Math Prompt: True-False-True One of the stretch goals for my Charlotte Mason’s Living Math Kickstarter campaign is to add a math journaling prompt to the end of each chapter. So, I’ve been playing around with ideas to get readers writing. Since the book’s all about how to build mathematical reasoning, I’m looking for ways to prompt creative thinking and flexibility in math calculations.

Math Prompt: True-False-True

This puzzle pushes students to consider the structure of mathematical expressions. Make it a game by letting your children challenge you, too.

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Thinking Thursday: William F. Osgood Writing to Learn Math: What did the author mean? Put the thought in your own words. Do you agree or disagree? Why? Do you want your children to develop the ability to reason creatively and figure out things on their own? Help kids practice slowing down and taking the time to fully comprehend a math topic or problem-solving situation with these classic tools of learning: …

Thinking Thursday: William F. Osgood

Try this week's math journaling prompt with your kids!

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Thinking Thursday: Gadgets Galore Writing to Learn Math: When students create their own math, they forge a personal connection to mathematical concepts and relationships. And it’s fun! Do you want your children to develop the ability to reason creatively and figure out things on their own? Help kids practice slowing down and taking the time to fully comprehend a math topic or problem-solving situation with these classic tools of learning: …

Thinking Thursday: Gadgets Galore

Try this week's math journaling prompt with your kids!

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Thinking Thursday: Exponential Folds Writing to Learn Math: People learn math by playing with ideas. A math journal can be like a science lab book. Do you want your children to develop the ability to reason creatively and figure out things on their own? Help kids practice slowing down and taking the time to fully comprehend a math topic or problem-solving situation with these classic tools of learning: …

Thinking Thursday: Exponential Folds

Try this week's math journaling prompt with your kids!

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Thinking Thursday: Goose and Grapes Writing to Learn Math: Problem-solving cares less about whether an answer is right and more about whether a solution makes sense. Do you want your children to develop the ability to reason creatively and figure out things on their own? Help kids practice slowing down and taking the time to fully comprehend a math topic or problem-solving situation with these classic tools of learning: …

Thinking Thursday: Goose and Grapes

Try this week's math journaling prompt with your kids!

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Thinking Thursday: Ernest Hemingway Writing to Learn Math: What did the author mean? Put the thought in your own words. Do you agree or disagree? Why? Do you want your children to develop the ability to reason creatively and figure out things on their own? Help kids practice slowing down and taking the time to fully comprehend a math topic or problem-solving situation with these classic tools of learning: …

Thinking Thursday: Ernest Hemingway

Try this week's math journaling prompt with your kids!

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Thinking Thursday: Estimation Writing to Learn Math: Research prompts help students view math as a human endeavor. Do you want your children to develop the ability to reason creatively and figure out things on their own? Help kids practice slowing down and taking the time to fully comprehend a math topic or problem-solving situation with these classic tools of learning: Notice. Wonder. Create.

Thinking Thursday: Estimation

Try this week's math journaling prompt with your kids!

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Homeschool Memories: Bill Gates Proportions II Once upon a time, when my kids and I were young… Later the same year, not too long after our discussion of the Bill Gates proportions, I stumbled on some more data. I discovered that the median American family’s net worth was $93,100 in 2004, most of that being home equity. This gave me another chance to play around with proportions.

Homeschool Memories: Bill Gates Proportions II

Once upon a time, when my kids and I were young…

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Thinking Thursday: Harder Than It Looks Writing to Learn Math: When students learn to visualize shapes, designs, and patterns, it makes them better at math. Do you want your children to develop the ability to reason creatively and figure out things on their own? Help kids practice slowing down and taking the time to fully comprehend a math topic or problem-solving situation with these classic tools of learning: …

Thinking Thursday: Harder Than It Looks

Try this week's math journaling prompt with your kids!

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Homeschool Memories: Putting Bill Gates in Proportion Once upon a time… We were getting ready for the annual homeschool co-op speech contest, and a friend emailed me for help. “Can you help us figure out how to figure out this problem? “This is related to C’s speech. I think we have all the information we need, but I’m not sure: “The average household income in the United States is $60,000/year.

Homeschool Memories: Putting Bill Gates in Proportion

We were getting ready for the annual homeschool co-op speech contest, and a friend emailed me for help.

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Thinking Thursday: Payday Puzzle Writing to Learn Math: Math journal explanations avoid the formality that turns so many students away from geometry proofs. Do you want your children to develop the ability to reason creatively and figure out things on their own? Help kids practice slowing down and taking the time to fully comprehend a math topic or problem-solving situation with these classic tools of learning: …

Writing to Learn Math: Math journal explanations avoid the formality that turns so many students away from geometry proofs.

