Teaching homeschool math can be fun and rewarding! How? Let me show you with these teaching ideas for homeschool math. These ideas incorporate activities, manipulatives, and different methods to make math an engaging learning experience. I also cover how to ensure understanding by using visuals, models, repetition of math skills through activities, and independent work.
Counters are a great way for kids to visually see math. They provide a concrete way to represent a number and their thought process. These Learning Resources® Jumbo Farm Counters are the perfect size for little hands to hold. While they corral their favorite farm animals into number groups, they are also learning to add! I use them to teach sorting by color, sorting by animal, counting, adding, and subtracting! With this activity, I also used the Math Number Stampers to complete the missing addends free printable. The Math Number Stampers are great for any number work we are doing.
I use ten-frames when teaching numbers to ten, addition to ten, and subtraction from ten. They are a great visual aid and even more fun when paired with these Shark Counters. In this Shark Numbers activity, number words are represented by the Shark Counters on a ten-frame, and we discuss how many more sharks are needed to make ten. The side sleeve dry erase sheets come in handy when I am writing on the ten-frame with dry-erase markers. I can erase it and write again with the next number. Download the free printable here.
When teaching a new math concept, practice, practice, practice is key. This Numbers & Counting Magnetic Activity Set covers counting to twenty-five and addition to 10. The magnets are a beneficial tactile for an engaging math activity and the bright themed pages are appealing to children. As we begin a new math concept, I change the Numbers & Counting Magnetic Activity Set themed pages to match. I set them out for practice work daily. They can be done together or independently.
When it comes to teaching time, having a hands-on model is essential. Visualizing the hour hand and the minute hand is key to understanding, especially when teaching elapsed time. I also like to have both digital and analog models available. Time Flip Chart has both! Not only can my daughter move the analog hands to visualize the time, but it also has color-coded minutes and hours and can display a 12- or 24-hour clock, so she wasn't confused when we talked about military time.
Fractions are commonly a difficult concept for children to grasp, but visuals, like this Jumbo Fraction Magnet set, make it easier. These are an excellent visual representation of fractions and allow my child to have hands-on experience with parts and whole. As we go over the lesson in our math curriculum, we use pieces of the Jumbo Fractions Magnet set to visually work out the problems. After she masters the basics, we test her knowledge of fractions and apply what she has learned with a pizza night! How many pieces of a whole? What fraction of pizza did everyone eat? What fraction is left?
Using a variety of activities is a great way to reinforcing math skills. Task cards and geoboards are among my children's favorite reinforcement activities. Children work on fine motor skills, problem-solving, and spatial skills while working with geoboards. These 50 Geoboard Activities include 50 double-sided cards. The front has the objective, and the back shows the example. I just set out the cards with our geoboard's, and they complete the tasks independently. There are several different topics covered, so one child works on symmetry, another on fractions, and another on quadrilaterals.
Write it out and Work it out! These are my go-to methods for solving difficult math problems. I have my child write it out to visualize the number relationships. Sometimes writing it a different way is all it takes to see the answer. Using dry erase boards to write it out makes it easy to erase mistakes and try again. I also like using these Colorful Crayola® Take Note™ Dry-Erase Markers for a pop of color and fun! In this activity, I wrote some equations on the Desktop Stand with Dry Erase Board. My daughter used Base Ten Blocks Set to work it out and showed her response with the Animal Math Magnets. Work it out is modeling the problem with a manipulative. This is another way to visualize the problem in a hands-on way.
Using fun activities to practice math skills that have already been taught reinforces those skills and builds confidence. These 1000s Number Rounding Clip Cards are a fun activity that can be done independently. Since my daughter is rounding higher numbers, she can practice rounding to 1000s without help. The 1000s Number Rounding Clip Cards are self-checking which makes them even better because my daughter can complete a card, check it, and correct her answers if needed! Making mistakes is important to learning and growing. Side note, independent activities should only cover the skills already learned.
Kids love playing games! I love educational games that reinforce skills already learned. They can play and have fun while practicing math skills! What Time Is It? Board Games is a perfect example of a great educational game. It has four boards, each with a theme and varying difficulty. My younger children played the first ocean-themed board together. I used our Shark Counters to match the theme. Then, we all played the rest of the boards that night. We made it a fun family game night while practicing time.
A fun way to test their knowledge is a competition! Whether against a sibling or a clock kids love to compete. For this competition, I wrote equations on each side of the board and my girls had to answer them. Then, they used the Animal Math Magnets to show greater than, less than, or equal to. I was testing their mental math and their understanding of the relationship between two numbers. I prefer using a whiteboard for these challenges because they can easily wipe away their mistakes and try again.