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Please go to this post on my new blog to comment. Thank you!

~Andrea

I found a great math site called XP Math when I was going through my math bookmarks the other day. I must have found it on a day when I was in a hurry and didn't have time to go through it or I would have posted about it earlier.

XP Math includes games for Numbers & Operations, Algebra, Geometry, Measurement and Data Analysis & Probability. The Numbers & Operations category is heavy on fractions and decimals (which I am looking for right now), but there are plenty of games that would help to review basic math facts. For math facts, it looks like most of the games work on speed.

Games are not all you will find at XP Math, though. Check the Math Forums for a Problem of the Week, General Discussion, Homework Discussion, Math Challenges and Mind Challenges.

Do you want to show your child how math relates to real life? Take him/her to the Math in Careers Database. There are three categories: The Lite Version (grades 5 and under) lists the most common jobs. Not all of the jobs are filled in yet, but clicking on a job that is complete will give you a list of math topics needed for that vocation with the option of going to a practice problem. You can also search by Math Topics. Click on a math topic and you will pull up a clickable list of the major occupations that use it. You may also search by Jobs. There is an impressive list of careers here.

XP Math also offers free downloadable math eBooks. Most of these are for Algebra and above. You may also download free technology eBooks and other eBooks. I downloaded a free SAT Prep Course eBook there.

Go to Math Videos for four free videos, including pre-algebra, basic math, math & music and Donald in Mathmagicland.

The Worksheets page includes PDF downloads of math problems for various topics. You may also download exams from the New York State Testing Program (all for grade 8) and class exams (7th and 8th grade).

Enjoy!

~Andrea

"The Future Channel: Connecting Learning to the Real World" has some great math and science videos with teaching activities. Check out the Hands-On Math section of their website for a list of math activities by topic. Go to a category and click on "Get the Activity" for the topic you want to see. At the bottom of each activity you will see a video that relates to the concept taught in the activity (it is sometimes related to the activity also, but not always).

You may also go to The Complete Movie List and choose a movie to view. Each movie page has links and descriptions for all related activities under the video.

When I showed my sons this website, I didn't tell them that the videos were math-related. I just opened up a video that I knew would interest them, "The Skateboard Designer," and asked them if they wanted to watch it. They started watching it, and one of them said, "Hey, mom! They use math for this!" They begged me to do the accompanying activity, but I wasn't able to get to it that day. They ended up watching several of the movies, and I had to pull them away from the computer so they wouldn't watch them all at once!

I am so excited to be finding such great sites that show the relevance of mathematics! Enjoy!

~Andrea

I found some great math lesson plans at C.R.E.A.T.E. for Mississippi. The lessons I have looked at set the grade range at upper elementary and middle school, but I think you could easily implement them with younger children by letting them use a calculator and helping them in some areas. In fact, I will probably even let my older children use calculators. I won't be using the lessons to work on arithmetic skills, but to give my children a taste of math in the "real world."

In Go for the Gold Part 1, the student does web research on countries participating in the 2002 Olympics and learns how to figure percent, enter data into an Excel spreadsheet, and create circle and bar graphs in Excel.

There are 51 lessons, a few of which include carpeting your castle, traveling to the end of Pi, and NBA math. There is even a chicken mummy project that integrates math. Too bad we're about done with ours.

This would be a great way to liven up your math studies and give your children a taste of what you can really do with math. If you don't have Microsoft Office and you want to use the lessons using PowerPoint and Excel, I highly recommend OpenOffice. This is a really great (and free) office program that will open and save in Microsoft format. I tried out some of the the Microsoft Word and PowerPoint files from C.R.E.A.T.E. on OpenOffice and had no problem opening them.

Living Math! has some really great ideas for looking at math differently. I still use curriculum, but I am also learning to delve into different areas of math without being afraid that I am going to ruin my kids.

The C.R.E.A.T.E. site has lessons for other subjects also, but I haven't checked them out.

Enjoy!

~Andrea

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