Encouraging Your Children to Learn / Help with Homework

All of these websites have excellent help with homework and for learning at any age. However parents may want to check them out first.  The last site has a world view supporting evolution, rather than creation, although you can still learn so much on that site.  In fact, after seeing the beautiful National Geographic pictures, how can one not believe in a God who created everything?

Parenting Resources for Christian Families, from Babies and Toddlers to Teens, including 8 Tips to Setting Up a Fun Child Study Zone: http://www.christian-parent.com/study-zone.shtml

Study Guides and Strategies to help your child with learning skills and time management:
www.studygs.net

Help Your Kids with Math Homework: Pre-Algebra, Algebra and Geometry - Online Calculators too!  http://www.math.com/parents/helpyourkids.html/html

Kid Info:  www.kidinfo.com

Fact Monster: Flash cards, multiplication tables, history timelines, biographies of U.S. Presidents, etc.   www.factmonster.com

The Internet Public Library Kidspace:  www.ipl.org/div/kidspace.com

B.J. Pinchbeck's Homework Helper:  www.bjpinchbeck.com

National Geographic Kids:  www.kids.nationalgeographic.com   http://www.nationalgeographic.com/

Memorization Tips / Spell Cheque

MEMORIZATION TIPS

 

The Great Lakes ~ When I was teaching my kids the Great Lakes, I told them to remember the word, "HOMES" (Lake Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior).  They learned them in quick time. ~ A great tip from Debbie Klinect in Florida! 

If you want to learn them in order from west to east (left to right), learn the sentence, "Sam's Horse Must Eat Oats."
(Lake Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie and Ontario).

SPELL CHEQUE
Author unknown  (The English language can be confusing with different spellings and meanings!  Just read this and see!) Please read the complete left column first, then the second column.  I try to squeeze everything into less pages if possible.  For a great test of the proper use of the English language, have your children correct this poem.  Or do it yourself!

 

   Eye halve a spelling chequer                                  
As soon as a mist ache is maid
   It came with my pea sea                                          
It nose bee fore two long     
   It plainly marques four my revue                             
And eye can put the error rite
   Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.                                 
Its rare lea ever wrong.

 

   Eye strike a key and type a word                           
Eye have run this poem threw it
   And weight four it two say                                        
I am shore your pleased two no   
   Weather eye am wrong oar write                           
Its letter perfect awl the weigh  
   It shows me strait a weigh.                                      
My chequer tolled me sew.

Math Help for Children Taught at Home or at School

We all know the parental involvement necessary with homework, whether your children are taught at home or at school!  These tips are from a wonderful homeschooling mom in Florida, Debbie Klinect!

 

In learning your multiplication tables I find it easier to learn them backwards from the 12 times tables down to 1.  When we used to do it starting at 1, we would get to the six tables and my kids would freeze.  Then I decided to try an experiment and started at 12 and by time we got down to 6, they knew them all because all they had to do was the reverse: 12 x 6 = 72, 6 x 12= 72. 

 

Here are some other tips for the times tables:

1 times any number is that number.

2 times any number is like adding that number twice.

5 - look at a clock and remember how many minutes that is.  5 x 6 is 30 because on a clock it is 30 minutes.

9 times any number - just subtract one from the number you are multiplying, and that is your first number in your answer.  Then make sure the second number you write down makes your answer add up to 9.  9x6 is 54 because 5 is one less than 6 and 5+4=9. 

10 times any number, add a zero to the end of the number  5 x 10, just add a zero to the back of 5 to make it 50.

11 times any number up to 9 is two of those numbers, 9 x 11 is 99.

