Wild About Math! Making Math fun and accessible

I slept through the Carnival of Mathematics

A link came my way from the 21st edition of the Carnival of Mathematics. That's when I realized I had forgotten to submit a piece. Well, I'm hosting the next Carnival on December 14, so when I get a whole bunch of submissions (hint, hint) I'll surely remember to produce the next edition.

Check out the current Carnival.  Ben Webster has a nice theme regarding the Carnival having turned 21 and there are 21 blogs participating. Coincidence or conspiracy theory?!? Plus, it looks like Ben actually read all of the submissions he published and wrote eloquently about each one. So, he's set the bar high for me as my whole carnival was going to be to just copy and paste the URLs of the submissions I received

Oh, the next Carnival is going to be #22. I'm open to suggestions for a theme around 22. 22 factors into 2 and 11. That's all I can think of at the moment. Help!

Please send your submissions to this email: 

[ Update on 12/3: Please submit using the Carnival submission form. ]

Thanksgiving wishes, carnivals, and sneaking in a little Math on turkey day

It's been a month and a half since I started this blog and I'm delighted with the nice reception it's received. Thank you all for the kind comments you've left. I wish each of you a warm, safe and wonderful Thanksgiving. Enjoy good times with your families. Oh, and it's ok if you don't crack the Math books for a few days!

I've been enjoying the Carnival circuit, publishing articles recently in the carnivals of healing, education, and homeschooling. I particularly like the homeschool community as I appreciate the commitment it must take to not only raise children but to educate them yourselves. And, I imagine, that if Math isn't your forte it can be a challenge to provide that part of the education. I'll be doing what I can to continue writing articles and pointing everyone to helpful resources. That's my commitment as expressed in this blog.

In this week's Carnival of Homeschooling there are three Math articles. Yeah, Math!

• Hundred chart Nim from Let's play math!
• Do you want your children to do better on Math tests? Buy a hundred books from Why Homeschool
• The 7 top free Math homework help sites at yours truly

While you're all making preparations for the big feast Thursday here are some ideas for sneaking Math into your kids.

1. Bottled juice algebra. If adults each drink 16 ounces of juice, and kids each drink 8 ounces, how many 64 ounce bottles will you need to buy given the number of adults and children you'll have Thanksgiving dinner with? How much juice will be left over from the last bottle?
2. Time arithmetic. If the turkey takes 57 minutes per pound to defrost how long will yours take to defrost?
3. Money calculation. If cranberry sauce cost ____ per pound and you buy five pounds, how much did you spend?
4. Ratios and fractions. If you need to mix ___ cups of water with ___ ounces of mashed potato mix to feed 4 people, how much water and mashed potato mix do you need to feed everyone at your dinner table.
5. Percent calculation. If everyone uses two forks, one knife, and one spoon, what percent of the utensils are forks? What percent are knives? What percent are spoons?

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!

Carnival of Healing #111 announced

Carnival of Healing #111 was announced yesterday. It contains an article of mine: EFT clears Math phobia. Check out the carnival for some uplifting articles.

You may be wondering, has Sol gone "carnival happy?" What does a healing carnival have to do with Math? Well, this blog is a major passion of mine. I've always loved Math but most people on this planet don't. So, I'm trying to get the word out that there are different ways to look at one's relationship with Math, that Math can be fun and accessible. It's a mission of mine, and if one reader of the Carnival of Healing gets the idea that they could actually have a relationship with Math and not run away from all things mathematical then I will have done something that means a lot to me.

Speaking of relationship, I'd love to know my readers better. Please introduce yourselves. Tell stories about your relationship to Math. What do you want more of in this blog. What do you want less of? And, if you enjoy this blog, please spread the word.

It can get mighty lonely in Cyberspace; I'd love to hear from you.

97th Carnival of Homeschooling announced

Early this morning the 97th Carnival of Homeschooling was released. Blog carnivals are virtual events where one blogger serves as editor for relevant submissions and publishes links and descriptions to the posts. Carnivals often have a fun theme and serve to showcase articles from a number of members of related blogs.

I was delighted to have an article of mine, 11 tips for building a strong Math foundation for kids, accepted and I was equally delighted to see a number of other Math-related blog articles:

• Up for some challenge in math? Try Contests! Livening up your homeschool math program with a challenge. Homeschool Math Blog
• How to Survive Math A homeschooled boy’s perspective. From Muddy Bathwater
• Candy Math Mathematical reasoning with left over candy. From Treasure Seekers
• Quotations XVII Blackboard quotes add focus to any math curriculum. From Let’s Play Math

Check it out!