Math Facts Fun with Catherine Jaime

One of the blessings that I've gained through my blog is being able to do reviews.  I feel honored that someone wants to know what I think about an item.

Imagine how I feel when someone like Catherine Jaime asks me to review some of her items!  Catherine has spent 30 years homeschooling her 12 children.  She's an author, bookseller, facilitator of a long-standing student Shakespeare reading group, government club advisor, Mock Trial coach, and world traveler.  I get out of breathe just reading what her website  and books share about her!


She has so many cool things which she has authored and created.  Today, I'm going to share Math Facts Fun! 


Fun?  Most don't usually consider math facts fun, but these games she developed really do make it fun. 

There are different levels of game boards starting with basic number recognition to basic algebraic problems. Eight different levels in all.  That's one of the reasons this is such a great resource.  It doesn't review just certain operations, but all operations.  It's a review game that keeps on giving!  In the picture below, for instance, my daughter is playing on one game card in which you can add, subtract, multiply, and/or divide. 


Now, I received the actual Math Facts Fun set.  It came with instructions, of course, prepared game cards AND all the dice and chips. There's other cool math resources included as well.  Open bag and start to play!!  I know we did.  It's available for $12 plus shipping here on Catherine's website. 
But you have another option, too.  If you are one of the those do-it-yourself kinda' gals with various kinds of dice and/or chips around your house, you can get the e-book version. That way, you can print up exactly what you need and choose to laminate or not.  It's only $3.50 at CurrClick.com. 

Now keep in mind, this is a great game for review, but I also think it's a great game for introducing skills.  I know for my daughter it was much easier for her to think of adding dots or skip counting the numerals on the dice that to actually look at 6 + 4 or 3 * 9.  It's less intimidating.  You sneak it in as a game, and they are learning their facts without "officially" learning their facts.  

My daughter has asked to play it by herself at times, but it's also great for any size group.  She loves the colored pages and the multi-colored markers.  The 12-sided dice are "cool".  It's one of the few educational-type games that she makes a point of asking to play.

I'm disappointed with myself that I didn't get this posted earlier in the summer as I had planned.  Trust me, however, you will not be disappointed with Math Facts Fun. 

Organized Ramblings---a review and GIVEAWAY!!! UPDATED

Do you remember Catherine Jaime?  I reviewed her Math Facts Fun game back in July.

Catherine has spent 30 years homeschooling her 12 children. I think that is a great knowledge base from which to glean! 

Thankfully, she's more than willing to share.  She's written a book, Organized Ramblings: Home Education From A to Z.  I even have it listed on my Amazon carousel over on the right.

What can I say about it?  It's "organized" and it's "ramblings."  Actually, it is organized, and it's only rambling in the sense that it covers many different topics.  She shares all kinds of things that can give you ideas to consider or to do.

There are 26 chapters in the book one chapter for each letter of the alphabet (Get it?  A to Z?).  Then she's gathered all her thoughts on that topic in each chapter.  There are chapters you might expect like "Bible and Discipleship" and "History and Geography."  Then there are other chapters that might surprise and give you food for thought.  How about "Drama including Shakespeare" or "Kids (the 4 legged kind)."  

I wanted to share about this book during August because I think it could be encouraging as we start the new school year.  I'm always looking for ideas and encouragement.  You will definitely get that from this book.

And so, Catherine who has just recently returned from Albania. (Did I mention she's a world traveler?) is offering a free copy to one of my readers! 

Here is all you need to do in order to enter. 

1. Go to Catherine's product site at CreativeLearningConnection.com.  BTW, there are a lot of other great stuff on the site as well.

2. Pick out one of her products that really sparks your interest. 
3. Post the title in a comment below.
4.  TaDa!!  You're entered.

UPDATE:  PLEASE UNDERSTAND THE GIVEAWAY IS FOR A COPY OF ORGANIZED RAMBLINGS.  The comment is merely to mention what other products you find interesting.

The last day to enter will be Saturday, August 27, and I will post the winner on Monday, August 28.

And you know what?  I'll give you an extra entry if you blog, Facebook, or Tweet about the give away.  This only counts after you do the above entry.  Make sure to do one comment for each thing to give yourself better chances.

Now, keep in mind, you can always just purchase the book if you don't want to wait.  Just go to Organized Ramblings: Home Education From A to Z.  AND it's even available in a Kindle Version!

Do you Trick or Treat?

Now is the time of year to ask yourself that important question.

Do you trick or do you treat?

Do you TRICK with your family by participating in Halloween?

OR

Do you TREAT your family by remembering a hero of our Christian faith?

Every year we remember Martin Luther and the start of the Protestant Reformation.  We chose this time of year because OCTOBER 31, 1517, Luther hung his 95 Thesis on the door of the church at Wittenburg.  That little act had HUGE consequences that we live with to this day.

This year, Catherine Jaime made it even easier.  I've reviewed other books and products she has done, so it wasn't a surprise that she would have a great product for Martin Luther, as well.

She offers "Martin Luther Lapbook Masters".  Keep in mind, it's exactly what it says.  It's master copies of things related to Luther that you can copy to make your own lapbook.  It doesn't tell you how to put it together nor does it teach you about Luther. 

So, if you don't know about Luther, you might want to read a book about him first.  You could use a classic like Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther (Hendrickson Classic Biographies)  for older ages or Martin Luther (Men of Faith) which I have used as a read aloud for mija.

Today we reviewed the time line included in the unit.  We had a little fun by cutting out the pictures and acting out the time line.  Then she made her lapbook.  Again, this doesn't tell you how to put it together, so I allowed mija to determine what to include and where to put it.

Here's the final product:

Here's her cover.

She wanted to do a page with the whole Luther family.  On the map, she traced the travels Luther made.

Here's the total inside.  She used the pictures of other key individuals and marked them on the timeline and used some of the other elements included in the unit to finish her book.

This was such a great review, and she always enjoys the creativity involved with compiling a lapbook!

And you still have plenty of time to do one for yourselves!  This unit is available on Currclick.com for immediate download, and right now, it's only $0.75!!!  That's right.  No TRICK involved.

So, TREAT your family to this lapbook to remember and rejoice in our Christian heritage!

AND THE WINNER IS.......

I'm here to announce the winner of the Organized Ramblings giveaway!

The winner selected by Random.org is....Melissa Oneal !!!

Remember you can always purchase a copy of it yourself by just clicking the picture of it in this post or in my Amazon carousel to the right.

Thanks to all who participated and especially to Catherine Jaime who made it all possible!!