesn't enjoy writing in his workbook. So, sometimes, I will write out his problems on a big dry-erase board that is hanging on our wall, and he loves to do them that way!

My son LOVES math while my daughter is mathphobic. In order to keep my son loving math, I don't teach it formally at all. We do little verbal brain teasers and I have him read off how many points or special items we've won on Facebook games and try to figure out how many more points I need for the next level. He's just in K so I believe this is enough since the calculations run into the hundreds and actual numbers into the tens of thousands. He also plays a lot of Jumpstart and Math Blaster games.

For my daughter, it's MUCH harder to make math fun. She's 9 and has had trouble with math since the beginning. We do formal lessons, but I try to get her to help me in the kitchen as much as possible to really use the math she's learning... especially fractions. We also play games like Sequence numbers, Mancala, even Memory using basic facts. The Memory game is so easy she can concentrate on the math without getting overwhelmed.

My daughter "hates math". Ironically, she's actually pretty good at it. And she used to know all the math facts really well, but has forgotten many of them. The thing that works best to keep her interest up is to switch around what we do. Although math is always described as being a subject that has to be done linear and in a particular order, it's just not true!

So, we do a little bit of addition one day, learn about place values the next, and work with money the day after that (it's amazing--even kids who have no idea how to add or multiply can do it if you change from "just plain numbers" to money!!). She relearned the 5 times table by working with clocks.

We also do a variety of types of learning--oral, worksheets, textbooks, online, etc. To learn about negative numbers, we use the "whole body" method--place the number "0" in the middle of the room (or on a staircase landing) with negative numbers on one side and positive on the other. To add, face forward, and to subtract, turn around. Positive numbers mean move forward, and negative ones mean walk backwards. (Now the child understands why subtracting a negative number is the same as adding a positive one.)

My son has severe dyslexia which makes math difficult for him. He does not enjoy sitting and answering question after question. He does a beautiful job though when he has to answer math questions in real life situations. Working on problems dealing with area and perimiter were proving to be difficult once again so I had him put his book away. He got his fathers tape measure and after making a floor plan of our house, he went to each room and measured the walls and labeled them on his floor plan. He then had to find the area of each room. He did a great job staying focued but when it came time to check his work, I realized he had found the area in square inches. No problem because the next day he got further practice by converting the square inches into square feet.

We use regular dice and also a dice that has numbers 1-12 on it (you can find them at game stores). We roll both dice. All children can play at different levels. Our 4 year old calls out the numbers, our 7 year old adds the numbers and our 11 year old multiplies the numbers.

We love the game "Countdown" by Cadaco. The more operations (-+*/) you use the better chance you have at winning. Our four year old gets involved by moving the number planks when we call out the number. It helps her with number identification while encouraging her participation.

My son was struggling with learning to tell time. I made a large clock on the floor with painter's tape and had him lie down and position his arms as the hands on the clock. He grasped the concept that day. It was at this point that I realized that his learning style was through movement (kinesthetic).

My son is a kinesthetic learner (learns through movement). We made a calculator on the floor by using a sheet of paper for each number and operation. I had him jump out the math question and then the answer. By giving him time to 'jump' to the answer we avoided the usual stress and imminent roadblock. Winner!

We enjoy playing math games. Our favorite is called Giant Dice, sold by Discovery Toys many years ago. Any dice are great for games! Make your own rules, like: roll 3 die, add the highest two, subtract or multiply by the lowest, etc. depending on the child's level. Educational toy stores often have many sizes and types of die that make it more fun! We also use www.mathletics.com for fact practice (they also have a full curriculum). You have an online "real time "competition against 2 other children from around the world. Once a year they have a "World Math Day" where they try to reach a set goal for correct answers to math problems. There is normally a membership fee, but for the second half of Feb until the big day, it's free for everyone! I also try to incorporate math whenever possible into real life. Especially when talking about historical events, we usually figure out how long ago something happened.

In addition to computer and Leapster games, the children get to measure and count in the kitchen while we make dinner or desserts. During the summer we do flashcards by the pool... they can jump in each time they get a correct answer, swim to the stairs, and start over again. Throughout the day, when I have to figure out something (or think of some abstract thing to figure out), I'll ask my oldest for the answer, so he's also getting multiplication and division, as well as seeing how much we use math in real life.

