My daughter watched, unblinking at the screen, while the camera painstakingly worked its way through a woman’s home. Apparently, years ago this mom had suffered the loss of two children, only six months apart, and her inability to cope had sent her into a hoarding downward spiral. Suddenly, my eleven year old turned to me in utter seriousness, put her hand on mine and said, “Don’t ever do that. Just don’t. If, heaven forbid, I were to die. . .<insert big pause> . . .take up knitting.”

I laughed out loud. Her concern was so heartfelt. Her face so serious. Yet, the idea of me as a hoarder. . .

would bemuse most of my family. I was raised in the military. And that means every few years you throw away everything you don’t feel like packing. This usually leaves me with several books and a coffee pot. I feel practically giddy when throwing things away. I look at a horizontal piece of table or shelf that was once covered with stuff, and find that once it’s cleared, I have a reaction that must be something like smoking crack. Who needs drugs. . .when a polished cleared table produces such an effect? <feel the swoon>

A few members of my family however, hover dangerously near the hoarding disorder line (and they’re ALL Sizzlers, now that I think of it.) They have a very difficult time throwing things away. My youngest Sizzler believes that almost everything “would be perfect in my room!” My father has long collected obscure and odd-shaped things “that we just might need one day.” And my husband believes that anything that our children have ever breathed around is now precious, and must be preserved with sacred solemnity. The beginnings of tell-tale piles easily form around them.

I pick my battles carefully. My father and husband are on their own. But my Sizzler is still under my influence, and I decided that perhaps we should watch LOTS more of this show, Hoarders. Why? Because I remember so well how watching another TV show impacted my son (the older Sizzler) to change how he views reckless and rash behaviors.

Previously, I had spent vast amounts of breath telling him not to climb on the roof, not to walk with scissors point-up, not to open the car door before the driver had stopped, etc. He constantly thought I was just over-reactive mom. Hyper-worry mom. Dismissible and amusing over-careful mom. Then one day we accidentally stumbled upon a TV show, 911 Emergency, that showcased actual ambulance calls. Each show started with a recreation of the accident, then followed up with the emergency action taken to rescue the victims. My son was hooked. Suddenly he saw, in vivid detail, just what happened when kids run through a glass window, ride a bike without a helmet, or venture out on thin ice. The show fascinated him; it also validated me. In time, he became the voice of caution, the resident crossing guard, the home monitor and safety patrol. It should come as no surprise that he also eventually became an EMT and firefighter.

So the question then becomes, why did this show work where the words of a wise and experienced mother did not? I think it has something to do with repetition and visual imagery. This TV show brought its message with sight, sound, color, and drama. And not just drama, but drama that was safe, while still “experienceable”. All the wise words in the world can’t compete with that.

But I also believe that Sizzlers need more. More of everything. More intensity. More voices. And most of all. . .more repetition, to get some concepts.

So I find myself in an odd position of advocating television use. Carefully. Moderately. And with a noble purpose. It may seem counter to traditional educational thought, but there it is. I’m putting the TV show “Hoarders” on our schedule. I’m hoping that my daughter will eventually develop a fear of becoming what she sees on the screen. And that she might, one day, view her room with a different eye. 

 One more thing to try. . .

I’ll wake early, before anyone else, and be amazed at the immensely satisfying night’s sleep from which I just emerged.
Feel the rest.

My feet won’t even become cold because. . .. . .I will have remembered to leave my slippers right by the bed for the first time this year. My stars, the cat (which I don’t actually have–remember–it’s a dream) actually spent the night in them, pre-warming them for just this magic moment.
Insert now, and wiggle the toes.

Out the window, a snow has been going all night and the much wished for “White Christmas” has arrived, right on cue.
Oh…I think I hear bells!

I manage to get the fire going, the coffee perking, the Christmas music playing and the breakfast holiday baked goods all perfectly placed on my beautiful table (laid out, of course, the night before), and all this is done before the first stirrings sound from upstairs.
Feel the efficiency. Martha Stewart will be calling me shortly for advice on her Christmas dinner plans.

My family arrives from their slumber, one at a time, each wrapping their loving arms around me and thanking me for all the hard work and sacrifice I do to make this day possible. (tears well up)
Each child plops themselves before the breakfast table, and waits with anticipation for their fellow family members.
Feel the familial affection.
The conversation is good natured, kind, full of encouragement and quiet excitement. Not one unkind word is spoken, or indeed…even thought.

When all have arrived, we move on to the tree and begin the process of sharing love in the form of packages.
Everyone is appreciative.
Everyone says the right things.
Everyone feels loved, warm and fuzzy.
The Middle East declares peace.
All nuclear arsenals are dismantled.
And the baby wildebeest never ever again breaks away from the herd.

Deep heaving sobs of joy….

Yes…this lovely mental meandering was brought to you by “Every Idiot Has a Dream”
And now…the Christmas Elf, Senor Get-a-Grip, will be waking you.

Wakey wakey.
Are you back now?
Good, because Get-a-Grip and I have some words of advice.

LET GO OF THE DREAM!!! …whatever it is.

This day is almost guaranteed to veer off of any plan you may have.

Release expectations.
Make no assumptions.
Be prepared to be ill-prepared.
And plan to roll with the day, even, yes, to laugh.

I heard a great quote a few years back.

Expectations are often just premeditated resentment.

I have to confess that expectations are my very worst enemy.  I have a set ideas of just how my child should behave.
Well of course, we all do. That’s not earth shattering.

