One way we have added a bit of spice to our homeschooling over the years is with a weekly Math Lab day. On one day a week I plan for us to leave the math curriculum on the shelf and do some hands-on learning with games, crafts, etc. Math Lab days are also great for using math software you have sitting around, but may never get around to using. Or how about those math games you have purchased, but usually remain on the shelf collecting dust?

Just what kinds of things can you do on Math Lab Day? I’m glad you asked!
Young children

* Counting games with candy, Legos, or anything else you might have lying around.
* “War” with a regular deck of cards or make your own deck with numbers to 100 and maybe a “wild card” or two to make things more exciting.
* If you have them, Snap Cubes (a popular manipulative) are great to play with, making “trains” of different color patterns. You start the pattern, and your child adds on to the train following the pattern. Then let them start a pattern and you finish it.
* Any board game that requires dice and counting.
* Use standard and non-standard items to measure things around the house. “Hey, Mom, did you know the cat is 50 paper clips long?”
* Kitchen – baking involves using lots of real life fractions – while you’re at it,how about sharing the “fruits” of your math lesson with a neighbor!
* Play store

Elementary thru Middle School

* Math with Literature! We love Sir Cumference, A Place for Zero, Equal Schmequal, and other titles in the math adventure series.
* Our favorite math games are S’math and Knock Out! from Muggin’s Math – we just purchased their new fraction games, too.
* Board games, including Monopoly, PayDay!, Sequence and more.
* Card games like UNO and War. A favorite is to use flashcards with math facts as our “war” deck.
* Videos: Multiplication Rock, Money Rock
* Play store and many of the other activities from the above list
* If you have any of the handheld, electronic math toys, Lab Day is a good time to make sure they are put to use
* Computer games – Money Town, Math Blaster, etc.
* Use activities from “Family Math”, “Math for Smarty Pants” or “Games for Learning Math.”
* Plan an imaginary trip and use a map to figure how many miles you will travel.
* For kids interested in the Stock Market, you can use Lab Day each week to track and check on a couple of stocks, plotting their progress on a graph.
* Visit one of the fun, free math game sites online like the Math Arcade at funbrain.com. There are lots more free websites for online learning in my book, Using the Internet In Your Homeschool.

One other idea that we’ve implemented, not just for Lab Day, but as a way to add some more real life application to our math lessons is the “Mommy Bank”. I gave each of my kids a blank check or savings registry book. Their allowance is “direct deposited” into their Mommy Bank account. They must add the amount each week. They also deposit money received for their birthday, odd jobs, etc. When they purchase something, I pay for it and we deduct it from their account in the Mommy Bank. Of course, older children often prefer to keep their money with them, but this works well when they are younger or for those kids who are not yet ready to carry around cash.

The above lists are just a few of the things we have done on Math Lab Day over the years. Writing this article has reminded me that my own homeschooling has fallen into a bit of a rut. Sounds like tomorrow needs to be an “Outside the Book” kind of day!

Homeschooling From the Heart exists to encourage and equip homeschool families. Cindy is the publisher of the free enewsletter, Homeschool Reviews for You, which features thorough reviews of homeschool resources. Homeschooling From the Heart sells only the ‘best of the best’ in homeschool resources at great prices.

The most logical question about home schooling would have to be, “How can a student learn when there is not a trained professional teacher there to teach the student?” The truth is, most people are so convinced that the traditional method of teaching is the only way that works, that they can’t possibly imagine home schooling being successful.

In truth, home schooling is different for every family. Because there is no traditional classroom each family is free to educate it’s child the way they feel is best, within reason of course as you want to make sure the child is properly prepared to be able to go out in the world and handle whatever job or profession he or she is interested in pursuing.

One method that families use is where they take the child’s interest and curiosity in a subject and help the child explore the subject. The idea is that there are opportunities to explore many subjects like math, science, history, geography, English and many others. By encouraging a child’s normal curiosity eventually all the subjects that would be taught in a conventional classroom get covered.

Another method that families use is that they buy all the books and supplies that a school would buy and follow a normal school curriculum. The material is simply taught at home in a small setting instead of in a large classroom. The theory behind this is that the child is not distracted by his surroundings, feels more comfortable at home and therefore can concentrate better on his studies.

