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As we close out one school year and prepare to open up a new one, how many of you look back at the past year and say how did we do it? We lost so much school to this crisis or to that medical issue. Maybe you are military like us and your Service Member was being deployed, was on a deployment, was returning home from one or upon being home for a while you discovered they didn't completely return home "all the way?" How many of you faced health issues be it with yourself, your kids, or extended family members and this swayed your schooling? How many of you experienced the birth of a new child or worse yet, the loss of a family member? All of these I mentioned have played into many of our school years. There was once a time that I was convinced we couldn't ever have a "normal" school year again.
I will always believe as we continue down this homeschooling journey that as long as I walk in obedience to God's wishes, not the demands and expectations of society, that He will bless my child's education. We have faced many school years now where I had to question if I was the "best" teacher for my child? Was I doing more harm than good? Is she really learning from me or is there someone better qualified than myself to teach her? All of these I hear other mom's question and the answer always remains the same. Yes, you are the "best" teacher. Your education level or in some cases lack of doesn't matter here. If you are walking in God's grace, faithfulness and mercy, He will ALWAYS protect you. Whether your protection will come in the form of a teachers knowledge, wisdom, guidance, discretion, grace and even mercy, it is up to God to decide what is ultimately right for us at that time. Isn't it reassuring to know we have a God who knows our "every" need at just the "right" time?
Testing has begun in our household. Oh joy... don't you just love this time of the year. I just have never truly understood why this is so important. Why should one test have so much weight on what a child has learned when it isn't an accurate depiction of what have done all year? I wish we lived in a state that they judged the merit of a child's academics in a different manner. How many of you also have to do these crazy tests? How many of you feel the same way I do? Just a curious thought as we just finished up the first 2. We will tackle another one later today. Then I will call it quits for today and go back to the "fun" work.
Check out this great link:
This is a great web site if you need additional math help worksheets. I have used this web site for many years and have come back to it once again. I thought I would share it with you here as well.
Math-Aids.Com | Printable Math Worksheets for Various Math Topics
Just thought I would share a useful tool I discovered to help with achievement testing preparation. It is designed to help the pre-k thru 8th grader. It also provides tools for the high schoolers, but you have to dig a little farther into the web site to find it.
How To Know When to use a Positive and Negative Number
By Deb Russell, About.com Guide
1. Adding Rules:
Positive + Positive = Positive: 5 + 4 = 9
Negative + Negative = Negative: (- 7) + (- 2) = - 9
Sum of a negative and a positive number: Use the sign of the larger number and subtract
(- 7) + 4 = -3
6 + (-9) = - 3
(- 3) + 7 = 4
5 + ( -3) = 2
2. Subtracting Rules:
Negative - Positive = Negative: (- 5) - 3 = -5 + (-3) = -8
Positive - Negative = Positive + Positive = Positive: 5 - (-3) = 5 + 3 = 8
Negative - Negative = Negative + Positive = Use the sign of the larger number and subtract (Change double negatives to a positive)
(-5) - (-3) = ( -5) + 3 = -2
(-3) - ( -5) = (-3) + 5 = 2
3. Multiplying Rules:
Positive x Positive = Positive: 3 x 2 = 6
Negative x Negative = Positive: (-2) x (-8) = 16
Negative x Positive = Negative: (-3) x 4 = -12
Positive x Negative = Negative: 3 x (-4) = -12
4. Dividing Rules:
Positive ÷ Positive = Positive: 12 ÷ 3 = 4
Negative ÷ Negative = Positive: (-12) ÷ (-3) = 4
Negative ÷ Positive = Negative: (-12) ÷ 3 = -4
Positive ÷ Negative = Negative: 12 ÷ (-3) = -4
Tips:
1. When working with rules for positive and negative numbers, try and think of weight loss or poker games to help solidify 'what this works'.
2. Using a number line showing both sides of 0 is very helpful to help develop the understanding of working with positive and negative numbers/integers.
Princess Anne was born February 6, 1665 and
died August 1, 1714. She was daughter of