Payday Puzzle: Try this week's math journaling prompt with your kids!

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Thinking Thursday: Half Plus Three Writing to Learn Math: When students create their own math, they forge a personal connection to mathematical concepts and relationships. And it’s fun! Do you want your children to develop the ability to reason creatively and figure out things on their own? Help kids practice slowing down and taking the time to fully comprehend a math topic or problem-solving situation with these classic tools of learning: …

Writing to Learn Math: When students create their own math, they forge a personal connection to mathematical concepts and relationships. And it’s fun!

Try this week's math journaling prompt with your kids: Half Plus Three.

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Musings: Math is Communication The question came up on a homeschool math forum: “My first grader and I were playing with equivalent expressions. We were trying to see how many ways we could write the value ‘3.’ “He wrote down 10 – 2 × 3 + 1. “When I tried to explain the problem with his calculation, he got frustrated and didn’t want to do math.

Musings: Math is Communication

How can we help children learn to express their math thoughts?

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FAQ: The Value of Math Rebellion I've been getting questions about my Math Journaling Adventures books: "I'm so excited to try math journaling! We bought your Logbook Alpha, and my 11-year-old math-averse son is trying to be a math rebel at every turn. "But I feel uncomfortable with the idea of rebellion. Doesn't he need to learn how to solve math problems the right way?" One of my favorite things about math is that there really is no "right" way to solve math problems.

FAQ: The Value of Math Rebellion

In math, sense-making and reasoning are always the most important things.

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Thinking Thursday: Rene Descartes Writing to Learn Math: What did the author mean? Put the thought in your own words. Do you agree or disagree? Why? Do you want your children to develop the ability to reason creatively and figure out things on their own? Help kids practice slowing down and taking the time to fully comprehend a math topic or problem-solving situation with these classic tools of learning: …

Writing to Learn Math: What did the author mean? Put the thought in your own words. Do you agree or disagree? Why?

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Thinking Thursday: Collecting Data Writing to Learn Math: Measurement is our way of connecting numbers to the things we find in the world, in daily life. Do you want your children to develop the ability to reason creatively and figure out things on their own? Help kids practice slowing down and taking the time to fully comprehend a math topic or problem-solving situation with these classic tools of learning: …

Writing to Learn Math: Measurement is our way of connecting numbers to the things we find in the world, in daily life.

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Thinking Thursday: Learning Writing to Learn Math: You can spark creative thought by removing any need to worry about spelling or punctuation rules. Do you want your children to develop the ability to reason creatively and figure out things on their own? Help kids practice slowing down and taking the time to fully comprehend a math topic or problem-solving situation with these classic tools of learning: …

Writing to Learn Math: You can spark creative thought by removing any need to worry about spelling or punctuation rules.

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Hints for the Patty Paper Trisection No peeking! This post is for those of you who have given the trisection proof a good workout on your own. If you have a question about the proof or a solution you would like to share, please post a comment here. But if you haven't yet worked at the puzzle, go back and give it a try. When someone just tells you the answer, you miss out on the fun.

Hints for the Patty Paper Trisection

No peeking! This post is for those of you who have given the trisection proof a good workout on your own.

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Puzzle: Patty Paper Trisection One of the great unsolved problems of antiquity was to trisect any angle, to cut it into thirds with only the basic tools of Euclidean geometry: an unmarked straight-edge and a compass. Like the alchemist’s dream of turning lead into gold, this proved to be an impossible task. If you want to trisect an angle, you have to “cheat.” A straight-edge and compass can’t do it.

Puzzle: Patty Paper Trisection

One of the great unsolved problems of antiquity was to trisect any angle, to cut it into thirds with only the basic tools of Euclidean geometry: an unmarked straight-edge and a compass.

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Thinking Thursday: George Washington Writing to Learn Math: What did the author mean? Put the thought in your own words. Do you agree or disagree? Why? Do you want your children to develop the ability to reason creatively and figure out things on their own? Help kids practice slowing down and taking the time to fully comprehend a math topic or problem-solving situation with these classic tools of learning: …

Thinking Thursday: George Washington

What did the author mean? Put the thought in your own words. Do you agree or disagree? Why?

