On this page, I've collected together a few articles on home-schooling that I think are particularly useful.
Also, just to help you out, I've gone through all the games on this site, and evaluated them with you, the home-schooler, in mind.
It's my sincere hope that these resources will make your home-schooling a little more joyful - or a little less burdensome - wherever you may now be in your home-schooling journey.
First, the articles
There's so much information on the net about homeschooling. I've picked out some articles I particulary like, and with the author's permission, I've reproduced them here.
- Pamela Connolly has written an excellent three-part series on "Learning Styles". Each child is unique, and each learns in a different way. That's one of the main points about homeschooling, of course - you can tailor your teaching to each tyke's temperament. The big question is how? Pamela answers by showing you how to understand your child better, and giving tips on what kind of activities will really gel the most well. Start at Part 1, or skip forward to Part 2 or Part 3.
That's all for the articles (so far!). Now for the games!
- The 1 to 9 game is a game where players have to collect three numbers that add up to 15. It will help teach arithmetic to younger kids. For older kids, it will help them with strategic and logical thinking. The game's page shows how to vary the rules to make it suitable for any elementary school grade.
- The Arithmetic Math Game is a game where players roll special dice and do arithmetic based on the results, hoping to reach a specific number goal. It is most suitable for grades four or five, but you can modify the rules to make it easier or harder.
- Wishing that there were educational arcade games? Well, Mathteroids, the math asteroid game is the next best thing! This is an action-packed asteroid shooter game where you must sharpen your math skills to know which asteroids to shoot! Good for grades four and up.
- There's enough Addition and Subtraction Worksheets here to last a month of Mondays, including one special one, carefully designed to teach the important links between addition and subtraction.
- This Set Of Tiles can be used to help teach kids how to add and subtract numbers of more than one digit. Good for, say, first to third graders, or anyone who just doesn't 'get' the idea of carrying and borrowing 1's.
- An Advent Calendar, besides being a great Christmas tradition, helps teach younger kids counting and calendars in a fun, exciting way. Download and print this free advent calendar, make up up with a trimmer and glue, and enjoy the Christmas countdown with your child.
- Another game where a calculator might help and not hinder is the Make Numbers Arithmetic Game, where the child must generate as many numbers as possible using only the four given digits, and the basic operations of addition, subtraction, division and multiplication.
- This Checkerboard (or Chessboard) Jigsaw Puzzle will be a great challenge for your primary school kids. Watch them try and try to arrange the pieces until they succeed!
- If your kid need fractions practice, teach them the Fractions Card Game, and watch them drill each other in addition and subtraction of fractions. Or play it with them yourself!
- The Dot Joining Game is a simple paper-and-pencil game, with many hidden mathematical formulae to discover. You can play this game with your kids, and lead them (I show you how on the page) how to help them unlock its hidden mathematical patterns.
- If you are using flashcards, try this simple game with your child. It's quick to set up, and will add a bit of variety to the normal flashcard routine. The goal of the game? Travel along a trail of flashcard stepping stones to obtain a special prize!
- Fish Plus One is a game with simple rules, for teaching addition facts such as 3+1=4. It can be played with a normal set of playing cards, or UNO cards. Once kids have mastered adding 1 to numbers, you can move them on to Fish Plus Two, Fish Plus Three... or maybe even Fish Plus Plus!
- Foldable number sheets are a tool for helping younger kids "get" three- or four-digit numbers. Write the number in the blank squares, and unfold it to see its meaning. Or write out the meaning, and fold it up to see the number.
- Print out and make this set of Fractions Dominoes. It's a fractions activity designed to help kids recognise how much of a circle each fraction represents. Unlike some other math games, winning is not just about being better at math - but the game nonetheless provides great learning opportunities.
- This Fraction Simplifying Puzzle challenges kids to simplify a collection of fractions and observe which ones can and can not be simplified. There are variants of the puzzle that make it suitable for kids just learning fractions, all the way up to lower high school.
- In this puzzle, the goal is to cut a Heart-Shaped Biscuit into three pieces, so that each piece contains only one color of sprinkles. The cuts will be very twisty and wiggly, but that's fine for this puzzle. Because of the shape of the biscuit, this puzzle is perfect for around Valentine's Day, but it can also be used at any other time of the year.
- Magic Square Puzzle Worksheets are good ways to promote an interest in math while giving kids practice with their arithmetic.
- Print these Magic Number Cards, learn how to use them, and with a bit of practice you'll be able to amaze your friends with your number guessing skills! This page provides the traditional version of this trick, as well as a few variations of my own invention. Full instructions and a video example are available at the web page.
- This Math Board Game will ensure that your children get a lot of arithmetic practice, as they move their pieces from the center of the board to the goals at the corners.
- This Math Card Game will make your kids actually like practicing their sums!
- Math Lines is like 'Zuma' with a math twist. A twisty row of colorful numbered marbles winds its way across the screen. If they get too far, that's the end of the game. Blast away with marbles of your own, and if you join two marbles that add to 10, they'll explode and give you more time to win. Can you make it to the next level?
- These Times Table Mazes are good for puzzle-loving children who are learning their 7 and 8 times tables.
- Mathino is a game that can be played with an ordinary pack of cards. It's based on a common card game, Cassino, that already is good for kids learning arithmetic. Good for grades 1 to 3, maybe even 4!
- This money counting memory game allows kids from the United States, UK, Australia, the EU and Singapore to practice counting money in a familiar game
- Try your 2nd graders to 7th graders on the Pizza Cutting Puzzle! This puzzle can be made as easy or as hard as you like, so you can tune it for any age group.
- These Sight Number exercises, inspired by "Salisbury Sight Words", are designed to help your kids memorise their addition, subtraction and multiplication tables in the optimal way.
- This Spirograph Applet is sure to be a hit with the artistically inclined. You can use it to make pretty patterns, and if you choose to "trust" the applet, you can even save them to disk or print them out. I've also made a page explaining the math that kids will pick up while using it.
- Times Tables Memory is a memory game that will help transfer times table facts from short-term to long-term memory. It can be played solo, or with a friend.
- If your kids like more action, and they are at the same level with their times tables, try Times Tables Snap!
- This website has a host of times table charts and grids that you can download and print - even up to the 20 times tables!
- These timetable worksheets will give your child practice reading timetables, schedules, itineraries and the like.
That's all for now. Of course, there are many more games on this site than these. Perhaps some of those I missed would make excellent home-school resources, but I just didn't see it. Browse around and see what you find!
Yours, Mike H...
Games