Base Ten Block Party

Help Me Get Ranked.

If you have a blog or a website I'm happy to link to you, too.

People always ask if they can pin my pics of base ten blocks. YES.  Just give a link back to where you got the pic.  Kinda like I just did, there.  You click on the words "base ten blocks" and it takes you to Crewton Ramone's House of Math. The 'base ten blocks' part is called the "anchor text" and the "link" (where it goes when you click the anchor text) is 

http://www.crewtonramoneshouseofmath.com 

(a href="http://www.crewtonramoneshouseofmath.com")base ten blocks(/a)
 
Replace the ( ) with <  > and you have the code you need to drop a link into your pages. Those with a little web experience know what I'm talking about. If not just send me an email and we'll figure it out. This will also help me rank with search engines for the term "base ten blocks". Right now I am no where near page one and the pages that are, are not as relevant as my site if I do say so myself. lol  Think back to how you found me in the first place if it wasn't a super excited friend, it was probably you searching for something to do with homeschool math on the internet. This will help others find me too...again people ask how can I help spread the word. This is a good way but things as simple as hitting like or share or mentions in whatever social media you use helps quite a bit. Reall, every little it helps.

You can pull stuff off my website or this blog too if you have a blog or website that needs content, again just give a link back to where you got whatever it was from...to include text. EZ.




JUST PLAY BLOCKS


People also always ask me, what do you mean "just play with base ten blocks?" Just what I said.

This isn't rocket surgery: just play blocks when they are little kids (roughly 8 and under but even teenagers can have fun and learn math just playing with blocks but then it moves to a reward and free time, with the little kids especially 5 and under it's pretty much ALL free time and sing songs ). And DON'T over do it by asking ALL of the questions listed 'at once' or in the same session...they should be "natural" questions. You may also take note of the child or student as they are building; they may say something like, "I need 4 fives...two for each of the smaller ships." For little kids that's 4 divided by 2...and BTW how much is four fives? 5x4.

You could sing songs...whisper count, just skip count...whatever. Keep it simple and fun.

Base ten blocks make math fun.

How many twos on the big ship? Five. Let's count them, 2,4,6,8,10.

Hey how many three's is that on the super duper laser cannon turret? . And what shape is that? Square.

A fast lesson square root should be obvious and natural.

What's 40 plus 40? 80. If you had to use fours how many would you need? 20. Way easier to just grab two 40's huh...?

If you make a cube out of 3's how many units would be in it? 27. Hey look instead of writing 3x3x3 we could write 3³--that's called economy of symbol.


What's 60 plus 60? 120. Wanna get crazy and count 120 by sixes? NO. lol Do it anyway. Lets see if we can find a pattern to make it easier.


You can also see a calc lesson had gone on before this where we learned about doughnut factories and water tanks.

A lesson on square roots of numbers like 2 and 3 can be seen at the nose of the big ship where we wrote out quite a few places. It's all math.

Here was a fun response to build me something.  This is the hull of a pirate ship...with cannons and everything.

Kirk's Tutoring Get's it. You might give his FB page a like.

This came from Kirk's Tutoring, who also uses this method.   I assume the student was given free time but gee, seems a lot of questions could be asked about his too...also note the symmetry and the observations that could be made here, and they could even just start with what the word "symmetry" means. Which is a very complex concept for the 6 and under crowd but there it is shown clearly.

The work here was building a cube of hundreds made out of addends for 10. Then the kid "splendified"  it by adding some hundred squares and the pyramid of multi tens on top.

This is a freighter with huge engines so it can get cargo from planet to planet FAST. 

Here is a building with a monorail going by it.  I thought it was a house with a fence but the little girl who built it set me straight. and she asked for some help flushing up the blocks,  Note the addends for 4 and 9, and of course we counted by sevens, just so she could hear the pattern.  7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, 49...how many seven is 35? Did you hear THIRTY-TWO...? They should say something like no, but I heard FORTY-Two. Did you hear 15 or 18? No but I did hear 14...etc.

He called Mortensen More Than Math for a reason. Imagination, fine motor skills AND math are developed by playing with these blocks. This page was to give you ideas...NOT BLUEPRINTS.

These need to be turned into little booklets with instructions on how to build them (kinda like those booklets you get with Lego kits) and some observations that can be made while doing so...

The problem I have with doing books like this is that some of you (not all of you) will ONLY build the ones you see in the books ONLY ask the questions I list etc. You have to play and be creative; these are just examples , a vague framework from which you can get ideas and then allow your kids to be creative...and build whatever they want. As they build talk about what they did. Use some symbols to show we can use numbers to "talk" about what they did (express reality numerically). And using mathematical symbols is a WHOLE lot faster than English or whatever language other than mathematics you speak. 

