subtraction war

 

The boys have been working on their subtraction facts and we made up a little game to help them increase their recall speed. Here's how we play:

The quick instructions: War (that card game you played as a kid) + 2 cards + some basic subtraction= Subtraction War

The detailed instructions:

•  Take a deck of numbered cards (we used Phase10 cards with the non-number cards removed, Uno and regular face cards would also work well here-- I like Phase10 because they go up to 12)
• Deal the cards out just like in a regular game of war; the entire deck divided evenly between both players. DO NOT LOOK AT YOUR CARDS!!
• At the same time, both players flip over the top two cards from the top of their piles (rearranging them if necessary to be sure that the larger number comes first-- my kids eventually got too lazy for this step and just did it in their heads)
• Players subtract the smaller number from the larger number and the player with the largest difference wins the round and collects all the cards.
• If both players end up with the same difference, they should shout "WAR" in the loudest voices they can muster and play another round on top of the first: each flipping over their top two cards again and subtracting the numbers. The player with the largest difference wins the whole pile. 
• Play can continue for a set amount of time (we usually go for 30 minutes-- player with the most cards wins), or until one player ends up with all of the cards.

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 other random things:

• A free all-in-one phonics program! (bookmarking for when Jack is ready to start reading)  I'm normally of the "you-get-what-you-pay-for" mentality when it comes to free curricula, but we found Tanglewood's***  phonics curriculum, "Really Reading",  to be very helpful for my 1st grader who just needed a little boost-- and it was free!                                                                                                 ***It's a little tricky to get to, but click on my "Tanglewood" link above, and once you get to their page, click on the little apple in the red box.

• I finally bit the bullet and ordered this pattern. I'm slowly working my way through the body of the sweater and am dying (DYING!!) to get to the fair isle section so I can break out my kool-aid dyed yarns (the colors came out so pretty and it smells so yummy!)

• Have you read this crazy post? Seriously loved it.

Math Doodles

{I mentioned in my back-to-blogging post that I'd occasionally share some of our favorite educational resources.  While these posts would be of obvious interest to other homeschoolers, I hope that they'll be useful for anyone who is involved in helping children learn, no matter how they do it. }

Kids (and grown-ups too!) need many opportunities to play around with math; to have fun with numbers and mathematical principles. I'm always on the lookout for some good math games and puzzles and we've recently found a winner in Carston Studios' Math Doodles.  (Click on Web Demos to get to the games)

 

We love all the games there, but our favorite right now is Hydromaze. The Sums Stacker and Number Jump games have also been great for practicing addition facts and money math.

My big complaint with free online math games is that they're usually just glorified flashcards. There might be some fancy graphics and maybe a cool storyline, but they require virtually no creative thought or problem solving. Math Doodles are a refreshing change from the norm. All the games on the site require players to think flexibly to solve the various problems. And they're universally enjoyable. My first graders both love them, I love them, even two-year old Jack loves to try to help figure out the Hydromaze.

The Web Demo games can be played for free, and they also have iphone apps available for purchase for those who like to keep their math games portable.

Go on now, play with your math.