BUT…there have been times when my harsh and angry response to my child has been out of embarrassment,
out of how they made me look to others.
In other words, there have been times when my pride was wounded, and I used it as a excuse to be more concerned with how things looked than with what my child actually needed to grow and develop.
I was more concerned with how I looked to you, instead of what my Sizzler needed from me.
And as a result, my reactions were often far over the line of what was needed.

Of course you’re going to need to give your Sizzler extra direction during these holiday events.

They are really going to struggle with all the change of schedule, different smells, massive amounts of input overload, tiredness, unusual foods, and challenging social situations. Without a doubt, you will need to guide them, even more than usual.

But make sure that guiding them is your primary motivation.
They probably will embarrass you sometime over the holidays.
But don’t worry what others think.
Don’t worry about your bruised parenting image.

Love this child.
Guide this child.

Because, ya know what???
40 years from now, what those people in that room thought of you won’t matter a smidgeon when compared with the relationship you will have with your grown children.

So make a commitment ahead of time to simply take the day as it comes.
—With all the noise
—With all the less than perfect responses
—With all the frenzy
—With all the possible misunderstood judgements….

Take it all in stride…
and love your child with abandon.

Merry Christmas & Happy Hanukkah Everyone.
Carol Barnier &
Your friends at www.SizzleBop.com

Then. . .I went round one more curve and was suddenly greeted by a mom and her son, dancing wildly on the driveway. They held onto each others’ hands, and dipped hard to the side. It looked like a jitterbug fest had broken out. They were oblivious to us. They only had eyes for each other. And there was some serious joy going on at that house.

I smiled for a good half mile. I kept thinking back to them. Swirling and giggling. Dipping and laughing. I loved that mother for what she had  given that child. What a send-off before heading out to school. What a great positive mindset to give this child before he got on the bus. What a home to want to come back to. What a love language. Her simple moment of Driveway Delight said I just like being with you.

We homeschoolers spend so much of our time directing the academic objectives of our children–which is good–but it can start to take the place of relationship. Sizzlers, especially, can eat so much of our energy that all they get from us is Serious Administrative Parent.

So today you have an assignment–an action prompt.

Determine that you will do something with your child PURELY for the delight factor. It only has to take a few seconds.  Nothing has to be learned. Nothing has to be made. It has to be something that delights your child. All it has to say is I just like being with you.

And if you don’t get it done by the time bedtime rolls around, then make bedtime special. Blow bubbles on his belly. Tell a bedtime story with her stuffed animals. Do a goodnight dance, holding your child tight while you sing a good night song. Let them know that even when there’s nothing to do, you like sharing that little bit of nothing with them, because you just like being with them.

SHARE IT. If you have delight to try or a result to share, by all means share it in the comments. You can bet there will be other moms and dads reading this looking for ideas.

But I’m going to share with you the most successful writing program we ever used. And the good news is. . .you won’t need to buy a thing.

The place where my kids got stuck it seemed was on starting.
And then producing.
They had great ideas, but they never got beyond that.
They were waiting for inspiration.
They had writer’s cramp.
They had writer’s block.
They had a cramp in their writer’s block.

I grew weary of the excuses.
I just wanted them to write.
I didn’t even care if they said anything worthwhile.
I just wanted them writing.

And that’s when it hit me.

They needed to learn that they CAN write, any time, about anything, at the drop of a hat, with little or no prompting.
Heavens knows they can verbalize any time, about anything, with little or no prompting (and incidentally, little or no real knowledge either).
So writing shouldn’t be much of a stretch.

Thus, for a whole year, this was my only writing objective.
Here’s how it worked.

FIRST–Talk about Reporters.
I explained that journalists and reporters don’t have the luxury that most students do.
They don’t get to pick their topic.
They don’t get two weeks notice.
They are told to rattle off a thousand words on a topic of the editor’s choice.
It may be dull.
It may be unpleasant.
It may be a topic that holds absolutely no interest whatsoever for them personally.
And oh yeah, it may also be due in one hour.
Ready.
Set.
Go.
That’s the real world of journalism. There’s no time to sit and whine about waiting for inspiration.
They must simply start writing. . .NOW!

SECOND–YOU, dear teacher, are now the Editor
Create Your Assignments. I created 25 or so writing prompts. You can make your own as well. Or, you can find a gazillion of these on line. Just google the words “writing prompts” and you find them by the hundreds. You’ll also find page after page of them at the on-line Writer’s Digest Site.
More HERE
and HERE
You get the idea.

Here are some of the one’s we used, just to give you an idea.
Sometimes they were really short and simple.

• Write about a woman who has a phobia about string
• Describe your dream house
• Write a short piece that includes three shades of blue

Sometimes they were more substantial prompts.

• Babies typically talk in babbles that adults can’t understand. But one day, while at the park, you’re sitting on a bench next to two babies. They start their babbling, when all of a sudden you realize you can understand them. Even more, they are plotting a nefarious plan. Write this scene.

• “What piece of junk are you keeping?  Open the ‘junk’ drawer in your life…it’s probably in your kitchen, your garage or your desk.  Take one item out of it that’s been there for a long time.  Write a piece that explains why you haven’t thrown the item away yet.”

If you want some prompts that take your child far into the story line before expecting them to write, take a look at a book called Story Starters by Karen Andreola. These have several paragraphs of lead in and are accompanied by a beautiful illustration to further encourage imagery for your child.

