Base Ten Blocks

Using base ten blocks to teach math is extremely effective.

As with any language: the younger the better. This child is 3.

It allows you to present concepts quickly and easily and because the students can literally grasp the concepts you are teaching because they have their hands on base 10 manipulatives you will find that they achieve greater understanding in less time. This is no longer theory. We've had proven and stunning results for decades now.



I have put up many pages and many videos of actual lessons using base ten blocks to teach algebra, using algebra with base 10 blocks to teach basic operations to even very young children or autistic students. The point is you can teach math this way no matter what you back ground or experience with math is. if you are already a math teacher base 10 blocks will make you a more effective math teacher. If you are just starting out you will find you get better results faster with base ten blocks if you are a seasoned teacher with lots of experience you will find you no longer need to fail half your algebra class because you can make math acseesible to ALL of you students using base ten blocks.

If you can get them to teach one another this is optimal.

If you are a homeschooler you can use base ten blocks and begin teaching math like a pro in no time. You will find that even if your math experience was poor you can teach a lot of things to your own kids and they will actually understand it. Factoring polynomials becomes child's play, solving for x, Pythagorean theorem, square roots and radicals percentages an more are EASY. All you need is a little initiative and and open mind. Take you time and you find lesson after lesson here and I often hear parents who are amazed that for the first time they understand distribution instead of just knowing a formula for what to do like FOIL.

One post couldn't possibly teach you how to best use your base ten blocks. But I can point you in the right direction. There has been some demand for a getting started page...so I will be working on that. Meantime, go to the home page at CRHOM and watch the short video with the little kid on the local news...this will give you an idea where you are going to eventually end up. Then watch the one hour overview. After that you can watch more vids or start reading about addition...which will lead you to multiplication and on the way you may do some subtraction and division.

Look where you can go with little kids. This seven year old is evaluating quadratics and it's child's play. Or you could just use these powerful tools for addition and maybe some place value.



Here we are playing with square numbers...again it shows you where we can go with ease. In between the vid above and the vid below check out this page on square numbers.



As long as you can count to nine and form a rectangle and tell if something is same or different we can pretty much go anywhere. Percentages for example or algebra are no problem. You don't need to know where the staircase leads just take the first step as my buddy Albert would say.

Using Math Materials To Best Effect

I would Like to introduce you to this woman who has started making vids on Vimeo.

Seriously. Could these kids be any cuter?
And it's even more important to teach girls early because they need every advantage. Our culture puts females at a disadvantage when it comes to math starting very early on.

Here is her channel, Education Unboxed. She has opted to use Cuisenaire Rods, I am hugely biased toward Mortensen Math base 10 Blocks/Manipulatives but she is correct that they are pricey and many parents already have Cuisenaire Rods because they are cheaper. (They are cheaper for a reason IMO.) With just a little work, a few "mods" as geeks and nerds like to say, they can be quite serviceable for teaching math beyond just addition and place value. Her point is to make vids that parents/teacers/homeschoolers can use to put the materials they may already have to better use. I highly recommend her channel and vids and hope she one day makes a blog and website too.

If you can't afford Mortensen math materials, perhaps you can afford a set of the Cuisenaire Rods...and you can get started teaching your kids math and learning math right along side them...with all the FREE suport you get from The House Of Math and this blog and now her vids too you can't afford not to get started and have very few excuses left.



She says she is "just a mom" who wants the best for her kids and wants to help others help their kids too. Even more I want to promote her because so many make excuses that they can't do it because they aren't good at math or don't have a degree or what have you...to which I reply: "just get started." You won't fail and you won't hurt or damage your kids. Errors can be corrected if you make them and can be turned into teachable moments.

My comments and critiques are for her improvement NOT to put her down or denigrate what she is doing. Her point and so is mine that if she (we) can do it SO CAN YOU.

CR:
Another great vid!

OMG: your kids are so cute it brings tears to my eyes.

Fine job removing no from the lesson and telling them what they have. Play a game with yourself how to I remove the negative completely. Instead of it's not 11, show me it's 11 or Hmmm, what's this side called again? (Answer is x, and then plus one.)

Improve your x² by putting a stip of paper over the sides because her observation that it is 10x is correct in this case you can clearly see it. I made a video about this...and it is a common question. Is 10x = x²? And the answer is a little complex involving 10, -10 and multiples of 10; they are after all base 10 blocks. That lesson would be best saved for another day...

Just telling them it's x when they can see it is 10 is usually not sufficient. Solve that problem with a strip of paper. I realize you are improvising with the tools you have and you are doing a FINE JOB.

This; however, is pretty important. Math concepts aren't because mom says so. lol

There is a Montessori concept called "visually obvious." It is visually obvious that that one side is ten...it must be visually obvious that that side and all sides is/are x.

A few side notes. At one point the younger child made and x to the second not an x square, which is good: it was one by nine...you could point that out in a later lesson. x² doesn't always have to be square! Especially if you are doing third power algebra...x³ dosen't have t be a cube either...in fact it will make higher power algebra impossible to present if you try and stay in three dimensions. You may casually mention this if she does it again...that way it's a natural discovery and not a "lesson".

