Archive for October, 2008
Free Online Graph Paper
Incompetech has an amazing array of customizable graph paper for just about anything you can imagine. I was particularly impressed with the storyboard, accounting ledger, and perspective drawing graph paper. But don’t let me spoil all of the fun — check it out for yourself and find a graph paper that best suits your needs! By the way, Incompetech also has some other interesting content, such as a nifty and simple mailing label generator and free theatre scripts.
1 comment Monday, October 27, 2008
Topology: A Fun Way to Combine Math, History, Art, and Geography
Topology, also known as rubber-sheet geometry, is actually a branch of mathematics that studies objects being distorted without being torn or cut. We recently discovered Jill Britton’s web site, which is dedicated solely to math (and much of it to fun topology-related material). Her R-U-B-B-E-R Geometry page is especially nice, providing many fascinating links to topology activities involving math, history, geography, science and art.
Add comment Friday, October 24, 2008
Eclectic Homeschool: Art Projects For Kids
Kathy Barbro, author of the Art Projects for Kids blog, shares great art projects that are delightfully creative and educational. What I really like about her projects is that many introduce famous artists, teach about world cultures, introduce an artist’s technique and all are really fun! Be creative and build some of these projects into your next social studies, history, language arts or science lesson!
Our Favorite Art Projects For Kids Lessons
Add comment Saturday, October 18, 2008
Eclectic Homeschool: Fun Math Books
We use so many different math texts and sources (we use an eclectic approach), we hardly ever use any single book ‘cover-to-cover’. We especially enjoy math books that let us skip around and learn about something without having to read the first ‘x’ chapters. Here are a few of our current favorites.
Math At Hand by Great Source Education Group
We use this book as a ‘treat’. Math At Hand contains short lessons on everything from fractions, positive and negative numbers to geometry, pre-algebra and probability and statistics. It is organized so that you do not have to use it sequentially and its colorful and whimsical illustrations make it irresistible to precocious, young minds. When we feel like a change of pace, we ask our young homeschooler to choose a chapter to learn about or review. He delights in the opportunity to choose his own lesson and enjoys the content — this book is fun!
Mathematics Ideas and Applications by Daniel D. Benice
This book can be used as a math textbook, but it also can be used as a supplement and offers very interesting math lessons in subjects like logic, binary numbers, geometry, topology, analysis and more. This text definitely enhances learning by using real-world examples from diverse disciplines such as astronomy, chemistry, archeology and biology. We use this text to enhance interdisciplinary learning, especially within unit studies and subjects that lend themselves to mathematical integration. For example, there is a really good explanation of Lowest Common Multiple using chemical equations as a real-world example of how this concept is used in practice.
Fiendishly Frustrating Brain-Twisting Puzzles and Perplexing Pattern Problems by Ivan Moscovich
We use these books after we finish up a concept and haven’t yet delved into a new one. Some of the puzzles are very challenging, but some are simple enough that elementary-aged children can solve them. As like most of our favorite books, you can skip around in these books and select any puzzle that interests you.
Add comment Monday, October 13, 2008
Free Unit Study: The Case of the Missing Rumbleometer
Although this isn’t the usual weekly homeschool language arts lesson, it is interesting enough as a unit study that you should adapt it to include more language arts activities. For example, choose from the extensive glossary of terms to create a vocabulary list, stressing definitions, spelling, etc. Also, have your homeschooler do some additional research after this project — both online and in the local public library. Write a short paper on this additional research, including the sources used.
ABOUT THE CASE OF THE MISSING RUMBLEOMETER
Scientists at the New Millenium Observatory (NeMO) received a National Science Foundation grant to create a wonderful in-depth unit study for middle and high school kids that examines the relationships between volcanic events, the chemistry of seafloor hotsprings, and the biologic communities that depend on them.
The adventure begins when students work through the mystery (just as scientists did) of what happened to the Rumbleometer, a NOAA seafloor instrument used to monitor volcanic activity, after a volcanic event right in the study area.
Students use real scientific techniques to unravel the mystery, including
- Using triangulation to locate an earthquake epicenter
- making an ocean floor traverse with a remotely operated vehicle.
- Creating cross-section profiles of the seafloor to determine where there have been depth changes due to an eruption.
- Graphing data from the rumbleometer instrument and using it to figure out what happened at the volcano and when.
The NeMO unit study is broken up into 4 parts, in an exceptional presentation available in multiple formats.
Add comment Saturday, October 4, 2008
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