Get  a FREE book to help you get started exploring and discovering the wondrous world of mathematics as presented via base ten blocks.  Just click this link to get Supremely Simple Subtraction delivered directly into your inbox.

Third Power Algebra With Little Kids

Base ten blocks make math easy and fun, even third power algebra. Left off an equals sign but you get the point. He factored it two ways and then realized that factoring it down to (3x-2)(x+1)(x+2) would cover all of them…he knew without thinking very hard that x² + 3x + 2 = (x+1)(x+2) and that 3x² + 4x + 4 was just (3x-2)(x+2) so the “last way” was just going to be (3x-2)(x+1) and the other factor of (x+2). So basically he discovered on his own why "we factor it down as far as we can go."

Take 18 for example, 3x3x2 covers all the bases. 2x9, 3x6 same thing, 18.  Just depends on how you multiply the factors.  I use algebra to teach all manner of math concepts. Not only that, you teach more faster because you can compound the lessons.

What you aren’t seeing is the base ten blocks and drawings we used to make this EASY.  So here they are.  My notes for the days class. This was just over an hour's worth of work. But these two are aces. This was FUN for them. Might take you more or less time depending on all manner of factors. (Get it? I crack myself up.)

Started off with the difference of two cubes and they very quickly saw some patterns there...
I leave x³ - 64 for you the reader to do on your own time...might want to start at x³ - 1 with basic ops pieces and work your way up...drawing as you go. Click here for more third power algebra.

We did a few more problems not shown here but they were variations on the drawings you do see.  If these drawings make no sense to you or you are new here go explore over at my house of math. 

The other student was 11. But as he says, "once you get to 10, nobody is impressed you can do algebra."  I'm pretty sure there are still plenty of people who are impressed when all you see is symbols...but what these kids do is see the symbols and translate them into geometric figures that can be easily counted and manipulated in their heads or if need be with the aid of sketches on paper.

They have been factoring polynomials since they were little, just like these two.



Algebra is important. It is the greatest labor saving device ever devised by the mind of man and yet it is currently the most failed subject out there. If you work in retail or fast food, you won't need the algebra much unless you get into top management.  But if you are in the sciences or engineering or architecture you will use algebra EVERYDAY. How do I know? Because when ever I am around engineers or scientists or architects I ask them, "how often do you use the algebra?" And the answer is always: "EVERYDAY."

Little girls can do this just as easily as little boys by the way:


Third (and 4th) power algebra, negative expressions, integers and more are covered in depth on the advanced algebra page. You'll need a password though.

The lessons go like this...I give them the symbols for example x³ - 27 and they have to give me the drawings or just give me the factors...this is exceptionally effective for teaching much more than just factoring polynomials, it can also be used to teach remedial math.

Concept based teaching with base ten blocks works. I can show you how, Find me on facebook, twitter, tumblr, instagram etc.

If "advanced algebra" for your 8 year old is too much for you maybe you could start with subtraction...here is a FREE SUBTRACTION BOOK to get you started, soon stuff like you see here will be child's play.

LAST CHANCE 2016 PASSWORD SALE

Start off the new year right with a nifty new PASSWORD at a great price. 7 day sale starts NOW. (14Jan2016) Some of you need to quit using shared passwords you didn't pay for and come clean.  NOTE: many of the the links below have FREE videos that show you how to teach math, and samples of what you will find behind the paywalls. People find these quite valuable too.  Even if you don't buy anything: learn some math while your here.

Sale Price: $225.00 Reg price: $249.00
2016 price: $350.00

You save almost enough to by a combo kit combo. But for sure enough to get a set of blocks. People often buy blocks but have no idea how to best use them. Indeed, entire companies have been set up that fail to give you the training and info you need to best use your base ten blocks.

Training in San Diego.

This is your last chance to get them before prices go up again. Also a last chance to get "live" video training for 1/2 off. I will be doing monthly webinars for just 100 bucks for 4 to 5 hours of training. Questions get answered, discoveries are made, problems solved and parents and teachers emerge with a whole new attitude toward math and math fun. Take a moment and check out these testimonials I've collected...lol...and this isn't even all of them. Here are a bunch more.  

YOU can have results like that too; change your children's math life forever and avoid MANY problems that are coming in the very near future if you keep doing math the "traditional" way by getting started NOW. The longer you wait the worse it gets...some of you may already be here now and you will find it is much easier to avoid problems than to fix them.


The GETTING STARTED PAGE is a 5 dollar value all by itself. Many people have found it useful to go to that page and use it as a starting point. Make sure to check out the FREE PDF's on that page too. You will find lots of FREE vids chock full of valuable useful information on many of the page links you find here.

"If you get all of this for free I can't image what you get for money." ~Amazed Math Mom.

