Math

Fun-Schooling Math for All Levels

/ Sarah Janisse Brown / Leave a comment

Let’s talk Fun-Schooling Math.

First of all, we do not have a math “curriculum.” Our math journals work best as a supplement or warm-up to your chosen curriculum. Lots of families like Life of Fred, but dozens of choices exist! Some families choose to exclusively use real-life math and no curriculum at all, along with our journals. At the bottom is a suggested order for working through our math journals.

In the early years, Math looks like learning numbers and shapes, lots of counting (count anything you can with your little ones!), hands-on materials/manipulatives, and practicing writing numbers.

Young elementary school is mainly about addition and subtraction. Kids also begin work such as skip counting, patterns, place value, and measurement. There are lots of good math games for this age! Math Craft Level A can be introduced at this age. It is excellent for helping students develop early math skills regardless of if they have Dyscalculia.

Upper elementary introduces multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, and percents. Continuing with games is a great idea too. Lots of families like to work on cooking as a way to teach math at this age too. Math Craft Level B is excellent for helping cement multiplication, regardless of if a child has Dyscalculia.

Middle and high schoolers focus on the math skills they will need to succeed in life. They also work on developing skills for their future careers and callings. For example, a student who desires to own a business will focus heavily on business math skills while a student who desires a career in science will need to study a wider range of math.

As adults, we can continue to develop our math skills and keep our brains fresh! Scientific study after study has shown how good it is for our brains to keep challenging ourselves with pencil-to-paper math as we age.

A suggested order of journals is as follows. Remember, this is a suggestion- your student(s) may or may not go in this order! Early-level learners may not need to complete all of these journals.

Teach Your Child to Count to Ten

Count & Color

Kitty Doodle Math

My First Fun-Schooling Math Workbook

Foundational Math Skills- 100 Numbers

Math Craft Series A

The Littlest Math Book OR Comic Book Math (they are the same inside)

Fun-Schooling Math Mysteries & Practice Problems with Minecraft

Fun-Schooling Math for Minecrafters

Math Craft Series B

Multiplication Games

Bible Games

All About Ocean Creatures

Pixel Art

Smoothie Time

Yum-Schooling

DIY- Make Your Own Book- Complicated Math Concepts

How to Make Money

All About Money

Are You a Math Genius?

We hope this helps break down Fun-Schooling Math. If you’re on our private Facebook group, be sure to tune in for a couple of videos to peek inside math journals!

All Math PDFs are deeply discounted this month at https://www.funschooling.com/bookstore-all-pdfs

What are your favorite books, documentaries, podcasts, tips, and resources for Fun-Schooling Math? Leave them and any questions you may have in the comments.

This post is contributed by Amanda Osenga.

Sarah’s Mom Tips: Is Math Your Homeschool Nemesis?

/ Sarah Janisse Brown / Leave a comment

🧐The PROBLEM with math is that the way it is normally taught! Conventional math lessons are boring, hard to understand, seem irrelevant to real life, and are no fun. 😔

😉My books are like a reset button, kind of like comfort therapy. 😌

My math books are not designed to prepare your child to take a standardized test. Instead they bring math concepts down to earth.

My books make math practical, fun, creative, useful, and easy to apply to real life problems and projects.

What I do is have my children learn basic math with Fun-Schooling Books, and real life projects involving MONEY, time, calculating, and measurements. They become very confident and unintimidated by math. They don’t see it as a subject, but as a super valuable skill for getting things done.

If I were you and wanted to raise kids to be able to confidently use real math in real life… Work through the Thinking Tree Books, then add the math you need for testing, credits or grade level learning.

I would suggest Khan Academy, Life of Fred, Math-U-See, Prodigy…

My kids focus on learning the math that is relevant to their career goals.

Sarah’s Mom Tips – Prioritizing ALL the Things!

/ Sarah Janisse Brown / Leave a comment

As you plan to Fun-School a child under 10, don’t feel like you need to do everything on your list every day.

Listen to your child and watch for what brings them joy. You will learn what subjects and topics your child is passionate about, and those are the ones you should do every day and spend more time on (if the child wants to spend extra time researching their favorite topics).

Many teachers focus the most on the child’s weakness and problem areas. I do not focus more than 20 minutes a week on the problem areas – if the lesson or activity burns them out. If reading is a struggle, I use Dyslexia Games, but only 15 minutes a day – unless they want to do more. Usually they like Dyslexia Games, so it isn’t a struggle.

If math is a struggle, use games, calculators, and our new book 100 Numbers.

If they seem confused when trying to learn math, stop using a memory approach and teach then the WHY and HOW of numbers. They may need time to mature to be able to grasp new concepts. Children need to understand, not just memorize.

Make a lot of time for play, curiosity and discovery.

Children who are entertained constantly, over scheduled, or are addicted to gaming have a lot of issues. You can avoid MANY problems by making sure your child has time to use their imagination and PLAY without constant electronic stimulation. Kids often opt to be entertained. Boredom is okay and leads to innovation.

Healthy children often can’t sit still for more than 20 minutes at a time. They are wiggly by design, children need to move their bodies while learning.

If there is a topic or book that you want to use that they don’t enjoy, you can let it go OR do the work together OR you do it while the child watches you do it.

