Looking for a meaningful way to combine math and art in your homeschool? Positive negative symmetry art is the perfect project! This hands-on activity introduces important concepts like symmetry, spatial awareness, and the artistic principles of positive and negative space—all in one simple lesson. It’s a fantastic example of how living math can bring abstract…
I love using living books to help children “see” math. These math operations picture books specifically focus on addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division to help build understanding and connect math to the real world. Books are powerful in helping children relate to abstract mathematical concepts! They can be used as pre-reading before introducing something new…
This fun activity using Christmas glyphs will spice up December homeschooling. You’ll be glad to know it also counts as a living math lesson! What is a glyph? A glyph, as it relates to math, is a pictorial representation of data. That sounds like a pictograph because it is. Rather than putting pictures in the…
These exponential growth activities offer an excellent way to blend literature and math! Gather the books One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale by Demi and The King’s Chessboard by David Birch. The activities below offer hands-on experiences with exponential growth to help children visualize the rapid expansion of doubling numbers. Your children will love…
If you’ve been around here long, you know I love living math! One part of living math that makes so much sense for kids is connecting math concepts with literature. If you’ve never tried it, you’ll be amazed at the understanding gleaned from a simple book that teaches the topic in a new and fresh way. This…
I love living math—so much that I even wrote a book about it: Loving Living Math. It’s special for many reasons, but I’ll focus on one today. Living math offers opportunities for real-life, meaningful, hands-on learning. One of my favorite methods is using math manipulatives to help children understand concepts and think mathematically. In this post,…
Art and living math make a fantastic duo. Anytime you combine the creativity of art with the logical side of nature, you’ve got a powerful activity connecting both sides of the brain for meaningful learning. This particular lesson combines art and math through a fun project inspired by the famous abstract artist Wassily Kandinsky. This…
Living math is wonderful, especially the kind that involves living literature. So many people think math and literature connections only make sense for the elementary years, but middle school students still benefit very much from the connection! This list of living books for middle school math is perfect for making those connections and bringing some excitement…
Homeschooling a child with dyscalculia can seem daunting, but it’s entirely doable. In fact, it can be one of the best decisions you make to help your child succeed! What is dyscalculia? Dyscalculia is a learning disability in math and can make math incredibly hard if children are not given the right support. It goes…
Is geometry a scary word in your homeschool? It doesn’t have to be! These living books for geometry help to introduce basic concepts to your children in a fun way. Stories can often help simplify math concepts in a way that kids can easily understand. The whole family is bound to enjoy these living books,…
This hands-on, literature-based math activity will help your younger students concretely understand the concept of standard measurement. Target Age Range: K-2 Skills Covered: non-standard measurement, standard measurement, making comparisons, fine motor skills, reading Understanding measurement doesn’t have to be hard for little ones. In fact, teaching it early with concrete materials builds an in-depth understanding that…
Economics. It’s about earning and spending money. It’s how businesses grow. It’s using resources to satisfy needs and wants. It’s taxes and interest rates and credit cards and savings accounts. It’s in everything from local production to global trade. The study of economics is as important for the “average person” as it is for the…