If you think these prompts are not appropriate for your younger writer, just add “for kids” to your “writing prompts” google search and you’ll find plenty created for the younger child.

Once I had my 25 prompts chosen, I typed and printed out each prompt. I put each one in a separate envelope. Sealed it. And dropped it in a basket.
Now even I didn’t know what was where.

THIRD–Daily Writing Time
Each day, for a mere 15 minutes, we had writing time. Five days a week.
We set a timer.
My daughter sat at one computer. I sat at another. For us it worked better if more people participated rather than less. But you can decide what works for your crew.

My student selected her “assignment” from the pile of envelopes.
We set the stage of being journalists in a buzzing office. Our assignment editor was coming up to our desk.
The pressure was on. We were told what we must do.
She tore open the envelope, read it aloud, hit the timer and then we both began to write.
We wrote till the timer buzzed that our 15 minutes was up.

Then we just read to each other what we’d written and filed it away.

There is nothing amazing or astounding about this process. But there was an amazing outcome.
My daughter learned that she could produce–on the spot–some kind of commentary or fiction about anything.
And after a few weeks, she owned the fact that she could write on demand.

The next year I worried about shaping the writing, proper spelling, line of thought, etc.
But we no longer suffered from the pain of just getting started.
And it turned out that this was about 90% of the battle.

If your Sizzler hates writing, this may be the ticket.

As always, we endeavor to continually supply one more thing to try.

Yeah. Me too. The question is. . .when you get to that point, what do you do next?
Take a look at a note from a mom who is right at the crossroads.

I am homeschooling my 2 very active boys. Age 7 and 5 and I am stuck. I think the biggest reason I am stuck is that I taught special education in the public school system for 9 years and I just have in my mind how our school day “should look” and it doesn’t fit and honestly homeschooling is really frustrating and I don’t like it.
 I just can’t seem to break out of that and embrace what works best for us! I also think I have “too many” ideas and things I want to cover and have trouble focusing on what is best.
Anyway…. I would love your thoughts and prayers.

                                                                                                                   –Losing Heart

Dear Losing Heart,

I have SO been where you are. I understand your heavy heart.

You might expect I’ll give you a pep talk saying “Never give up! You can’t surrender! The collapse of family structure is on the line” and so on. But those talks tend to heap loads of guilt on someone who’s simply looking for solutions. My guess is you already have guilt (It’s a mommy’s way). The truth is you can give up and it would not be the end of the world. I won’t join the ranks of those who tell parents that if they quit homeschooling they’ve failed.

All that said, I still don’t believe you need to give up. There is so much of value in the homeschooling life that I’d hate to see you and your boys lose out on. So we’ll go straight discussion B.

When I first began homeschooling, I tried my best to make my school look and walk and talk like a traditional classroom. That was my model. I didn’t think it was “a” way to teach; I thought it was “the” way to teach, the only way.After all, if it wasn’t, why would teaching schools teach future teachers to use it? Thankfully I stuck in there, and with each passing year, my classroom grew more and more relaxed, less and less structured, more and more able to follow the gifts and interests of my children. This is a transition that almost every homeschooling mom/teacher must make. We all start with what we know. A few continue with the traditional model, but they are rare, and I believe in doing so, they lose out on the many truly glorious options available to them and their children.

Here’s the bad news: moms who’ve been trained as teachers have the hardest time finding new models. You’ve already expressed this awareness. But you need to know you’re not alone in this. It’s hard for everyone. It’s especially hard for teachers.

Keep in mind, the traditional model isn’t a bad one IF you have large classrooms sizes and more kids coming up the ranks. If your goal is to process a lot of children through a system, this system truly isn’t a bad one, but. . .you have to let some other things go. You can’t follow the strengths of the individual child. There isn’t time. There are too many other kids to consider. It’s an okay system for moving groups en masse through a process.

However. . .

• If a particular student takes an interest in rocketry and all the physics behind it, nothing can be done, because the whole class doesn’t share the interest AND. . .it’s not on the lesson plan.
• If a particular student has a gift for writing and would love to delve into Shakespeare and all the unfamiliar richness of the older language, nothing can be done, because the whole class doesn’t share the interest AND. . .it’s not on the lesson plan.
• If a particular child shows an early interest in chemistry and would love to play with a lab kit, learning about reactions and properties,  nothing can be done, because the whole class doesn’t share the interest AND. . .it’s not on the lesson plan.
• If a particular student just isn’t getting multiplication facts and needs three times the usual time allotment to master it, nothing can be done, because the whole class doesn’t share the need AND. . .it’s not on the lesson plan.

We move onward for the good of the majority. And it makes sense to do so. Holding 25 kids back because of the needs or interests of 1 child doesn’t make sense.

But in homeschooling, it’s not about the majority. It’s about one child at a time.

You can follow delights. You can follow interests. You can address challenges.

You can do pretty much anything that teaches a child that learning is fun and wonderful and lifelong.

Before you give up, I would suggest you try different approach. Your kids are so young that you can relax. You couldn’t possibly screw up so badly that they would lose out.

So if you’re going to experiment, try it now.

How about a unit study that focuses on something that absolutely delights them?

Bugs?

Monster trucks?

Military?

Make models, Collect samples. Go on field trips. Watch kids documentaries. Read biographies of people who are into this subject. Role play.

