Highhill Homeschool

USA Talking State Puzzle

When my daughter was very young, 2 or 3 years old, we bought her a Discovery Kids Talking USA Puzzle . Since the pieces are big and there are plastic cutouts in the puzzle she was able to work the puzzle at that young age. It was a fun activity we used to do together, and she learned her states in no time. My son is 8 years old and he sometimes does this puzzle. It works beautifully. There are very few toys that have provided entertainment for so many years. Since this one is also educational, it is one of my favorites.

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Six Great Math and Music Educational iPod Apps

We have had an iPod for a little over a year and recently bought a second one. It has been a good source of entertainment for Jemma in the hospital. I downloaded several apps and looked at them all to make sure they are educational. If they are going to be playing games I want them to be learning something too. Here are some of the family favorites.

Speed! - Skip-Counting Card Game (My Husband Created this one) - One player plays against the computer to see who can get rid of their cards first in this fun, fast-paced game.

Rogo - This is actually the only game I have paid for. I downloaded the free version and liked it so much I upgraded. It's a math challenge game something like Sudoku in that it is challenging, addicting and you need to think. The play board consists of a grid of boxes. Some of the boxes contain numbers. The player must create a loop which contains the designated number of boxes and also results in the highest total sum of the numbers with the cubes in the loop. There are several different levels available.

Factor Samurai - As numbers float across the screen the kids touch any that are not prime. After being touched the numbers blast apart into two factors. Each non prime number must be touched to advance in the difficulty of the game. Although I consider knowing and understanding prime numbers a math concept to be learned in late elementary school, my five year old can name them up to 50. She loves this simple game.

Divisibility (McGraw-Hill) - In tetras style, balls containing numbers fall from the top of the screen and stack up if not used. In another ball off to the side is another number, let's say 3 for example. Players select two of the number balls to create a two digit number which is divisible by three to blow up. For example, 4 and 5 or 45 is divisible by three. If all of the balls are blown up the player wins, and if a mistake is made the balls turn to stone and create a blockage.

Fractions (McGraw-Hill) - Fractions is a card game in which players must select two equivalent fractions to get rid of cards. Again I do not consider this a math skill in which a five year old is capable of understanding, but mine loves this game. She not only loves it, but selects appropriate fractions and is able to advance in the game.

Recorder Master - As birds fly across the screen, players must push the correct musical notes on the recorder. The kids are learning to recognize various notes and patterns within music. Plus they like it.

Virtuoso - This is a piano simulator. The kids don't play with this too often, but I like it and encourage them to use it. My daughter learned how to play Yankee Doodle at home and practiced in the hospital until she had the notes memorized.

Metal Detecting - Cleaning Old Coins

When kids are let alone to pursue their interests amazing things can happen. My husband brought my son on one metal detecting outing with co-workers and he was hooked. This new interest is already combining reading, history and science. He talks about it non-stop, read an entire adult book on metal detecting from cover-to-cover and has done plenty of internet research on great finds.

I was so excited for him when he brought home this coin after his second outing. His next challenge was figuring out how to clean it. Coins are made out of a variety of different metals. Some cleaners and methods work well with certain types of coins, but can ruin others.

So he did some more research on cleaning coins.

First he tried a toothbrush, soap, water and hydrogen peroxide. The coin looked much better than when it came out of the ground.

Next he tried glue.

He covered the coin with glue and wrapped it in wax paper.

When the glue dried he opened it and peeled off the glue.

This process was repeated several times and the coin did look better.

Then he tried to freeze it with a little water. Some of the gunk was supposed to come off when the ice was knocked off. It also worked to improve the coin.

Some more experienced metal detectors took a look at the coin and said it probably wasn't very old and likely not a valuable coin. Maybe he will be luckier next time.

This post is linked to:
Relentlessly Fun

Thanksgiving Turkeys

Cutting and crafting are such important activities for children. They strengthen their fine-motor muscles. They learn about following directions. They feel good about their creations and have fun too. Mastering these skills are important for pre - writing. Children who have done a lot of cutting and crafting have more control over pencils making writing easier.

My daughter was looking through the book "A Year of Crafts for Kids" by Kathy Ross and decided she wanted to make Thanksgiving Turkeys. It was a cute turkey because it involved tracing both the child's hands and feet to create the bird.

Election Math

When I was in school I didn't quite understand how a president could win the popular vote but loose the election. The problem was frequently mentioned, but not explained well enough for me. It turns out that the math involved in understanding how this is even possible is around a third grade level. Adding large numbers and determining which number is greater are the only two skills required. Understanding how the electoral collage works is an important feature to understanding American government.

In conjunction with our crash course in American Government we did this simple worksheet I created. You are welcome to print it for personal use.

Election Math Sheet 1
Election Math Sheet 2

The two sheets contain mock election results for six different elections. In each election the results for the same four states are given. To complete the worksheets first determine if the Stars or Stripes received the electoral votes for the state by determining if the total votes for Stars or Stripes is bigger. Next total up the electoral votes for Stars and for Stripes for each election. The higher total of electoral votes wins the election.

Next, to see who won the popular vote for the election, total up the votes for Stars and the votes for Stripes for each election. Circle the winner for the electoral vote in red. Circle the winner for the popular vote in blue. Are they the same?

This is a great activity to follow up with a writing assignment.
Do you think this system is fair? Why or why not? If you don't think it is fair, how would you change it?

Ancient Greece History Co-op - Week 3 - Mycenaeans

Week 3: We made Masks of Agamemnon.

The Mycenaeans were the head of the Greek Empire after the Minoans. From 1900 bc to 1100 bc, this is the time period of the Odysseus and the Trojan War. The dead were buried in mounds with necessary items for the afterlife similarly to the Ancient Egyptians, Chinese and other ancient people. When this golden mask for a dead king was found, it was originally believed to have belonged to King Agamemnon. It was later proved to have come from a time period even before, but is still referred to as the Mask of Agamemnon.

Mycenaeans: The Civilization of Heros - This 24 minute video explains the history, important cities and artifacts of the Mycenaeans.

First the kids pressed a sheet of aluminum foil around their faces.

Next a large clump of dough was placed on top of a bowl.

The foil was put on top of the dough and bow. Then the kids used their fingers and smooth objects such as the rounded back end of a pen to further form the facial features into the foil.

They further enhanced their masks with permanent marker.

The Dot Game

Have you ever played the dot game? If not, you should. It's fun and simple. I used to play this game with my father when we were waiting for food in restaurants. Recently I introduced my eight year old son to the game when we were waiting for the girls to finish a dance class. He loved it. It's free, fun to play and good for logical thinking.

It's somewhat similar to tic-tac-toe in that you can play with a pencil and paper almost anywhere.

Players start by drawing a grid of dots.

Then players take turns drawing one line between two dots.We have taken 5 or 6 turns each.

Players acheive points by completing a square of grid lines. If the player makes a square he/she writes his/her initial inside the square and gets another turn to draw a line.

The play ends when the grid is filled in with squares. Whoever completed the most squares is the winner.

Here is an on-line version so you can get a better idea of how it is played. The Dot Game.

This post is linked to
Real Family Fun
It's Playtime
Tuesday Tots

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