Passwords

sale is over

If all else fails use this link:
https://www.paypal.me/CrewtonRamone

Four Passwords.  Note: there are free lessons and videos you will find useful on almost all of the "entry" pages for the password protected pages below.  Just click the links below for short FREE lessons



Lifetime Passwords are just that...you get a pass for a lifetime. Pay once and you are good, forever. Come back as often as you like. Watch vids, download PDFs. You get all my passwords to get through all my pay walls all for one low price...currently that takes 4 passwords. When you purchase the LIFETIME you get it all.

I

Sitewide. 

Sitewide: this is the password that gets you the most bang for the buck. It's the password that gets you into the most pages. It gets you into all of these pages (and more):

Advanced Algebra:  This page show how to do negative expressions and integers as well as graphing polynomials, some story problems and more. Shows little kids doing "advanced" math. The point is not that they are geniuses the point is if they can do it you can do it and learn how o show your kids too.  There is NO PLACE else you will find 5 and 6 year olds factoring problems like x² - x - 6 or 8 year olds factoring third and fourth power polynomials and HAVING FUN DOING IT.  They ask for it. http://www.crewtonramoneshouseofmath.com/homeschool-math-advanced-algebra-entry-page.html 

Percentages:This page is great because it makes percentages so easy. Problems like 12 is what percent of 40?  Or 49 is 70% of what number? Are super easy once you can see what you are doing. This page is priceless because the knowledge you find on it is contained nowhere else on the internet that I've seen. http://www.crewtonramoneshouseofmath.com/Percentages-With-Base-Ten-Blocks-Entry.html 

Problem Solving. This page makes problem solving child's play; also introduces systems of equations using "Ten Apples Up On Top".  Problems like  3x - 2 =  2x + 5 are explained in detail.
http://www.crewtonramoneshouseofmath.com/PPPS-Entry.html 

Sample Lessons: This page alone is worth the whole price. Not just theory but theory in practice you get to see me "do it," unrehearsed on the fly with real live students of all ages and abilities. As one little girl recently said, "it's WAY more fun when you are doing it, than just watching videos." This is why we say math is NOT a spectator sport. http://www.crewtonramoneshouseofmath.com/Sample-Lessons-Entry.html

Sample Lessons with Sarah: Speaking of theory in practice, here is a page of vids with me working with an autistic girl. You see some of the actual lessons that got her to pass her GED and ACT Compass test. We should be very thankful to Sarah and her mom for giving me permission to use these. "Maybe another autistic  person like me will see it and they will know math is easy too because they saw me. Yeah?" I have been told this is an invaluable resource because it shows how to break concepts down so simply that her autism isn't a barrier and at times can actually be an advantage. http://www.crewtonramoneshouseofmath.com/Sarahs-Entry-Page.html

DBoyz playing with math. Example isn't a way to teach. It's THE ONLY way to teach. At Crewton Ramone's House of Math I don't show you how theory...I show you how.  You too can tailor lessons for you kids that make learning math fun easy and personalized for your child. http://www.crewtonramoneshouseofmath.com/Dboyz-Entry-Page.html

Raymond's Page. More sample lessons with another student. This a bright young student. By now it should start to ecome clear the concepts are the same and so are some of the lessons...the more you see theory in practice the easier it will be to practice the theory with you own students and get stellar results. http://www.crewtonramoneshouseofmath.com/Raymonds-Entry-Page.html

Emma's Page:  This child was labeled, they wanted to introduce drugs. As Far as I could tell she was a normal child who was just bored to tears in school. http://www.crewtonramoneshouseofmath.com/Emma.html


Functions & Relationships This is a pdf of one of the old out of print Series A manuals. Clears up a lot of issues students have with pre-calculus concepts and shows you how to do some basic water tank and constant rate problems with a half hour video. Again, nobody is showing you how to do this kind of math with the ten and under crowd. NOBODY.  http://www.crewtonramoneshouseofmath.com/Series-A-Manual-Functions-And-Relationships.html

This is NOT a complete list, explore and discover--find a couple of Easter Eggs for yourself. When in doubt use your sitewide password. If it doesn't work, email me for the new one but make sure you aren't on one of the three pages below first. Side note: there are Free videos and training which you will find valuable on all of these pages.