And perhaps most importantly, find another homeschooling mom who has already made that transition and see if you can shadow her in her schooling for a week.

Join together for a time.

Share the school week or month.

Watch what she does differently.

Give yourself permission to step away from traditional, even if only for a month.

When I first began homeschooling I collected Scope and Sequence documents from around the country. Public schools. Private schools. Expensive prep schools. Gifted schools. Montessori schools. I put them all together and studied them to get a sense of the most comprehensive scope and sequence I could formulate for my own school. And I made an amazing discovery. Other than a few essentials in learning to read, and of course math, there wasn’t a clear path. Some schools studied earth science in 5th grade and others studies life science. Some studied Ancient Egyptians while others were learning about Thomas Jefferson. Some learned metaphors and similes while others were learning about proper citations.   For almost everything, there was no clear chronology of learning.

This was very freeing for me. I realized that as long as they got the same information into their heads by the time they graduated, the method and sequence of how they got it could be completely of my choosing!

I was free to make learning delicious.

This should liberate you from designing your school based on how it “should look”.

Instead, apply a new method–

What would you need to do for your child to say “THAT was wonderful! Can we do more?”

There it is.

That should be your method.

That should be your guide.

If you start with that idea and changed just ONE lesson in your day, you would see the difference.

I suspect that soon you would change another. . .and another.

And before you know it, learning in your school is delicious. . .and you’d never want to stop.

QUESTION: What about you? What are some ways you make learning delicious in your house?

“Ugh, <insert impressive moan> I feel terrible.”

“Why is that?” I intoned.

“Because I drank four cups of milk and I think I might puke.”

“Why did you drink so much milk?”

“Because Amelia was here.”

What?

“I wanted to show her how cool it was to jump on the empty milk jug and shoot the lid clear across the room.”

“Ahhhh,” sighs the all knowing mother. <insert impressive but hidden smirk>

So. . .what’s your Sizzler been up to lately?

“That boy is such a jerk. We were playing chess and he was making up rules and telling me I was wrong and saying all kinds of stupid things. I’d move my piece and he’d say it was a dumb move and that I didn’t know how to play and then he’d just knock a piece over and say he won. He was just so STUPID! He didn’t know ANY of the rules of chess. He just acted like he did. It made me so mad!”

She was a whirling swirling cloud of angry.  And while her frustration was reasonable, her level of anger was not. I knew she could stew (and spew) for a very long time if I didn’t help her calm down and find her center again. So, summoning my small reserve of Yoda-like wisdom. . .the first thing I did was say that I had something very powerful to tell her. That got her attention and she at least hit the pause button on her download. Since we were in a very public place, I also said that she would need to come and sit on my lap because I was going to tell her something not only powerful, but also private, something I didn’t want heard by others. It was going to be for her ears only.

This move turned out to provide an unexpected bonus. While sitting quietly on my lap, I mindlessly began to gently rub her back while I started to speak softly. Not only did the tactile input help to distract her and lessen her intensity, but she had to become calm and quiet to hear my almost whispering voice.

Have you ever been fishing? I knew she had not only been fishing, but loved it. Well, while you’re on top of the water watching the bobber, let me tell you what’s going on down below. I went on to explain that the fish see the bait slowing sinking downward through the water. They edge closer to check it out. The smell from the bait begins to waft over them. Eventually, instinct just kicks in. The smell.  The hunger.  A little twitch of the bait and suddenly, the fish has to hit on it. There’s not a lot of thought there. They are hungry. The bait is there. They hit. They don’t really even have a choice.

We, on the other hand, have a power that the fish does not.

When that little boy said that you didn’t know how to play chess, he was, in essence, throwing a piece of bait out there. You know full and well that you can play chess. You’ve had lessons. You’ve studied. You’ve competed and sometimes even won. Just because he said it, didn’t make it true. What he was doing was just throwing a piece of bait at you, pretty cheap bait at that. And just like a fisherman watching the bobber, he was really hoping you’d hit on it.

But here’s the part that gives you power.

You. . .are not a fish.

You have a power that the fish does not. You can recognize that goofy comment for the bait that it is. You can see that little boy throw that bait out there, you can watch it land in the water, you can even see him waiting, hoping you’ll hit on it. And then—here’s the cool part—you can just let it float on by. You don’t have to hit on it, because you are not a fish.

Our highly wired kids can really struggle with reactionary comments. All they know is the moment. They are frustrated. And when they become frustrated, their ability to sort reasonably through their alternative responses for one well-suited to the moment goes right out the window. Typically, they just lash out. They feel someone has taken control of the situation, someone else has the power. But with a little bit of practice (enter the fun of role playing yet again) they can take the power back with the wonderful device of mentally watching the bait float by.

Share this conversation with your child. Empower them with the gift of chosen silence. Help them to build up their arsenal of responses to frustration. And then the next time someone at work makes one of those ridiculously incendiary comments just to get a rise out of you, remember, you too. . .are not a fish. 

The Power of the Ditty
If you’ve known me for awhile, you know I truly believe in the power of the ditty. But if you’re new to Sizzle Bop, let me explain.

The ditty is an amazing tool.
Information can be learned and cemented almost effortlessly.
And yet, for years, I had missed the value of this incredible learning tool.

You see, my son is not musical.
He has no natural rhythm.
He cannot even clap on the beat.
So it never occurred to me to use rhymes or rhythm in teaching him. I assumed it would be a pointless and frustrating exercise to even try.