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Morning Coffee: That Moment of Epiphany One of the best ways we can help our children learn mathematics (or anything else) is to be lifelong learners ourselves. Here are a few stories to read as you sip your morning brew. . . Download your printable Morning Coffee journal This week's rabbit hole started with a thought-provoking article from Dan Meyer... “It would have been quite easy, nothing at all really, to share the epiphany with students, to share the short-cut, to tell my kid that these are all the even numbers and here is where you’ll find them...”

Morning Coffee: That Moment of Epiphany

Discover the value of taking the harder long cut in this fifth installment of professional development for homeschooling parents.

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Thinking Thursday: Triangle Sums Writing to Learn Math: Number play doesn’t have to follow school math methods. Do you want your children to develop the ability to reason creatively and figure out things on their own? Help kids practice slowing down and taking the time to fully comprehend a math topic or problem-solving situation with these classic tools of learning: Notice. Wonder. Create.

Thinking Thursday: Triangle Sums

Number play doesn’t have to follow school math methods.

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Math Poetry: The Square Writing to Learn Math: Writing helps students stretch their thinking and make sense of new ideas. Do you want your children to develop the ability to reason creatively and figure out things on their own? Help kids practice slowing down and taking the time to fully comprehend a math topic or problem-solving situation with these classic tools of learning: Notice. Wonder.

Math Poetry: The Square

Writing helps students stretch their thinking and make sense of new ideas.

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Happy Pythagorean Triple Day! Thursday is Pythagorean Triple Day, one of the rarest math holidays. The numbers of Thursday’s date: 7/24/25 or 24/7/25, fit the pattern of the Pythagorean Theorem: 7 squared + 24 squared = 25 squared. Any three numbers that fit the a2 + b2 = c2 pattern form a Pythagorean Triple.

Happy Pythagorean Triple Day!

Let's celebrate one of the rarest math holidays!

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Thinking Thursday: Circles in Circles Writing to Learn Math: At its heart, geometry is all about seeing connections and relationships. Do you want your children to develop the ability to reason creatively and figure out things on their own? Help kids practice slowing down and taking the time to fully comprehend a math topic or problem-solving situation with these classic tools of learning: Notice. Wonder. Create.

Thinking Thursday: Circles in Circles

At its heart, geometry is all about seeing connections and relationships.

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Thinking Thursday: Paul Lockhart Writing to Learn Math: What did the author mean? Put the thought in your own words. Do you agree or disagree? Why? Do you want your children to develop the ability to reason creatively and figure out things on their own? Help kids practice slowing down and taking the time to fully comprehend a math topic or problem-solving situation with these classic tools of learning: …

Thinking Thursday: Paul Lockhart

What did the author mean? Put the thought in your own words. Do you agree or disagree? Why?

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Thinking Thursday: Alexander Pope Writing to Learn Math: What did the author mean? Put the thought in your own words. Do you agree or disagree? Why? Do you want your children to develop the ability to reason creatively and figure out things on their own? Help kids practice slowing down and taking the time to fully comprehend a math topic or problem-solving situation with these classic tools of learning: …

Thinking Thursday: Alexander Pope

A little learning is a dangerous thing; drink of it deeply, or taste it not, for shallow thoughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking deeply sobers us again.

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Thinking Thursday: Growing Patterns Writing to Learn Math: When students create their own math, they forge a personal connection to mathematical concepts and relationships. And it’s fun! Do you want your children to develop the ability to reason creatively and figure out things on their own? Help kids practice slowing down and taking the time to fully comprehend a math topic or problem-solving situation with these classic tools of learning: …

Thinking Thursday: Growing Patterns

When students create their own math, they forge a personal connection to mathematical concepts and relationships. And it’s fun!

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Thinking Thursday: Quarter the Square Writing to Learn Math: People learn math by playing with ideas. A math journal can be like a science lab book. Do you want your children to develop the ability to reason creatively and figure out things on their own? Help kids practice slowing down and taking the time to fully comprehend a math topic or problem-solving situation with these classic tools of learning: …

Thinking Thursday: Quarter the Square

People learn math by playing with ideas. A math journal can be like a science lab book.

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Thinking Thursday: Sci-Fi Puzzle 1 Writing to Learn Math: Problem-solving cares less about whether an answer is right and more about whether a solution makes sense. Do you want your children to develop the ability to reason creatively and figure out things on their own? Help kids practice slowing down and taking the time to fully comprehend a math topic or problem-solving situation with these classic tools of learning: …

Thinking Thursday: Sci-Fi Puzzle 1

Problem-solving cares less about whether an answer is right and more about whether a solution makes sense.

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