SCREECASTS: Here are two pages many people overlook. One has over 70 FREE screencasts and the Password Protected Screencast Page on has another 23 vids which equates to more than 4 hours more training via screencast. All are short video lessons, usually less than 10 minutes long, (none of them more than 15 minutes long) so you can do it in bite size pieces. http://screencast-o-matic.com/channels/cXV10bV2S

TEST PAGE: Here is a test page to see if you have the right password:
http://www.crewtonramoneshouseofmath.com/password-test.html

This Trig page ALONE is worth the entire cost of a lifetime password...I have heard that many times now. Getting people to comment and write testimonials is like pulling teeth.  The fact that I have so many in and of itself should be a clue to some of you. Please go back and leave comments good bad or indifferent on these pages so people can see it's not just me. 
http://www.crewtonramoneshouseofmath.com/trigonometry-with-base-ten-blocks-entry.html

I have another Trig page, "How to teach trig to eight year olds" that has gotten quite a few hits that you can buy by itself if you want, but it is included when you buy a Lifetime Pass. See below.

sale is over

II

Parent Teacher Training.

Parent Teacher Training: This Password alone is worth the price all by itself. You get hours of video training along with Pdfs to go with. This year I will be adding transcripts of these trainings too. As people who got in back when there was just one password for 100 bucks have found, once you get a Lifetime Pass the benefits keep coming. If you want results like the ones you see in the screenshots of comments you see peppered throughout this blog, then you may also want to come to a "live" video training or two.  The Teacher training page is made up of videos taken directly from some of those trainings along with links to more pages and video and supporting pdfs that you can download.  Also for those that have been through the training and are on facebook please go put some comments HERE.

You can also purchase ANNUAL passes for JUST the Sitewide or JUST the Parent Teacher Training, or both.  ANNUAL passes are good for one year only.  I have found that quite a few people convert from annual to lifetime...and NO, you don't get credit toward the Lifetime if you already bought an annual.

Bonus Pages: 

III

EZ PZ OVERVIEW 

&

IV

HOW TO TEACH TRIG TO AN EIGHT YEAR OLD

As an added Bonus to those who get lifetime passes I have so far made TWO BONUS pages.  The EZ PZ overview that comes with what looks like a complicated flow chart, but actually it's EZPZ lemon squeezee, hence the name and the Trig to Eight Year Olds Page which helps make trig child's play...because math is child's play.  Even trig.

 The EZ PZ Page goes along with the P/T training and gives you an Bird's Eye overview of how the method works and what to be doing with your students and children. It also gives you an idea of when to introduce what and ideas on how to make learning 45 addends and 400 math facts as painless as possible...in fact move from painless to FUN.

The Trig To Eight year old page breaks down basic trig functions like SIN, COS and TAN and make them concrete and understandable. Finding angles and sides is easy when you can get you hands on it and understand what the words mean and what the questions are asking. Actual lessons show you how to show your kids (or yourself) how easy trig can be.

Training

Training will be monthly (there may be some special sessions in between the monthly sessions). Cost is 100 bucks a session which works out around 20 to 25 bucks an hour. Training woks like this. Simple.  I usually charge 50 bucks an hour, and people think it's worth it. For an idea of what happens during training click HERE,  During the sale you can purchase tutoring or training with the button below.

Crewton Ramone In Action.

You are getting HALF OFF for the training.

And if you buy more you get one or two free passes. Usually I only offer 2 free classes if you spend 400 bucks but I threw one in free starting at 250 bucks...for those of you that want tutoring this means you don't have to cough up 400 bucks at once to get a free class...after the sale it's back to 400.

Basically if you buy 8 classes the rate is 40 bucks an hour instead of 50.
If you buy 5 classes the rate is $41.67 instead of 50 because I'm throwing in one in for free at the lower price point for this sale only.

People have found the training to be very worthwhile.  It's not the same as in person but vid training is definitely the next best thing to being there.

sale is over

If all else fails use this link:
https://www.paypal.me/CrewtonRamone

 

Tutoring

It's basically the same thing but one is for PARENT TEACHER TRAINING and this one if for tutoring you could just as easily use the button above or this one:

Tutoring Passes

One Pass $50.00 USD Two Passes $100.00 USD Three Passes $150.00 USD Four Passes $200.00 USD Five Passes 1 FREE. $250.00 USD Six Passes 1 FREE. $300.00 USD Seven Passes 1 FREE. $350.00 USD Eight Passes 2 FREE $400.00 USD

PH#.

If all else fails use this link:
https://www.paypal.me/CrewtonRamone

My tutoring is effective. My F to A stories are manifold.  Many of my students don't just get A's the get 100%'s because once you understand the concepts computation is EZ. No really. See for yourself.



If you have used my password pages leave a comment below:

Playing Trig With Young Students.

This looks like a mess because what you see here is a the end of a Trig lesson but it started off with just the triangle the jet and the numbers that you see in blue the 36 degrees and the 7,000. But as we talked about it and all the different ways we could go about solving for the numbers we didn't know more and more got written down so it looks complicated. It isn't. Once concepts are understood students generally go from F to A in short order. Here is a page on trig showing one such student.

What you see are actually THREE ways to go about finding answers, using Sin, Cos and Tan depending on the angle you use what function you use to give you the side you are trying to find. 