But then one day . . .

I discovered him repeating his spelling words over and over until a natural and rhythmical pattern emerged. The use of rhythm cemented the spelling into his mind.
I was stunned.
Then I opened my mind to the possibility that he might actually be able to learn with little rhythms.

So we tested this theory.
We put his fraction rules into rhyme.

Here’s the full version of that rhyme.

ACTION IN FRACTIONS
(please note, matching shoes means the denominators are the same)

When adding or subtracting fractions, you can’t lose,
Just be sure before you start you’ve got matching shoes.

Once your shoes DO match, keep your shoes the same.
And work straight across the top. That’s the name of the game.

(Chorus)

There’s ACTION in FRACTIONS
That gives you satisfaction.
Through numbers I stroll finding
Pieces of a WHOLE.

To multiply two fractions, it’s so easy if you got ‘em.
Multiply across the top. Multiply across the bottom.

When you’ve got two fractions that you need to divide,
Just flip the second fraction and multiply.

To my astonishment, he had them memorized instantly. He never again struggled with adding or subtracting fractions.

Since then we have created (or found) ditties for many other things.

• The Planets in order from the sun
• Speed of Sound and Light
• Days in a week and a year, months in a year.
• Parts of Speech
• Presidents in order
• Boy Scout Knife Safety Rules
• Elements of the Periodic Table
• Important historical events (we have over a dozen of these)
• Books of the Bible
• Rules of Grammar
• Vowels
• Even how to calculate the circumference, area and volume of a sphere.

Ditties are now a daily part of our school.
We start every morning with a period of “Recitations”.
Done repeatedly, every day, a child learns them easily, even effortlessly.

I have fallen in love with the power of the ditty. It is an amazing and often overlooked tool.
But please note…
A ditty is NOT great poetry.
It is NOT wondrous literature set to rhyme.
It is NOT a delightful twist of the tongue engaging your love of wordplay.

It is simply rhythmical language (sometimes rhyming, sometimes not) with facts worthy of memorization.
I am absolutely sold on the value of daily repetition of chosen ditties.
***For those of you who have been asking, the Ditty CD has finally been completely recorded and is now in editing. I really, really, really hope to have this available soon. And best of all, we have some wonderful skip counting ditties (tunes actually) that work wonders for the kid who just can’t make flash card math facts stick. I’m sorry I can’t share them here. They simply make no sense in print. You have to hear them. I’ll keep you informed.

So, if your child is struggling to remember a basic rule, consider putting that rule to a simple rhyming scheme.
The simpler the better. Don’t be wordy and clever.
Keep it simple.
Then repeat it a few times each day.
Within a couple of weeks, with virtually no effort, they’ll have it memorized.

Okay, here are two more for learning Perimeter, Area and Volume.
The first one sort of teaches the concept.
The second one gives you a short formula memory ditty.

Polly J. Perimeter

Polly J. Perimeter took a walk around the pasture.

She measured each and every side and added them together.

Arianna Area bought some carpet for the pasture.

She multiplied two touching sides to find the area faster.

Vinnie Victor Volume built a barn right on the pasture.

To find how much the barn would hold,

He took the area he’d been told

And multiplied by height

Then sold the barn to Farmer Casper.

Hysterical Math

We add all the sides for perimeter

It’s length times width for area.

For volume it’s length times width times height

A good formula lessens hysteria.

Motown Math
Amy Pak is a long time friend of Sizzle Bop. Since we’re looking at ways to put motion into learning, it was a good time to bring out a great idea Amy sent in several years ago.

Hey Carol, just an idea to add to your repertoire of math “helps.”
I developed a way for my sizzler to remember how to divide fractions.
Using the tune from the Diana Ross “Stop in the Name of Love” song, you must sing it like so:

STOP! When you divide… (Stop! In the name of love)
You need to multiply… (Before you break my heart)
Flip it oh-over… (Think it oh-over)

Hand motions”
Of course in a melodramatic way (as long as the sizzler isn’t knocking down lamps in the process).
“Stop!” of course has one hand on the hip and the arm extended with a hand in the typical “stop” way (like Diana Ross).
For “When you divide,” Put your fists together and slowly take them apart in beat to the music.
For “You need to multiply,” Make your forearms into an “X.” “Flip it over” is the fun part.
Do the “rolling hands over and over with a little fling on beat.” You know, like the Pips, or the Temptations.

Each time a child is doing fractional division, EVERYONE in the house is singing this silly jingle by the time we are through…over and over and oh-over. lol! It’s catchy!                    — Amy

OTHER RESOURCES

Some On-line Games:

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/math.htm

http://www.funbrain.com/

http://www.mathplayground.com/games.html

http://www.learn4good.com/games/kids/double_digits.htm

Also sent in from Stephany– Thanks!
www.coolmath.com
www.fun4thebrain.com

Books
Games for Math by Peggy Kaye (this is chock full of paper and pencil games that all my kids have loved)
Sir Cumference Series

Curriculum
Instead of listing curriculum here, it would be better for you to look at what all the moms in Sizzleland answered when asked what math curriculum they like to use. For the results of our Curriculum survey– go here.

WHAT ABOUT THE OLDER STUDENT?
We’ve been asking all week long for you to share with us things that YOU have found successful for your Sizzler’s math work. We’ll be sharing your ideas shortly.
You may have noticed that so far, many of the items we suggest work well with younger kids doing simpler math problems.
But we are a bit sparser in suggestions for the older student.