We've gone old-school. I'm using Donkey Kong Jr. Math (think 1980s) to help my daughters drill with multiplication, division, subtraction and addition. It's really helping them a lot with the process of long division as well as mental arithmetic since they have to carry the numbers in their heads as they work out the problems.

If you want to go old-school too you'll need the original Animal Crossing game for the Gamecube and a trip to www.gamefaqs.com to get the code that gives you access to the game.

Math game day for sure! sorting, graphing and fractions with candy is the favorite. Then Rummikub, dominos, pizza fractions, and Get a Clue Math Games(look for this set on line - it is SO worth it!)

Another thing that we use to make math fun is the mini trampoline. Ds will bounce while counting or doing addition facts. We also cook and use meassurements.

One thing that I have done is bought a large set of inflatable dice. We can use one or two and I will have my son roll the die and then he either writes the number on the white board or on these add/subtract cards that I found. Then he will add/subtract the number and do roll again.

We also have a smaller set of dice that I purchased at the Dollar Tree that are made out of foam. Ds seems to like the inflateable one better b/c he can throw them in the air and they will bounce like a ball or we can play 'kick ball' with them.

The games we play always include math. The game Sorry, helps with both addition and subtraction.
Cooking, using recipes teach my granddaughter fractions.

Making math interesting can be a challenge that is for sure! We have used our trampoline and jumped for addition and subtraction. We have drawn bicycle courses on the driveway with stop signs at the problems. And we have done math scavenger hunts where you get the next clue when you solve the problem correctly.

We have found ways to use some of the pre-geometry concepts she is learning in pre-algebra through drawing out quilt patterns on paper. My daughter has become fascinated with quilts lately, so it was the perfect way to show how different shapes and precision in drawing them is essential.

My son loves to build with cubes. Yesterday we were making different patterns and I instructed him to tell me how many cubes were there. He got this light bulb moment, saying, "Hey, you count three six times to get eighteen!" This exercise is helping him to understand multiplication even before we "officially" get there in his lessons!

We play games, lots of them!

When we go to the grocery store my kids make a game of figuring out which costs less per ounce (or other unit depending on how items are sold) after coupons etc. Whoever gets the most correct gets to pick a treat that has to be split evenly among the 3.

I use cooking, grocery shopping and food in general. Specially when they have to share, they like to make sure everyone gets the same amount. (Okay they don't necessarily like to share)

I take my children grocery shopping with me and use that time to teach math, nutrition, menu planning and good stewardship. We pick out healthy foods in the produce section, count the number of pieces we need as they go in the bag, weigh them and then figure out what it will cost. We figure price per ounce on other items so we are frugal and get the best deal. When it comes time to cook & bake we learn to follow directions and measure ingredients. Who knew that a trip to the grocery store could be so educational and fun!!

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Our four year old loves to watch football with my husband and older son. This past season, we noticed that he was paying attention to the scores, and keeping track of them when the teams would score touchdowns, field goals, etc. So, my husband started to play "football math" with him. How many points will the team have if they score a touchdown, an extra point? That would be 6 + 1, which equals 7! How about a safety and a field goal? That would be 2 + 3, so 5! How about 2 touchdowns, 2 extra points, and a field goal? 6 + 6 + 1 + 1+ 3 = 17! And so on. Our son loves playing "football math" and doesn't tire of it. He even likes thinking of different ways a team can score a certain amount of point! This is a fun way of doing math for a football fan! =)

Most people hate timed tests, one of my children forget everything on the paper when you say timed. To practice math equations that need to be drilled, such as addition and multiplication: Get outside with a cup of water and some paintbrushes. The hotter the day the faster the drill. Paint on sidewalk or driveway the math problem and the students paint (with water) the answer before it dries up.
For a colder weather area you could do the same thing with a
chalk board and hair-dryer.

When we first started homeschooling, my daughter was young and needed lots of hugs and encouragement after a bad experience in "regular" school, I found it helped when we played motorcycle math. I sat in the dining room chair behind her, straddling the chair like a motorcycle. The math was on the table in front of her and I peeked over her shoulder (and gave her occasional kisses) while we read the math problem and talked about it. After she solved the problem we'd go for a short "ride." We pretended to ride down a very curvy road, leaning into the turns, calling out to the animals we saw along the way, making roaring noises as we sped onto the straightaway back to the next problem. Each ride was probably less than a minute, but it was a celebration of finishing the problem, with the help of being "surrounded" by mommy.