Also they are never wrong. They are just getting more information. (You know this I am just reiterating for those reading.) You are a patent and gentle teacher. You may want to direct them a little more and let them figure out some of their mistakes on their own instead of just showing them so they can have their own ah-ha moment. You accomplish this by asking good questions using control of error and putting them in a situation where they can not fail...each one of those is a full dissertation and they are covered lightly on my concepts page.

Good questions:
Does yours look like mine? How could you make your square look like my square? Show me. How are they same, how are they different, what's the name of this. Etc.

You can also avoid and control error with use of the three period lesson.

Lastly you casually mention they are completing the square when they are in fact completing the square. That is great! You could take a second to ask how they do it...the answer you are looking for is by taking the x and splitting into two parts...this seems small but it's huge. Later when they do the quadratic the (b/2)² will make sense...

I would like your permission to your vids on my website or blog once in a while where they will get more exposure and hopefully encourage others to get started teaching their own kids math. I would also like your permission to put links in these comments because I have covered a lot of this in detail in other places.

Third please contact me via email...info is at my website. Just click the contact tab.
I am a master trainer. I was certified by Jerry to train trainers to train other trainers...not just train teachers to teach kids. The difference is understanding the why of things. You could be a mighty teacher if you wanted to be. You never know where teaching ends...somebody could see your vid and be inspired to do more...a kid could stumble across it and have an epiphany...you're making a positive difference.

One more time: FINE JOB.

Education Unboxed:

Yes, I absolutely do need to cover the sides with paper. I'll be doing that soon!

I THINK I understand what you are saying about "x squared" (not sure how to get the little 2 up there!) not having to be a square. Though I just learned last year that "squared" actually means a square! So, now you're saying that it doesn't HAVE TO BE in a square shape, right? Just that 9 is a square number because it COULD be made into a square? And when it's not in a square shape, then we call it "x to the second?"

Yes, please feel free to post my videos anywhere you'd like. The only reason I made them was to help other people (so they wouldn't have to do the hours and hours of research and reading I've done over the years). And, yes, links in the comments are fine.
I will contact you through your website. Thanks!!!

Then as you can see in this next vid she does...



A couple of notes for ALL teachers including myself: REMOVE THE NO FROM THE LESSON. Migrate to good habits early, but don't worry about doing it wrong if you are wrong just correct the mistake. Some students can be migrated to the correct way just by modeling, they see you doing it correctly so they change to make theirs the same as yours. Occasionally you get the child that wants to be different from you just to be different. These minds are to be encouraged but certain rules are not up for debate, we read left to right for example your blocks should mirror this...here are my comments so far:

Many comments to make. This is great.

Remove the no from the lesson.

Need an equals sign instead of a solidus...

We read left to right...the girls need to be (gently) corrected to put the units in the upper right. It doesn't really matter ( 3 + x )( 4 + x ) = ( x + 3 )( x + 4 ) however ( x + 3 )( x + 4 ) is more correct because we count in descending order. (Count the big ones first.) Also (minor details) move toward putting the parenthesis closer together. Again they aren't wrong they are acquiring more information...and you are simply moving them to more correct notation and mathematical syntax.

Also DRAW pictures. This is the bridge in the mind between the concrete and the abstract. A blend of symbol and blocks is great...
Will add more later.

Keep up the GREAT work.

Find us on FaceBook.

Homeschool vrs "Real Education."

My kids were home-schooled in the 80s. This was a time when home-schoolers were HIGHLY criticized as well. We were breaching "normal" protocols. ; )

F*** that! Like, I cared? My son's well-being and a REAL education was MY concern.

Back then, my then 7 year son, had a predilection for astronomy and the sciences, so ALL his studies were geared towards his interests. But he got a powerful education that still provided the full range of readin', ritin' n' 'rithmatic, plus things like handwriting, social behavior and civics. It was very organic. It didn't follow classroom procedure. It was more like Aristotle being followed by his entourage of students. A meandering learning process, it had no set structure.

I used the book Teaching As a Subversive Activity by Postman and Weingartener as my guide. His mother complained a lot about how casual it all was. She'd ask me WHEN he was getting an education. I said, "When is he not?"

Yet, he knew things even a majority of adults can't answer. Like the difference between fission and fusion.

My Mother, a teacher herself then and my Mother -in-Law were like, "How is he going to become socialized?"

I'd say something like, "Socialization occurs in the interactions between adults and children, not children and children,... or have you never read Lord of the Flies?

That usually dropped them in their tracks.

By the time I divorced my wife and she had screwed up all the home-school teaching I had arranged in my place, he took a standardized test before she placed him in public school, he placed 3rd qtr of the 8th grade in language communications and the sciences, 3rd qtr of the 5th grade in English and Math.

He averaged out in the 5th grade...

He was 7 at the time.

She apologized to me, but the die was cast.

The school administration put him BACK a grade for his chronological age. So, like 1st grade I believe it was.

He did not thrive until he came back to live with me, wild and free in Mexico.

Imagine that.



Stolen directly off a message board I moderate, written by a poster who goes by the handle
"IxCimi".

Go here for some mathematics activities on my website that might be of use to home schoolers and parents of public school students alike.