So the QUESTION OF THE DAY is what ideas do you have for the older math student?
What are some motivation techniques?
Are their little tricks that helped them conquer a tough concept?
What have you had to do/find/change in order to achieve math success?

Keep watching for the community suggestions. We’ll get those to you soon.
At Sizzle Bop, we never claim to have all the answers.
But we’re always looking for one more thing to try.

Thanks, as always, for being part of this community.

That’s when you need some ideas in your arsenal that permit ways to add an element that is focus worthy in and of itself.
That usually involves motion, or fun, or both!

Here are some ways to take a traditional math lesson and break it up a bit.CHANGES IN WRITING

Math often involves a bit of writing. This alone can discourage many Sizzlers, who often struggle with the physical act and fine motor skill requirements of writing. Their hands frequently tire much sooner than the hands of their peers. They grip the pencils more tightly, squeezing harder and pressing down with greater intensity. Telling them to loosen their grip is usually forgotten three numbers into the process.
There are some things you can do instead.

Different Writing Instrument
Choose a writing instrument that is simply more fun. Some pencils are simply more fun. The shapes vary. There are whimsical toppers available. Perhaps you could locate a pencil that would delight your child and make it the official “math pencil”.  Take a look at some choices from this website just to give you an idea of what’s out there.

Ditch the Pencil
Get rid of the pencil. If it’s just basic math facts, allow an oral response. Or let them dictate their answers to you and have you write them. And don’t forget the stickers option! (see Day one)

Writing with Shaving Cream
Put a bit of shaving cream in a zip lock bag, press the air out, seal it well, and then have your student draw the answers on this new fun medium.

Writing in Sand
Get a tray of wet sand and have them write their problems and solutions on this unusual surface. Pat it down and start again.

Bath Math
This GREAT idea was sent in by one in our Sizzle Bop community.

Well, I have this boy who avoids school very purposefully and then finds himself busy doing something he just knows mom wouldn’t want to interrupt because it is usually good things he has found to do.   ( like reading books, practicing typing, taking care of his baby sister…anything but the thing on subject that was required of him. )  I went to hunt him down the other day.  Determined that wherever I found him, there would be math!   There he was, in the tub , why would mom stop him from getting clean?   TO my own amazement, I had his math in my hand, a concept to teach and a dry erase marker in my apron pocket. So, I was thrilled to find out that dry erase markers work quite well on the walls of our fiberglass bathtub/shower.   We did his whole lesson with him in the tub.  He later had to do the written part on paper but, the explanation of the concept was a delight.    Maybe someone else needed to hear that!
—Pam

Thanks for sharing!

We learned of the possibilities of using shower walls with dry erase markers back when we were looking for an inexpensive alternative to those big, beautiful but costly white boards. A giant piece of shower wall purchased at Home Depot was suggested as a thrifty substitute.

Play War
In the original game you divide a deck of cards evenly between two people.  Then you each flip over the first card.  Whoever has the highest card takes both cards (spoils of war) and puts it in their win pile.  You continue flipping until your cards are gone.  If you want, you can end here and just count the highest card holder as winner.  Or you can pick up your pile and continue the game until one person has taken ALL the cards. (Warning…this can take awhile)

In playing this game there is the exciting moment when both players flip over their cards and the values are exactly the same.  In other words, you both find you have a value of say…8.  Now what?  Who’s the winner?  Well, you both now put down three secret cards (face down).  These remain down and are going to be part of the victory spoils for the next play.   At this point, you both flip a new card.  You determine who wins with these cards.  The winner of THAT play takes everything… including the secret cards.

Now for the fun modification.
In the math version of this game, each player flips over 2 cards instead of the usual 1.  If you’re child needs work on addition, they add them.  If the skill that needs practice is multiplication, he finds the product instead.  Now the game proceeds as usual.  The highest TOTAL or PRODUCT takes the cards.

Your child gets lots of practice in adding or multiply, but is so wrapped in the game that they don’t notice they’re improving their skills.  For extra practice, I also make my child determine the sum or product that results from MY cards as well as his own.

Play Spoons

How to play Spoons–
Put one less spoon than the total number of players are placed in the center of the table. So if 6 people are playing, put 5 spoons on the table.

Four cards are dealt to each player. The dealer looks at the top card from the remaining deck to see if he or she can use it to help make a four of a kind. If not helpful, it’s passed on the table to the player to his right or left.   Choose a direction follow it for all players through the entire game.

Players must hold four cards at all times so if the card they pick up is a keeper, one in the hand must be passed on to the next player.  That player picks it up and checks to see if it’s helpful, if not it’s passed to the next player and so on. The dealer checks and passes cards off the deck as fast as possible. The game takes goes into hype-speed as more and more cards are being passed.

Organization and decision making skills are taught as players must deal with an avalanche of cards coming in. When a card returns to the dealer it’s discarded in a pile. The object of the game is for the first player to accumulate a four of a kind to grab a spoon. The rest of the players at this time must also grab a spoon, regardless of what cards they are holding. Since there is one less spoon than the number of players, it now becomes a test of peripheral vision, awareness, reflex and hand speed. Players take turn being the dealer since they have the advantage of controlling the flow of cards to their liking and the fact that they don’t have to pick the cards off the table.

THREE ALTERATIONS– making Spoons a math game.