Trigonometry is just playing with triangles
 instead of rectangles.

In fact trig is so easy that I built a page with lessons on it designed to show you how to teach trig to eight year-olds.   Yes you read that correctly. Eight. Years. Old.

In this video they are  doing trigonometry and having FUN doing it.   Here is a video showing a lesson with two students...who don't know this is supposed to be hard and that quite few students twice their age fail this pretty regularly in high schools and colleges around the nation.  If you are intimidated or lost then maybe you need to take a few steps back and check some of my other pages, but the point is any kid can do this even a grown up kid like you...and I show you how starting from step one. Here you see us AFTER we've been playing for a while because I want to show you what's possible.



Once we've played for a while and have gotten comfortable with the concepts and know when to divide and when to multiply and what function to use and the definitions of those functions the math itself is pretty easy, especially if we employ a calculator, but--and this is rather important, it's crucial to have enough "number sense" and understanding to know whether the number you got after you punched your calculator makes sense and isn't ridiculous. Sometimes you hit the wrong key...sometimes to divide when you are supposed to be multiplying and sometimes you may set the problem up incorrectly...so using a rectangle to clarify your thought at first can be quite useful.

These students are past that point. But I drew it in so you can see it applied to these problems. The students in the video already have played enough with these concepts so that these rectangles are understood. Algebra and trigonometry go hand in hand because algebra is man's greatest labor saving device. Coupled with multiplication math becomes easy to understand and learn because we aren't bogged down in computation or slowed down by basic problem solving. This way we can focus on CONCEPTS, and trigonometry becomes child's play.

Then we can ask very simple questions like how fast in the UFO flying in miles per hour and what is it's ground speed in miles per hour starting with just this much information:

A UFO takes 5 seconds to reach a height of 1 mile taking off at a 58 degree angle in a straight line. How fast is the UFO going and what is it's ground speed?

Remember I gave this problem to an eight year old. Now I will grant you that this is a "gifted" eight year old but I've taught this to other not so gifted eight year olds also, just takes a little longer which means we have to play more. So take a moment and do the math...if an eight year old can do it so can you or your teens.  But start at the beginning...it has taken us multiple lessons to get this far...this didn't happen on day one.   The same way they won't be speaking in Spanish sentences after a lesson or two in Spanish.


GET How To Teach Trig To An Eight Year Old
For a measly forty bucks I can teach you how to teach (just about) any "regular non-gifted" eight year old to do this too. No tears. No fear. Just fooling with math. If you actually buy a LIFETIME password you will find the trig page alone is pretty much worth the price of the password. Seriously.

And with a lifetime pass you not only get "How To Teach Trig To An Eight Year Old" you also get The Trig Page and a bunch of other pages that make teaching and learning math EZ too.  How To Teach Trig To An Eight Year Olds is a "stand alone page" that comes with some added bonuses that you get with a full blown password and it also comes with some pdfs to get you going. So if you Don't have 350.00 bucks for a password or want to pay 37 bucks a month for 10 months and just want help with Trig just pay 40 bucks once and you are into that page for life.  No expiration. And I think you will see that for 40 bucks you get a whole lot more than you are used to getting for 40 bucks.

What I have found over the years is that a lot of kids that come to me for trig help don't know basic algebra concepts and don't even have their multiplication tables down pat.  Of course they are having trouble with Trigonometry and are confused. Couple with that with text books and their proclivity for starting in the middles and expecting you to have some serious perquisites under your belt and you end up with a lot of anxiety confusing and failing grades. You need to be able to identify a rectangle count to nine and tell if something is same or different or not to get started with me.

There is no need for fear or failing grades. Forty bucks will make all the difference. Don't believe me though, no brochure makes the hotel look bad.   Go read what some other people have got to say. Skip Starbucks 8 times and you can change your kid's life forever.

Click on the links to the trig pages and you will find FREE lessons there.

Algebra with Base Ten Blocks For A 6 Year Old.

 Your kids could be doing this.  Just get a password. 
 
From an email I got:

 "Made much more "math" sense since I had paid $50 for the 2 previous years. 

 And when you announced that your price was going up for the lifetime membership, it was an easy decision. Thanks for doing what you do. My 6 year old is now working on division since yesterday and it was so easy for him. We worked on division facts from 100 down and he only missed a handful. Not bad for his first day. But of course, working on multiplication for the last 6 months made it a whole lot easier. 

When we were done, he said "division is not that hard, why do they wait to teach it in 4th grade?" (He has a fourth grade cousin.)

I'm sending you a link of me and my son factoring Tri-nomials if you get a chance to glance at it. Nothing grand, especially since you have seen it thousands of times with other 6 year olds.



