FREE? Do the Math!

This year seems like most of my homeschooling friends are on as tight a budget as the public schools. Fortunately there really is such a thing as a free education still, you just might have to do some leg work to find it. I came across a few complete math curriculum and a few supplements for FREE. Well, maybe it'll cost you some time on the computer and some printer ink.


CSMP- Complete Math Curriculum for Grades K-6
I love how the lessons are laid out in a no-brainer kind of way, which makes it super easy to teach. It's pretty scripted for you. Includes student workbook pages, blackline masters, and even some Math storybook

North Carolina Public Schools- Math Resources
Add in a few supplements, like math games, worksheets, etc and this could be a complete math curriculum. The Week by Week Essentials are in a friendly flexible format. The Strategies resources are a great way to cover specific concepts.

Homeschool Math- Website has quite a few ads but lots of information and free resources too. Website is owned by the author of the Mammoth Math Curriculum.

NCTM Math Lessons and Resources- Designed for use by math teachers this site has a wealth of lessons and ideas to make math engaging.

Living Math- This incredible site shows you how to teach math minus a textbook and workbooks. Lots of great books listed here.

Khan Academy- Never heard of this site? What planet are you from?! This amazingly free resources serves up teaching videos on math concepts.

Math is Fun- The name of this site says it all. Providing basic math instruction for K- 12 in brief text lessons with visual aids and interactive practice problems. Even include printable worksheets!

SparkleBox- It's like math BLING! Free printable to supplement your math lessons.


XP Math- Quality math games listed by concept


K12 Station Mathematics Links- Math links listed by grade level and then concept.

Bruce's Math Stuff- Some great printable math games and posters here

Math on the Cheap 2011

In a perfect world I would buy all my children RightStart Math, but sadly, the world is not perfect. My homeschool budget is very tight this year. Well, actually its pretty small every year. I am ALWAYS on the look out for a great value.  Using Charlotte Masons philosophies have actually helped so much in controlling unnessasary homeschool spending. I don't buy near as much homeschool  and educational 'junk' as I used to.

I have four boys at four different math levels. I have managed to pull together a complete math curriculum for all of them for less than $200 this year.  I got a great deal on the Mammoth Math complete set from Homeschool Buyers Co-op. Although not my ideal choice, it is very workable and flexible. I will be adding in some math games, manipulatives, and living math books that cover the concepts the boys are working with in their Mammoth Math levels. I love the lists of living math books listed at LivingMath.net and getting them from the library means no cost to me (other then the inevitable library fines). They also have a great list of math games. All these great resources in one spot equals more time learning and less time searching.

I did run into one problem while getting math together for the boys. I have a kindergartener this year and Mammoth Math starts at grade 1. At first I thought I would just read him tons of living math books, which would have been adequate for kindergarten math. Then I stumbled upon this math site for the North Carolina Public School System and feel in love with their Mathematics Essentials for kindergarten. The layout is a flexible weekly outline and it comes complete with math poems and hands on activity ideas. Obviously some things need to be modified to allow for homeschool use, but overall I am pleased with my FREE kindergarten math. I'll be adding the living books along with the Mathematics Essentials, for a complete kindergarten math curriculum.

WALLAH! Math is complete for the year. I'll let you know later if my plan is an epic fail and I completely revise it mid-term. I am certainly not infallible.

A Few Math Resources Online

Just sharing some of my Math bookmarks: 

MEP Math- Free complete math curriculum- for more information see this blog article


Khan Academy- Math instruction videos (also many other topics) these can be fun introductions for your children.

Living Math- Using living books to teach math concepts, great book list by concept

AAAMath- Like an online math text and workbook

Homeschool Math- Many. many math resources, links, worksheets, math blog roll

That Quiz-math quizes- handy site with quick math quizes to assess student knowledge


MATH GAMES

Timez Attack- Multiplication game- free version (thanks Tarasine)

Printable Math Games @ I play Math Games.com  - Great resource for a huge variety of printable math games by grade level or topic

Math Worksheet Generators:

SuperKids Math Worksheet Creator
Lizard Point Math Worksheet Generator
The Math Worksheet Site

Math: Money

Printable Money for teaching math

Coins

• color coins from abcteach
• black and white coins from Scott Foresman PDF file

Bills

• color bills- SINGLE PRINTABLE PLAY MONEY PAGES
• color bills

6-12 grade Math: Mathskool

Check out this great online Math resources for Middle School and High School level math: Mathskool



Discription from the Mathskool website:

What is mathskool?

mathskool is for math students
If you're in high school or middle school, or at any level where you're learning algebra, trig, geometry, calculus, probability, or a related topic, then mathskool is for you.

mathskool is a collection of short, focused videos, each covering a single math idea. You can use the mathskool videos to help get past a tricky homework problem, to prepare for a test, to better understand a lesson you just learned, or to learn brand new material.

mathskool is an easy place to ask questions. Every topic in mathskool has its own question/answer board, is attended by knowledgeable math teachers, and provides quality filtering so that the favorite answer appears first - even if it's from another student!


mathskool is for math teachers

mathskool connects great teachers with motivated students, and other interested teachers. As a math teacher, you can share your tricks of the trade to a larger audience. If you're preparing class notes, you can find out how other educators have taught similar material. You can even share sample problems, examples, or data files for other math programs, such as matlab, mathematica, or a graphing program.

mathskool gives you a way to supplement your own teaching with a web link (url) that can be shared in class. If you choose to, you can also use temporary email subscriptions to see questions (and provide answers) through mathskool about the topic you just taught, so you can be sure your students are getting the best answers to questions they might not ask in person.

The Great Backyard Bird Count

It's that time of year again! The National Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology are having their Great Backyard Birds Count on February 13-16th.



Our family loves participating in this each year. It is a nationwide, collections of data that scientists really use and YOU get to help. All you do is look outside on any of the days above, at any time, and count the birds you see. Have binoculars and a bird book handy! Then visit the website and submit your list of birds seen. You can also take photo's of the birds you may see and enter them in a contest to win prizes.

Incorporate this activity into your homeschool, it covers Science (observation, species identification, and data collection) and Math (counting).

Visit their website today to print off a list of birds common to your area and mark your calendars!