Tip for Younger Children

What is YOUR favorite math game???

Family Math

We just LOVED using Family Math as supplement in the early years. It's a $20 book of math games for kindergarten through eighth grade. Using the book, I chose a math game a couple of times a week that coordinated with the concepts my kids were learning. We would spend 15 minutes on a math game, and my kids loved it! Even now that they are older they talk about math games. I remember when my son was about nine, and he asked one of his homeschooling friends, "What is your favorite math game?" The friend didn't PLAY math games, and Alex was simply shocked! He still talks about stacking sugar cubes being his favorite game because I would let him eat one when he was done studying geometric volume.

To use Family Math, I would look at the math lesson, and decide what concept was being taught (radius, fractions, or whatever.) Then I would look in the Family Math index for that topic. There were usually a handful of games to choose from, with different age ranges, and my kids would play together. The games are reproducible, and use things you have around the house (pens, crayons, etc.) We would also mix it up with our math games, and sometimes we would play other things as well: Monopoly, addition bingo, cribbage, etc. They loved it when I would tell them,"Now you HAVE to play Monopoly today! No complaining, either!" We would burst out laughing together! Isn't homeschooling wonderful?