 

One summer I wanted to get my youngest son to know his multiplication facts before we started the new school year.  So, I got a deck of flash cards at the Dollar Store and starting with the 12 times cards we went over them.  I played this game with him where I would hold up the card and slowly start lowering it face down to the table.  He was to try to get the answer before it hit the table.  I also told him when he got all of the 12 times cards memorized, I would give him a dollar.  We did that each week of the summer, adding one more set of cards to the mix each week.  By week two he had the 12 and 11 times cards to go through.  By the end of the summer he had $12.00 to spend on whatever he wanted!  I also taught him those tips I listed above to help him memorize them.  For some kids the 7 and 8 tables are very hard, so we got out a jump rope and he would jump to those answers.  For some reason saying the answers and the jumping together helped make the answers stick in his brain.

 

Eventually our kids will memorize their times tables, especially if you use a curriculum that is heavy on drilling like Saxon Math. 

Three Tips for ... Surviving Homework

An Ounce of Ketchup - 2009 - www.goaskmom.com - Used by permission

An Ounce of Ketchup is produced by A. L. Dash & Sons, PO Box 714 Graham, NC 27253.

Don't let the headline get to you. For some kids, math comes easy to them. Then there are the rest of us. Not to be stereotypical, but math can pose some special difficulties for our ADHD kids.

ADHD kids have a tendency to have difficulties with math facts, processing word problems and even following the order of operations. Special skills can help ease these troubles.

Here are three tips to help your kids survive and thrive math this year.

1. Make it fun. I know I keep saying this, but make the math fun. Despite common belief, you can make it fun. Let them do math facts online. Download a math game. In fact, you can even buy a math game for the Nintendo DS.

Several websites that may help are www.aplusmath.com, www.funbrain.com, and www.bigbrainz.com (which has a GREAT multiplication game that is free and downloadable).

2. Do what works. Math can be troubling because you have to keep track of all those darn numbers. Here's two ways to keep them in check. One unorthodox method is to take the notebook paper and turn it sideways. Then, when your student writes their numbers, they can keep them all in a row.

If you need a stronger way to keep track of the problems, have your student do their math homework on graph paper. If there isn't enough room, let them write in two boxes per number. Since going to this method, I can actually read my son's homework!

Another tip is to highlight the different operations in different colors. You could make addition green, subtraction yellow, multiplication blue and division pink. This will help remind our kiddos what operation they should be doing.

3. Practice, practice, practice. Unfortunately, the school day just keeps getting more and more busy. This means that there is less and less time for practicing basic math skills. Try to practice math facts 5 minutes a day or 10 minutes every other day. To make it easier, make a game of it. You can play bingo, have a scavenger hunt, play on the computer – whatever it takes.

Make sure they have samples of the exact type of problem they are working on. Modeling is very important with ADHD kids, especially since so many are visual learners.

Math can be fun...or at the worst, much less painful. Math is a necessary skill and all kids need to learn how to work problems effectively. Help take some of the stress out of math homework and become the math hero of your house today!

Do you have an ADHD/ADD educational issue you would like to see addressed? If so, please email me at info@mommyadd.com and I will try to feature it in a new column or on my blog at www.MommyADD.com.

THE TEACHER APPLICANT
Author unknown

After being interviewed by the school administration, the teaching prospect said, "Let me see if I've got this right? You want me to go into that room with all those kids, and do the following:

1. Correct their disruptive behavior
2. Observe them for signs of abuse
3. Monitor their dress habits
4. Censor their T-shirt messages
5. Instill in them a love for learning
6. Check their backpacks for weapons
7. Wage war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases
8. Raise their sense of self esteem and personal pride
9. Teach them patriotism and good citizenship, sportsmanship and fair play
10. Teach them how to register to vote
11. Balance a checkbook
12. Apply for a job
13. You want me to check their heads for lice
14. Recognize signs of anti-social behavior
15. Make sure that they all pass the state exams
16. Provide them with an equal education regardless of their handicaps
17. Communicate regularly with their parents in English and Spanish by letter, telephone, conferences, email, homework hotline, web page, midterm newsletters, and report card
18. You want me to do all this with a piece of chalk, a blackboard, a bulletin board, a few books, a big smile, and a starting salary that qualifies me for food stamps
19. You want me to do all this and then you tell me I CAN'T PRAY?