Reading through the submissions has been fun and I will be applying some of the activities in our Math play. For my 1st Grader who would rather do other things than face a page full of Math problems, I use cards and M&Ms. I taught her how to play a modified version Blackjack to teach her addition which she had a problem with at first. We use the M&Ms as "chips", assigning values to each color. We write down the values corresponding to the color on a sheet of paper for reference. Whoever wins the round gets the "chips" for that round. She gets so excited over the game and can't wait each day to play it.

For my 6th grader, I put a packed-full ice cream cone in the freezer. My daughter had to measure a cone and determine how much ice cream would fit inside the entire cone using the formula for the volume of a cone, adding the volume of a sphere for the ball of ice cream on top. I gave her the conversion of square inches to measurements in cups and when she could tell me correctly what percentage of a cup of ice cream was in/on the cone, she got to eat it. She was never so motivated!

Like everyone else says, manipulatives are great. My kids love their $10 Ikea abacuses, too (ages 5.5 and 3). I suppose it reminds them of those swirly bead baby toys that seem popular with waiting rooms and the like (which we never had). The abacus works for so many things: counting, "seeing" number bonds, addition, subtraction, "seeing" how to make a 10 for addition and subtraction, even multiplication and division! So versatile, wish I'd bought them sooner! Who knew colorful beads would be so much fun!

We use food for manipulatives. M&M's and Skittles make tasty work of almost every math concept you can think of (grouping, sorting, charting, addition, subtraction, etc.) For Pre-K and K we would sort one large candy pile into two or three equal amounts (also known as a 'fair share'). We would also estimate which color had the most, least, etc. In grades 1 and 2, candy could easily illustrate almost any word problem and makes quick work of addition/subtraction facts to 10 or 20.
On days that I don't have any candies in the house, we use other items like Legos or coins, because they're already accustomed to using manipulatives.

When we are doing math we usually go into the kitchen! What better way to learn addition,subtraction,multiplication,fractions...etc. We always come out with a yummy treat and we learned the whole time!

We pull out the balance to practice (in)equalities because pennies dropped in one bucket will always balance the same number of pennies dropped in the other bucket.

We also grab any hint of math & turn it into an exploration. For example, we used 8 empty rootbeer bottles to create a "jug band" musical scale. The kids were the ones who noticed that the bottle weights correlated to pitch. Height of the water did too. When we flicked the bottles, there was an inverse relationship between the amount of water & the pitch--a direct correlation between empty space and pitch.

I wanted my kids to have fun and do there math problems with a good attitude about working there math problem out. So I tell my kids to make it a game and pretend when they do a math problem that it is a top secret code to crack. They have to figure out how they can solve the problem to get the correct answer that give them the secret code. I will teach them the set rules in how to solve a problem. They end up looking at math as fun more and this attitude change makes it easier for them to learn. I will teach them how important in life, so that they can manage their money and helps them to keep from being taken advantage of by greedy people. Couple of my daughters get easily overwhelmed by big problems so I teach them to brake down to littler problems.

As a mom who is not "mathy" with a darling daughter who is the same, I have to work harder at this very thing. Our solution was to get a curriculum with a built in teacher that is also interactive. The answer for us -- Teaching Textbooks!! I also supplement Life of Fred one day a week just to add some variety and fun to the mix. She LOVES Life of Fred and I'm really happy with the improvement I'm seeing since we've started combining these two really great choices. I found the idea of supplementing with a real life, fun math program in the book, "The Well Trained Mind" by Susan Wise Bauer.

I lined up ten paper cups, with numbers 1-10 written on them. My daughter's favorite toys at the time were dog figures from 101 Dalmatians that were small enough to fit in the cups. She put the correct number into each cup; this taught counting and number recognition. Then we played with them. "Take out the 5 and the 3. Count them. 5 + 3 = 8." It wasn't fancy or pretty, but it was fun to play with her favorite dogs. This game would work with marbles or counting chips, too.

We play lots of board games--starting when they're very young. Favorites include Hi Ho Cherry-o, Monopoly Junior, Connect 4, etc. We also play the math games from Right Start math and do lots of cooking. Letting my son be the banker in Monopoly was a quick way to get his addition facts up.