Make sure your child watches you write – in print and cursive, that’s what the Mom School books are for.

Feel free to use audio books in place of reading, so the child can learn on a higher level.

Throw out anything that makes your child miserable when trying to learn.  Try the fun and joyful methods.  If there is no fun and joyful way to learn, you may be dealing with a maturity issue.

Kids on sugar may seem crazy and out of control.

Kids who do not sleep enough may seem moody and out of control.

Kids who see adults fighting or are exposed to violence on games and movies may seem depressed and unmotivated to learn.

Kids who text all night are often lazy all day. Is your child sleeping with a phone?

Find your child’s passion, and feed it.

It is good for kids to learn to research. Research is an awesome skill that is learned best when a child studies their passion.

Some of most important things to teach your children involve:

1. Reading

2. Research

3. Relationships

4. Responsibility

5. Resourcefulness

6. Rest & Reflection

Put first things first. Outline your goals for each child and help them grow in the things that really matter.

Ignore anything on this list that you don’t agree with, this is my method, and may not be right for your family.

How to Flip to Fun-Schooling!

/ Sarah Janisse Brown / 1 Comment

 1. Choose a Main Curriculum Journal – For Library Based Homeschooling
These are the most important Thinking Tree books and usually have over 300 pages, you will use them with library books, documentaries, audio books, tutorials and any books you have on hand that your child can use for research. This will be the CORE of the child’s learning experience. They should use this book at least 3 days a week, along with a collection of books and videos. 
How to Pick a Journal: Let your child choose the one with the cover that inspires them the most. Just make sure the age level is correct. If the child chooses they will feel ownership of the learning experience. 

2. Choose a Spelling Activity Book, or Vocabulary Book  
The spelling books have poems, activities, and specific words that the children practice. The spelling books introduce each word in about seven different ways. The student will master these words without memorizing. We make sure we cover sight words and commonly misspelled words in our spelling books. 

The Main Curriculum Journals have spelling games and copywork also- Students will learn to spell many random words this way. They will learn many words from their library books, this way they will be able to spell words associated with their “Major” and special interests. 

3. Choose a Theme, Special Interest, or “Major” and Make a Fun-Schooling Basket.
They should study the “Major” for at least ONE full day per week. Let them study and explore their passion without distraction from other subjects. They need to dig deep. 

You can find lots of themed learning books at your library or choose to use Usborne Books.

Thinking Tree does cover many popular themes. Here is just a sampling: 
Fashion Theme
Animal Theme
Horse Theme
Bible Theme
Cooking Theme
Nature & Wildlife Theme
Minecraft Theme
Travel Theme
Drawing & Doodling Theme 
Musical Instruments Theme
Cat Theme 

4. Choose a Fun-Schooling Math Book on Your Child’s Level
This will help your child to get over the fear of math, and maybe choose a math curriculum after they overcome the fear. Include math 2 or 3 days a week, math can really mess with the mind and cause children to have learning issues in other areas, so don’t push it every day if your child is struggling:

5. Choose a Creative Writing Journal for Kids 10 and up and Choose a Copywork Journal for Kids Under 10 

There may be enough creative writing and copywork in the Curriculum Journal, but for some kids these books are fun and inspiring! 
MOM TIP: Do not correct your child’s grammar or spelling when they do creative writing, BUT do correct the copywork.   

6. Start Your Mom-School
Be an Example to Your Children! Choose a Mom Schooling Journal and make a Mom-Time Basket.
You may need a Mom-Schooling Journal &  Fun-Schooling Planner.

7. Choose a Few Subjects to Study as a Team
Add Important and Required Subjects and Choose Books to Use with the Family as a Team – If you want to add in “required” subjects the fun-school way, add some of these awesome books, maybe one day per week, they are very deep and intensive, yet fun. We use one book for multiple kids, and work as a team with these. Don’t use these on the same day that your child uses the homeschool curriculum journal, unless they want to:

Science – Nature Study
Science – Experiments & Research
United States – Geography & History
World History – Make Your Own Timeline
World Geography & Social Studies – Travel Dreams
Money, Business & Economics for Teens
Occupations for Kids

8. Document Your Child’s Work if Needed
This happens automatically if you use a Curriculum Journal. If you live in a state with strong requirements, or if your child is collecting high-school credits, you can use our 10 or 12 Subject Portfolio for your child’s best work in every required subject:

9. Relax and Enjoy Homeschooling
 If you are stressed out or confused, read my book “How to Homeschool” 

10. Get Help and Learn from Other Fun-Schooling Moms
Join over 26,000 Fun-Schooling Moms in our Private Facebook Group. We love to encourage each other.  If you have a questions ASK them. Moms who are experienced with fun-schooling will answer.  
Visit Linda’s website to learn more about each Thinking Tree Book, and watch videos about each book: https://training6hearts4him.blogspot.com/

11. Help Your Child Overcome Serious Reading and Writing Problems
If you have a child with symptoms of ADHD, Dyslexia, or has reading delays, memory issues, attention problems, and writing problems, reading confusion, letter reversals, or a fear of reading aloud –  use www.DyslexiaGames.com

12. Let It Go! Let It Go! Here are some Ted Talks on Education that will Help! 
If you are doing something that doesn’t work, brings stress, is confusing, makes your child cry, or is boring… DUMP IT.