The goal is a total: The first change we made was to pull out the face cards.  We kept the idea of working with four cards, but instead of trying to achieve four of a kind, you had to try to achieve four cards that would add up to 20.  The game moves a bit slower as it takes longer to think through the value of the card you’ve received.  But it isn’t much slower, once you realize the exact card needed to achieve victory.

All stay in play: The second alteration we make comes at the end.  In the original, game, when someone has accumulated four cards that match their desired sum, the spoon grab is on.  Someone will be left without a spoon.  Someone must lose.  This player is now considered “out” and the game continues until there is a lone survivor.  However, we decided we wanted the child who lost to remain in the game.  After all, the goal is to sharpen weak math skills.  They still need the work.  So in our game we keep score.  The player who first got four cards and started the spoon grab gets 50 points.  The others who managed to grab a spoon each get 20 points.  And the player who didn’t grab a spoon in time gets no points, but all remain in the game for the next round.  The first person to reach a predetermined score (let’s say maybe 150 points) wins the game.  But all have had addition practice and all have had fun.

Simpler game for younger children: When playing with younger children, we simply lowered the amount of cards held in the players’ hands and changed the sum being attempted.  In other words, when playing with our youngest players we decided that all players will keep only two cards in their hands during play.  The goal will be simply to achieve a hand that adds up to 10.  For slightly more advanced kids, you might want three cards in the hands and a goal of 15.

Our family had fun with this.  We hope yours does too!

Favorite Game Review
Choose a family favorite board game and use it as a review vehicle for your child.
Let’s say the game of choice is Monopoly. You set up the board, pass out the money, choose which trinket each player will be, and then. . .roll the dice, let’s go! But wait a minute. Before the player can actually move, he has to answer a simple math review question. If he gets it right, he completes his turn. If he gets it wrong, his has to pass.

This game can be played with many kids at different levels. You just present a question appropriate to their skills. The real plus to this option is that you can use so many different games. Any board game with dice and advancing squares will work.

Vicky Velpanoid from Venus
I actually like flash cards. For one thing, they take “writing” out of the process, which for many children is a major drag on their ability to complete anything.  But secondly, flash cards visually cement information in their head.  If your child can get to the point where they see 3+2 and automatically think 5,,,instead of actually stopping and doing the addition, this is a real boost for the productivity level in doing math. So while I believe in flash cards, I also know that they are visual…and thus, for a non-visual learner, may require much repetition to really “take hold”.

Years ago I created a game called Vicky Velpanoid from Venus. (If you have my How to Get Your Child off the Refrigerator and On To Learning book, you are well aware of Vicky and her ability to make flash cards fun.) In this game, a very strange looking creature we’ve named Vicky has a rocket and is out of fuel. She longs to return home to her fellow Velpanoids, but must refill her fuel pods before she may do so. Now the flash cards begin. For each five cards the child answers correctly, Vicky now has a full pod, which is indicated by the child coloring in one of the pods in the drawing. Once she has all the pods full, the game is over and the child may now send Vicki back home. For some kids this is a matter of folding the paper into an airplane and setting it sailing. For others, it is to crumple it with great enthusiasm and launch it into the trash can.  Your call.

If a child isn’t motivated by space creatures and the like, just create something that does have appeal for them. Perhaps each five cards will represent a hurdle that their horse must jump over to complete the course. Perhaps it’s a football team that with each pod moves ten more yards down the field. You get the idea. Make it silly. Make it fun. And needed repetition will be easy.

Play some Regular Math Games
There are plenty of games out there that are math based, or at least require counting and adding skills. I’ve included links to see them on Amazon if they pique your interest.
Yahtzee
Dino Math Tracks
Auntie Pasta’s Fraction Game
Equate
Uno – the main math component is in adding the score at the end. Still, very fun game
24

What are some ways that YOU break up math time?
Are there fun little things that motivate your Sizzler?
What are some of YOUR favorite games? — Ones you’ve made up, or ones you’ve purchased.
Share whatever has worked, whether sweet + simple, or on the complex side.
Everyone’s looking for one more idea they can try.

See you tomorrow for MATH WEEK – Day Five (our final day on math) in Sizzleland.

Some kids have lovely handwriting. (Actually, I’ve never really witnessed it myself in our house, but the rumors have circulated for so many years that I’m inclined to believe such children do indeed exist.) For these children, writing is a process they enjoy– the grace of the loops, the cleanness of the letters, the straightness of the lines. Writing seems to be almost calming to them. These same kids tend to take their writing skills directly into their math lessons, dutifully copying down their math problems in a neat and orderly fashion. (Feel the straight columns)

Then…there are the others – the ones I’m far more familiar with. These are the scribblers, the hurriers, the I-can’t-wait-to-go-out-and-play-ers. These kids write out math problems on a page that winds up looking as if some great tragedy hovered over the surface and rained down havoc on the computations below. The erasure marks are huge, sometimes leaving gaping wounds in the pitiable paper. The pencil didn’t just write on the page, it engraved into it, so heavy are the marks. And if there are any columns at all on those addition problems, you’d have a hard time finding them. The contentious digits in the ones place suddenly thinks they’re a member of the tens family, another number has leaned so heavily as to jump two place values and several of the hundreds places have gone missing completely.

For the last two days, we talked about what to do with a child who takes forever doing their math. But today we’re facing a problem is almost completely the opposite. Today’s child may rush through the process so quickly that little is legible, even less is correct and nothing is learned.