"I am really appreciating your website and all those YouTube videos. I needed to get a firm grasp on so many concepts and how they are related, never mind how to then go about teaching it. I feel that this is the first real opportunity for me to actually really understand what I was taught all those years ago. All that 'stuff' that I had no idea what they were talking about, clueless as to the why too, and so also promptly forgot pretty much everything.

Thank you for all your time, energy and effort!
Sincerely,

JP, UK"

Well I have good news and I have bad news. The good news.

Sale will be happening on Friday 27 Nov 2015.

Lots of Items on sale.

I will have passwords on sale. I will have gift certificates for training on sale. I will include a training with some kits...and of course 10 pay options.

Now the bad news: prices are going up...just a few bucks here and there; but pretty much all plastic is going up...like a DCSK will be $551.25 instead of $525.00 mostly reflecting shipping costs.

Combo kits will be 95 bucks instead of 88.75...etc...but during the sale they will be less...and as you notice we haven't had a sale since June and depending on how this one goes it will be quite a while until the next one...whether this goes well or not.

Might want to tell your friends to get on it NOW.

Base Ten Block Sample Lesson.

Math is fun when you use base ten blocks. Here is a young girl who isn't so very keen on math, she'd rather be playing with her bows and across or her sword but playing with nines and building walls can be fun too.   Measuring out how many nines in 27 turn out to be pretty easy.

Building walls of 24 can also be fun...here she sees quite clearly four sixes and six fours are the same also three eights and eight threes....and of course we counted by 3's, 4's, 6's and 8's...and we see counting by eights is the fastest...no need for worksheets. No muss no fuss. We talk about it she hears it she sees it.

She gets a math experience using base ten blocks that evolves more than just paper and pencil and memorization. She can get her hands on it.  She is in a math rich environment.   Everything we do is math during this lesson and counting.  Here we are doing multiplication and division and skip counting. It's visually obvious that the bigger the number is the fewer we need to count to 24...we see a relationship between numbers. Six 4's is the same four 6's...which is pretty cool when you are six.  But lets not get stuck doing the same thing over and over again...let's do something else.

Remove the no from the lesson.

So lets make some puzzles.  Build me x² + 7x + 12...and then count the sides...basically here the algebra is just along for the ride mostly we are cementing in the addends and doing some multiplication facts. Then we also see x² + 8x + 16 is (x+4)² which is just a shorter way to write (x+4)(x+4)...this also gives us a better understanding of just plain ol' x²...

10 to 15 Minutes per Topic.

Factoring is fun and easy. And it builds confidence because every kids knows algebra is supposed to be hard. So if they can do it with ease they must be just as smart as grandma says they are.

That moment when you see the answer.

 Keeping it small and easy makes it fun but there is plenty of math going on here none the less. Dividing by two, squaring a number, addends, multiplication she gets exposed to all of it in one simple problem.  If you put the child in a situation where they can not fail and feel like they are making their own discoveries rather than you just telling them math facts and practicing with drills and memorization you will find lower stress and more fun which leads to more learning and happy memories and associations.   Or you can bust out your work sheets.., and see how much fun that isn't.

It is a very simple concept, the making of positive associations with the mathematics instead of negatives ones. It should be pretty clear from the pictures that she is having a good time.  If you have doubts listen to her excitement in the video.

Once you get the thing factored counting is the easy part. While she is building it fine motor skills are being developed. Also recognition of spatial relationships...

Algebra is fun and easy.

Factoring Polynomials is Child's play.

Here is a picture that's fun because we are seeing quite clearly that 3 sixes and six 3's is the same thing. We made a purple sponge cake with pink frosting and as we frosted the cake we counted by threes.  We put them on top of each other and counted the sides...

Multiplication doesn't have to be drudgery, if you do it right the child see's that actually it's a time saver and learning to multiply makes life easier not harder because it allows us to count quickly which allows us to do more math with less pain. Discovering constancy of numbers is fun when you are six.

It's these little repeated exposures using base ten blocks that over time add up to a deeper understanding of how math fits together.

So here is a sample for you, showing us "jumping around" from topic to topic. The topic is math. so we are just playing math...we start off counting 11's...and then fool around with multiplication concepts...then we solved for x playing what's under the cup, told some stories...did some thinking...then we factored some polynomials and we were done...moved along in lively fashion didn't get bored doing the same thing over and over again even though we were doing the same thing over and over again...which is math...

Not just Theory.  Theory in Practice.  
I have HUNDREDS of FREE videos that show you how.

I don't want to tutor your kids I want you to tutor your kids. Play math and have fun. Spend quality time with your kids and learn together. This method will transform your math time into something your kids look forward to instead of dread. But don't take my word for it, here are testimonials, you can see many others have found that this is a better way to go. All you have to do is dive in.  Christmas is coming and it will be a great time to get some blocks and GET STARTED.  Get a set of blocks and a password and you are good to go.

