I am excited to partner with Beast Academy today to bring you this post on how to help kids understand math.
As our homeschool year begins to wind down I love to look back and reflect on what has worked really well … and what hasn’t.
All in all, this has been our most successful school year yet! Many of the curriculum pieces and lessons I selected last spring were in fact the ones we used all through this year. If you are anything like me, that is quite the accomplishment.
One area we did switch around and play with almost all year long was Math. I just couldn’t find the right fit for my boys. Sam is very strong in Math. He seems to grasp concepts very quickly and really understands numbers and how they fit and work together very well. For this reason, I found most of the Math books and curriculums we tried were not engaging enough for him.
I wanted to find something that challenged him in a fun way. You know that feeling when you are presented with a really good puzzle and then you solve it – you solve it in such a way that everything clicks and just makes so much sense? I wanted THAT math curriculum.
But you can’t google that …
So I did the next best thing. I asked my Homeschooling Mom friends. A new program was suggested to me that I had never heard of and this program has changed everything. Today, I am so excited to tell you all about this incredible Math Program I have found; Beast Academy.
Beast Academy is a math program like no other I have found. This program teaches for understanding. The goal is for children to fully understand why and how numbers and math concepts work. It provides children with SUCH a deep level of understanding. Truthfully, I have learned so much myself with this program. And I like to think I have always had a math mind!
Beast Academy is available as workbooks with resource books, or as an online program. We have been using the online program and have been completely thrilled. Sam adores this program! When we are working through a section, he honestly has a smile on his face the whole time. The number of times he says, “Oh! I get it!” is incredible. He has had to say to me on more than one occasion, “Mom, let me do it!” It is just so engaging I can’t help but jumping in myself.
Let me show you what I mean. One of the learning topics is shapes. Instead of simply needing to regurgitate the definition of a rectangle (four straight sides and four right angles), children need to APPLY this knowledge in fun games and puzzles. Try this one:
Isn’t that a mind bender? I’ll show you the answer at the bottom of this post – but give it a good try first. It feels so good when you solve it!!
Skip counting is another topic that is covered and in such a fun way. After an introduction and some practice, kids get to show they have mastered this skill with mazes! So many of these ideas are perfect for hands on practice too. I have gotten SO many fun math activity ideas from Beast Academy. We make skip counting mazes on the table for the kids to try to solve. Just like this one:
Can you solve it? By telling my little guy that we were skip counting by 6’s it helped him to solve this one quicker. It took a bit of practice before he was able to figure it out all on his own.
AND the practice was fabulous! Could it be skip counting by 4’s? Let’s see. Starting at the 5, going to 9 is adding 4. But adding 4 again would be 13 … hmmm, no 13! Try another number. This is such a fabulous way to have children practice skip counting in loads of different ways in one single question. They will also begin to see commonalities and relationships between numbers. Brilliant!
We have been so impressed with Beast Academy. Next school year we will be continuing Beast Academy for Sam and Ben will be beginning as well. I am so excited for a full year of this Math curriculum!
The level of understanding Sam has developed already for how numbers fit and work together is very remarkable. The higher order thinking and problem solving he is capable of is very exciting. AND the fact that he LOVES math time? Beautiful.
I am so thrilled to have the opportunity to share with you some information about Beast Academy today. If you are looking for a remarkable math curriculum, please visit Beast Academy for more information including prices, age suggestions, and to see if this is right for you and yours. I’d love you to join us on this math journey for next year!
Best Academy is generously offering you a $5 coupon to you! please visit Beast Academy to get this coupon and snag this deal.
Let’s put the understanding and FUN back into math!
xo
Sarah
P.S. Here is the solution to the puzzle above!
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