What’s to be done? For some of our Sizzlers, this is a very difficult problem. It’s hard to help a child who rushes through their math in too big of hurry, or who struggles with neatness.

The goal is to get them to look at the problem purposefully. Here are a few ideas to try.

COLOR CODED OPERATIONS
Kids sometimes rush through their work so quickly that they aren’t fully taking in all the elements of the problems they’re being asked to solve. Figure out what it is that your child often misses and create a color-coded solution
If your Sizzler often thinks everything is an addition problem and doesn’t notice when a subtraction sign has been inserted, have them start ever problem by boxing in all + signs with a green marker and all – signs with a red one. This slows down how they look and forces them to make a clear distinction between operations. Once they’re into multiplication and division, choose two new colors and continue the practice.
Some kids don’t read directions but instead rush off to do the problems, sometimes missing a key piece of instruction that renders everything wrong. For these kids, have them underline the instructions, reading them out loud as they do. Then have them box in the one word that is the most critical piece of that instruction. Sometimes there isn’t a clear single word that is worthy of underlining, but there is great value in having them look for one and choosing the most likely candidate. It forces them to read for content.

CHECKING AT EVERY TURN
When my youngest was learning long division, she often forgot the steps involved.
Divide, Multiply, Subtract, Bring Down.
For a time we set up a small white board in front of her.
We put letters on the board to represent the steps involved– D (for Divide), M (for Multiply), S (for subtract) and BD (for Bring Down).
As she worked through a long division problem, she would cross out a step that had been completed.
After she finished the problem, we checked it together and then put a new set of letters on the board for the next problem.

Later, she was able to just write a D,M,S, BD right on her paper next to the problem she was working on.
Eventually, she didn’t need the reminder at all.

SAYING IT OUT LOUD
By having your child read the instructions and the problems out loud, their brain is required to engage more thoroughly and focus on the problem in front of them. Teach them how to narrate their work at an early age. It’s a tool that is useful useful pretty much forever.

It might go like this.
I am beginning a math problem. The directions are “Add together the fractions to find the correct answer.”
1 2/3 plus 2 5/7 = what?
First I’ll add my whole numbers. 1 + 2 is . . .3. But I still have these two fractions left to deal with. 2/3 plus 5/7.
I’m going to have to make the denominators the same for this to work. So I need a number that 3 and 7 can both go into evenly.

You get the idea. It’s hard to skip steps when you are speaking them out loud. The added benefit is, if you are listening, you may finally understand just why they’ve been misunderstanding common denominators or whatever else they’ve been getting stuck on.

WHITE BOARD STRIKES AGAIN
The white board seems to come in handy quite a bit. In this case, having your student write down the problem that you tell them verbally will require that they pay attention to its components in a way they would not have if simply viewed in their workbook.

HANDLING NUMBERS
Give your child some numbers and operation signs they can literally handle. You can even make a simple set out of 3×5 cards.
Now instruct your child to set up the math problem first with these basic math manipulatives.
It’s a simple step, but it forces them to slow down and actually SEE the problem before they begin to solve it.
In our house, we even did this for algebra. Out of heavy paper, I created numbers, parenthesis, addition/subtraction/multiplication & division signs, as well as a little box that stood for “N” (as in the unknown number. . .remember? Solve for “N”?) It worked just as well at this level of math as it did for basic addition.

THE STUDENT TEACHES THE TEACHER
Some kids are just dying to be in charge. They’d love to be the teacher, even if only temporarily. So let them. Have them explain a section to you as though you are just learning. Tell them you’ll follow their directions, but. . .promise them that at some point you will make a mistake. It’s their job to catch it.

PROVIDE BOUNDARIES
If your child has a hard time keeping their columns straight, the answer may be as simple as a piece of ruled writing paper turned sideways. The faint blue lines provide just enough of a visual guide to keep some order in their columns. This gives your child linear guides and may be all they need. But if a stronger set of boundaries is needed, get some graph paper. Here the structure is maintained up and down the columns AND across the rows. It’s hard to mess up with such clear boxed in areas. Graph paper can be obtained in various sizes, so make sure you select one that is appropriate for your child’s educational level. In other words, those tight little boxes found high school graph paper would require too much fine motor skill to be used comfortably by your kindergartner. Get bigger boxes.

AN ERROR’S LOG
My husband studied some pretty advanced mathematics in college and found it useful to create an error’s log. When he made a mistake, he wrote it down in a small notebook. He gave it a heading so that he could easily find it again.
For example, perhaps Missed Step in Quadrilateral Equations.
Then he’d briefly note the error. When he next worked on similar problems, he would first look through his log to remind him of his most common mistakes in the past. This was a simple reminder that often alleviated a repeat performance of those errors in his next efforts.

I still feel the title. . .”Error’s Log” is not only rather dull and perfunctory, but a tad negative as well. Keeping documentation of all my mistakes is uncomfortable on the face of it.
You might want to give your log a more playful name. If it’s going to be a book of things we’ve found but want to avoid next time, how about. . .
Snakes in the Grass
Land Mines Locators
Pothole Mapping
That’s it for today.
We hope you found something new to try.
AND. . .as always, we hope you’ll share YOUR ideas with us so we can share them with all of Sizzle Bop.
Do you have a great way to motivate your Sizzler through his math lesson? If so, this is the week to share. Let us know.

See you tomorrow for MATH WEEK – Day Four in Sizzleland.