The question many people ask is, “Do children really learn anything in a home schooling setting?” Statistics show that, at least at the college level, students do very well. Obviously this depends on the student and the family. Some children work very well on their own and can actually accelerate beyond a normal work load. Others don’t have as easy a time and must take things at a slower pace. That’s one of the great advantages of home schooling as each child can go at his own pace.

The majority of critics feel that a home schooled child will be at a disadvantage when applying for college admission or a job because they don’t have an official diploma to fall back on. The actual truth is that most colleges and employers are willing to look past that if the child can demonstrate a skill in a more personalized way. Many colleges encourage applications from home schooled children because they feel the child will be more well rounded and therefore help to form a more dynamic and diverse student body.

When all is said and done it basically comes down to the student. One student who would be a straight A student in a traditional classroom could totally bomb out trying to learn at home because they don’t have the structure that they need. Another student who would be lost in a traditional classroom because he can’t keep up with the mandatory pace would be a great home schooled student because he would be able to take things at his own pace and might even, in the long run, become better educated than his traditionally schooled peers.

The debate will surely go on.

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Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Home School
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Impossible you might think it is, but with the technology available today, you do not only get the chance of freeing yourself from the jostle of everyday schooling but you will also let you self save plenty of money. Do you want to know how?

Online schooling is one of the most convenient ways of finishing college without the presence of a classroom. You will be closer to learning as you will be the one to decide the proper time for you to learn. Online schooling uses the convenience of the most useful tool today, the Internet. As long as you have Internet connection in your home, you can enjoy learning in the comfort of your own home.

If you have kids and you are not secure with the quality of education they will get when sent to conventional schools, you can enroll them to online schooling. You will be the one to control the time and you will know exactly what you kid needs and what they need to improve in terms of learning.

You are aware that kids spend most of the time playing. When you send them to school, you will not know the things they will be doing there. In online schooling, you are secure about the proper knowledge your kids have to get. In conventional schools, one teacher has to teach more than twenty students at a time. This will divide the attention of the teacher and your kids can be the one to receive least amount of attention. Online schooling can give your kids the proper attention they need. Aside from that, you kids will be comfortable on the way they learn.

Online schooling is not widely available in huge amount of numbers. If you wish to get your kids enrolled, just find the best online school best for kids. Search for the most outstanding online school on the net. Choose the one with good reputation on teaching kids as they will be the one to feed your kids with what they need. Ask for some advices in choosing which online school is the best. Enroll your kids now and experience the convenience your kids can get while schooling. Your kids do not have to suffer much in order to learn. Give your kids the convenience they need while studying.

1. Helps with foreign language. English grammar provides an effective basis for the study of upper level foreign language. If one first understands grammar in English, it’s much easier to understand it in the foreign language, because it provides a strong basis for comparison. Since high schools now require foreign language for graduation, and colleges look for it on high school transcripts, why not ensure that your child will be thoroughly prepared for it?

2. Helps with English composition. It is helpful to know English grammar when studying higher levels of composition. The language of grammar enables us to talk to our kids accurately about what they have written: “You ended your sentence with a preposition,” or “You used an adjective instead of an adverb,” or “In a prepositional phrase, the pronoun must use the objective case.” All of these ideas can be conveyed without the language of grammar, but it is more accurate to teach this way.

3. Teaches thinking skills. Since grammar has clearly defined rules, studying grammar encourages logical thinking. Kids must follow a logical progression in order to label and understand parts of speech.

4. Increases vocabulary. Learning new words is great; learning them in context is better. The study of grammar is not only the study of the parts of speech and how they fit together; it is also the study of a new set of vocabulary words in context.

If you are struggling with reasons to teach grammar, perhaps these four will give you the boost you need to teach this subject confidently, knowing your time is well spent.

Jennifer Thieme began homeschooling her three children in 1996. She is the administrator of a small, private ISP she established for her own family and several of her friends. She has been published in Practical Homeschooling and the Intuit ProConnection Newsletter. She operates a bookkeeping and tax service from her home. You may visit her business website at http://www.jenniferthieme.com.

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Lefty Scholarships: A left-handed bursary may look out of the norm, but do consider these facts: Bill Gates is a southpaw, as is President Barack Obama. Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Jimi Hendrix and J.F. Kennedy were left handed as well. Figures indicate up to 11% of people are lefties. Frequently considered much more talented in the arts and more intelligent, lefthanders have frequently gone through discrimination. Stigmatisation is now a thing of the past and lefthanders are no longer thought to be odd, and may have many things associated with the famous people mentioned previously.

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