DIY Life

Multiplication and division were major parts of my son's 4th grade curriculum this past year. My son struggled with both concepts, which was problematic: the class didn't stop at multiplying and dividing. They brought the concepts right into simple algebra!

Over the summer, I'm doing everything I can to help him strengthen the skills he learned in 4th grade. He's more than happy to read with me, he loved going to a museum that reinforced what he learned in social studies, and he's always thrilled to work on backyard science projects with me.

When it comes to math, however, he really resists practicing his skills. So I was thrilled to find these fun Multiplication Thinkin' Logs. All of the templates for the "logs" are provided. Simply print out the times tables you want to practice, and make a game out of stacking the towers.

(Do you need a little helping hand with math yourself? If so, why not check out Francesca's post on Math made easy?)

There are many easy principles that we all take for granted that you can use to amaze and delight your kids. All you have to do is make the time to spend with them.

These tricks are relatively fast and very simple to execute. The pay-off in looks of wonderment and excitement in you kids' faces will be well worth the time it takes to pull them off.

So plan to turn off the X-Box, PS 2 or 3, Wii or TV, and spend a few minutes with your kids as you introduce them to the wonderful world of mad science experiments.

I have a secret fear of winning some great lottery and not being able to claim the prize because I can't figure out the skill testing question. Math is a topic of high anxiety for many adults and children. I didn't like math as an elementary, high school, or college student. Last semester I took a statistics class and fought the urge weekly to storm out of the room in tears screaming "math is dumb!". OK, it might not be as extreme for some of you, others may even enjoy math (my husband is sick like you), but the ability to quickly solve math equations is something that a great number of people simply don't have.

I'm all for tricks when it comes to this stuff. Check out the video here, courtesy of glad2teach. It's truly amazing how quickly you can solve these math problems using the method they show. there are secrets to fast math. Check out their site for some other videos. Unless you still in school and you'll loose marks for not showing your work, these little tools are a great way to get you mind moving quickly and efficiently through complex math problems.

I don't know that the math in this video is the sort of math you would use on a daily basis, but it would make a great party trick! Have a friend ask you complicated multiplication questions and show off you mad math skills - after all, chicks dig guys with skills.

Everyone knows how to ride a bike, right? But amazingly, not very many people know how to teach someone how to ride a bike. If you're considering taking the training wheels off of a youngster's bike and teaching them how to ride a two-wheeler, your first step should be to make sure they want to learn it. Children run on very different clocks, and some will want to learn at very early ages, and others will be content to wait a year or two.

Today my 4 year-old came home from a group play date where almost all of the other kids were riding their bikes without training wheels, and announced that he wanted to learn to do so too, this instant! So we made plans to head over to the local park with a nice flat paved area to practice. After the jump I'll share some of the ideas I used to make the experience fun for both him and me.

Have you ever wanted to take full advantage of traveling outside the U.S. but were afraid to based on the language barrier you would face? This was a fear of mine over a decade ago, so I found myself in an "immersion course" that concentrates lessons in foreign languages over the course of a few months on preparation for expatriate work or just an extended stay in another country without English as a primary language.

Do you have time to delve into Spanish courses for weeks at a time? Perhaps, perhaps not. But, if you've going on vacation in a country with Spanish as its primary language (Mexico, some countries in South America), you may be able to get by with a few choice phrases as well as a small 'translator book.' This will be enough for many, but as they say, 'when in Rome, do as the Romans do' -- why not go further than just a few phrases involving food and taking a restroom break?

After having just returned from the Play del Carmen area, I did see many Americans using small and easy-to-speak phrases to those Mexican citizens who were not English speakers. It worked -- but having a strong command of Spanish -- if you can commit the time -- makes things quite a bit easier. There are beginning, intermediate and expert ways to accomplish varying levels of Spanish-speaking success. Which do you choose (or have chosen)?

It's hard to think that one could have access to an Internet-connected PC and could gain knowledge equivalent of an MIT-level education, but it's true -- and it's free. MIT's OpenCourseWare project spawned quite a maelstrom years ago when the Massachusetts Institute of Technology -- one of the pre-eminent universities in the world -- announced its intention to "give away" educational materials for free to anyone who wanted them.

Initially, college professors worried about their future positions probably were sweating. But it's been years now and MIT's effort has attracted millions of fans -- including college professors. Want to be armed with the same knowledge a $100,000 education in particle physics can provide? MIT will give it to you, course materials, notes and all.

Of course, the environment of a classroom and student-professor interaction is not being replaced here (nor are hands-on labs, for example), but if you're astute and well-read, you can prepare yourself for an in-class college-level education as well as beef up on many subjects from English Lit to Physics to Zoology by accessing MIT's system and going through the motions to have access to MIT's vast education store of materials. Life is good, but it's even better with a DIY attitude for college-level education (and did I mention, for free?).

I have decided that in the spirit of DIY and all that entails I should learn how to knit. Knitting wasn't something my mom or grandmother did and therefore I want to do it. Its just something that I thought would be fun to learn. I also thought you, our readers, might enjoy a peek into the saga that is sure to ensue from me muddling my way through learning to knit.

I began my knitting journey yesterday at Michaels craft store in the knitting aisle. Having never knitted at all before, I had no idea what I was looking for other than a book. I wanted something that made this whole thing easy for me and didn't cost too much. I found something that I thought would fit the bill. A book that came with needles and some other stuff that looked interesting and mysterious. I also grabbed some inexpensive yarn that I wouldn't feel bad about destroying but was also a nice color if I did manage to make something.

I took my book/starter kit home and opened it. Only then did I realize that the book was published in 1987 with no style updates. By this I mean I will NEVER wear any of the sweaters and neither will anyone that I even remotely know. There are a couple of things I can make but if I want to make anything really good I'll have to find another book or other patterns.