Base Ten Block Comments And Testimonials.

  Well this was pleasant. You can find it here not on my testimonials page. It would be nice if a few more of you put up some comments/testimonials. Because of course I think Crewton Ramone's House Of Math great but who cares what I think, lol! People want to hear from YOU. People who have used it, paid money for passwords and blocks have some experience. Of course they are skeptical. They should be. Math has always been a mystery and hard and their own experience tells them math is anything BUT fun.

I'm here to show that some of those decisions you made as a teen or pre-teen regarding math may need to be reevaluated with some new information. Here are a few people that have discovered the difference base ten blocks coupled with a good methodology can make...

I find math kits and books that are squeaky clean never been used...which is sad because the blocks properly employed are powerful tools AND they are FUN. They make learning math fun and easy. Learning through play is a natural thing for little kids. Many parents have forgotten how to have fun and play, even less when it comes to math. But slowly but surely I am hearing more of these stories, which is pleasing. But again I am not the one who needs to hear these stories, OTHERS do. I've known this for more than two decades.

But up until quite recently there was no one showing people not just the HOW but the WHY. And more than, that not just the theory, but theory in practice via video and screencasts that you can watch as many times as you want. I also do training that as you can see from people's comments quite literally  BLOW THEIR MINDS. Because it is my hallucination is that math is EASY and fun and I often end up getting groups of people to hallucinate with me.

Also you may want to tell people NOW as opposed to later because now prices are low and later prices will be going UP.  Some of you may remember just a few years ago when a lifetime passwas just $100.00. Believe it or not I have had some of those people send me money again when they see all the new stuff I add...

y= mx+b explained.

Part of the reason prices are going up is because people have the mentality that if prices are low it must not be worth anything. When I was selling passwords for a buck I could not make a sale. When I was selling them for 5 bucks I got a few more. When I started selling them for 150 bucks suddenly I was selling lots of them. This is ridiculous to me but my marketing people and a in addition to them, a billionaire explained it to me in no uncertain terms. Perceived value. Fine.

However, YOU can add to that perceived value by commenting,  "liking" other comments and posting your experiences on social media. But either way apparently if it's not $500+ it must not be worth anything as a math curriculum.

So very shortly prices will go up. They are telling me to raise prices as is. Anybody that has been here for a while knows every time I raise prices I give you even more stuff on password protected pages and more "content" in general. Those who were clever enough to get a lifetime way back when they were $100.00 have written to thank me more than once and occasionally send me money too. Which is really really really appreciated. Most people even at $249.00 are AMAZED at how much bang they get for their buck...and I'm only just getting started.

YOU are the most powerful force. People don't come because of me exactly; they come because of you. So your continued support via comments, shares likes etc is much appreciated and indeed needed for growth. And the more it grows the more pages and content I put up. I promise I will never rest on my laurels. Too much math to do.

I have to walk a fine line because I want to compensate people for spreading the word but at the same time paid testimonials are not worth as much as "organic" ones. So I am looking at an affiliate program where if they pay for a course because you recommended them you will get compensated. It will be non different from you telling them about a good movie except when they go see it you get a small portion of the ticket price....and my movies teach them math or how to have fun teaching math. So everybody wins.

People have found that the more money and customers I make and get, the more content they get.  I am also still selling combo kits that as I have said have barely been used if at all but mine come with passwords and training...my reasoning is simple. The reason they are so pristine is because they never got used. They never got used because mom and dad didn't know how to use them or how powerful (and fun) they could be. So if you get a kit from me you don't just get a kit you get passwords and some VIDEO TRAINING.  By the way IN PERSON training is happening in Dec. DETAILS HERE. For these crazy super mondo deals go here.

Just think, just by sharing you experience you might inspire others to share theirs, which might in turn help a child or entire family avoid a lifetime of fear and frustration with mathematics, just because they decided they might give it a try.  Or maybe they are on the fence and yours is the comment that resonates and pushes them over. Thanks to all the people the give spontaneous testimonials via email and FB.

Here are a few pages that could use comments from YOU. Thanks to people like Anna and Kirk and Lisa and many others who post comments on a semi-regular basis.  Here is your chance to join them.

http://www.crewtonramoneshouseofmath.com/homeschool-math-Subtraction-book.html

http://www.crewtonramoneshouseofmath.com/How-To-Teach-Trig-To-An-Eight-Year-Old.html

http://www.crewtonramoneshouseofmath.com/parents-teachers.html

Note that doesn't say "school," it says "district."

I will put more comments boxes on more pages in the future. If you can't make a comment because you are shy or whatever then please put a like on some body else's so people can see it's not just four guys in a room pretending.

People who actually use this get results, and as you can see, they get GREAT results. Shasta could use more training but even without it she is getting test scores well ahead of her peers. Shasta is a motivated young teacher...and she has found that these blocks combined with my methodology make for a winning combination.  If you use the methods I have outlined in these blog posts and on my website you will find that you have great successes too.

Thanks for your support.

If you want to leave a comment here feel free:

House For A Duck.

Playing math often means learning math without really knowing you are learning math....when you are four or five. In this case we learned a lot of math, addends specifically, without worksheets without pencil, pens or paper. We just built a house for a duck and as an added bonus got a few more repetitions for these addends added to the long term memory. It takes many repetitions starting at an early age to get math facts (or any facts) into "the long term memory" and available for instant recall, but as you will see it's easier when they are younger and here is WHY.

Where most of you err particularly with multiplication is you try to cram the number of repetitions into a short time frame usually well after the brain is out of the "download mode". This can be effective but it has been my experience that this can also cause a host of problems particularly when it comes to math anxiety and attitude toward math in general. Instead of a fun and exciting language that underlies ALL of science and explains the universe around them via the physics and chemistry and biology it becomes drudgery and something that requires a lot of mental effort to memorize a host of math facts that don't seem to go together.

Using base Ten Blocks to Make A House For A Duck, You can also see a math bag in the background because we played what's under the cup too. We had fun while learning basic addends less than 10.

What you want to do is make positive associations with mathematics and avoid having to pound math facts into your children. This is what happens when you wait until they are past the age of 7 or 8 to teach them math. The very basics, 45 addends and 400 multiplication facts are learned easily before the age of 7; it is much harder after this age because the brain state has changed.

If you want to be an effective teacher you need to understand a little about how the brain works and how to put information in it. I will have more on this later but the basic is this:

When the child is naturally in "theta", they are basically in download mode. Learning anything is easier for ANYone while in theta, there is an entire industry dedicated to selling audio technology that puts the brain into these states for "super learning"...being happy and unstressed adds to this ability to learn easily. I cover this in Parent/Teacher training.

Removing "the NO" from the lesson is important because "NO" is a charged word that has all manner of negative associations attached to it even by the age of 5. Just hearing "no" is enough to make some children mad or sad or angry which activates the reptilian brain (cerebellum) which shuts down the prefrontal cortex which activates the fight or flight response where blood is pushed into the limbs NOT into the part of the brain that facilitates learning or higher order thinking.

By age six or seven "downloading" is no longer the default setting as it were and they begin spending more time in alpha and then by age 12 beta (and with training Gamma, a state not shown here and a state associated with "miracles" and the "paranormal" and other psychic abilities not easily explainable by modern science but which can be achieved with "practice.").  Logically the best time to teach a large amount of factual information is in the early years when it is easy down loaded or assimilated. The names of states and their capitols, Presidents, the ABC's and of course math facts like 7x8 and 17 squared are easily learned and stored in the subconscious for easy recall at earlier ages.  And if you make a game of it and make it fun, the learning is easier still.  Play math. Not worksheets.

At Crewton Ramone's House of Math as with Mortensen and Montessori, we emphasize whole brain activities...using both hands for example is VERY important, but can you also see that involving the other sensory cortexes would make learning easier? This is because we use more of the brain. This has been borne out by research at major universities.

This seems obvious to those of us that use manipulatives to teach math but quite a few others are only just now discovering that the more senses you involve the easier learning is.

WHEN you teach is also an important factor...as the child gets older more repetition is required to put information into the sub-conscious mind to be made available for instant recall.   In other words the older the child is the harder it will be to memorize multiplication tables...learn a new language or most any subject.  This does not; however, mean it can't be done. Obviously, it just means it will be harder,  take longer, and often involves a lot of tears and frustration.

Any student properly motivated and who is relaxed and happy can learn math at any age. I have proven this repeatedly for over 25 years with students of all ages including adults. But it is FAR easier if you get them young because by the time they are teens many factors are working against you, brainstate being primary among them but as you know, attitude and motivation may be lacking by the time they reach their teen age years, plus there is the added conditioning of past failures and the thought that math is hard instead of something easy and fun.

Here is theory in action. He sees the math facts. He hears the math facts. He experiences the math facts. He has fun. I should have put the camera on him when he told his parents he was done because you could see the satisfaction and pride in the smile on his face. Such a simple thing building a house for a duck, but terribly important for you to understand that through play we learn math, sans tears or fears and without "robbing them of their childhood", but instead making life far easier for him and others like him down the road.




Once (while) addends are mastered, multiplication which is just repetitive addition also becomes easy and we lessen the chance of losing them to multiplication tables and the stupidity that is the way we currently try to force feed students math at a late age.

Come join me on facebook. Share and like this post.