A Math For Love discount!

And How we homeschooled today #103

(HWHT #103 is at the bottom.)

Over Christmas, we saw a shed that was decorated with twinkly lights. My son said, rather breathlessly, that it was so beautiful he wanted to marry it.

That’s how I feel about Math For Love: if I could marry this company, I would. Regular readers will know that my own family regularly uses their products. And they’re not just for homeschoolers—they’re designed to make maths accessible and enjoyable for everyone.

So I am extremely excited to announce that How We Homeschool readers can now use a generous discount offer so even more of us can enjoy these wonderful resources!

Some details, and then I’ll give you the run-down of our own favourite products.

First, I’m not getting anything in exchange for these offers. I just love this company (did I mention that already?).

OK, the codes. There are three codes available across two websites, so pay attention to this bit:

On the Math For Love website, you can use HWH-15 to get 15% off any product (physical products, and curriculum PDF downloads). And, you can use Curric-60 to get $60 off any curriculum. You can use both together, which means a $95 curriculum will only cost $20.75! But physical products (board games, pattern blocks etc) can only be shipped within the United States. To recap: anyone, anywhere can use both codes for the curriculum PDFs, but the physical products can only be ordered and shipped within the US.

In the UK, Steam Rocket have generously matched the 15% discount on physical Math For Love products: use the code HOMESCHOOL-LOVE. If you haven’t used this site before, it’s got an excellent selection of educational toys and games. I’ve bought many things from them in the past and their customer service is great. It’s a good place to browse for gift ideas when you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for.

All these offers, on both sites, run until 1st March, so you can take your time to explore the options. (And if, like me, you’re attempting a ‘no buy January’, there’ll still be plenty of time to spend your money afterwards!)

Please note, Steam Rocket will be closed for at least a week from 17th January, and are then unlikely to be dispatching daily for a couple of weeks longer, so if you need something before the end of January, order sooner rather than later.

Not all physical products are available to buy on the Math For Love website—they suggest Amazon if the one you’re looking for isn’t available (though you could also contact them and ask if the item will be in stock before the discount expires).

If you’re not in the UK or the US, but want physical products, Steam Rocket ship internationally but you will need to e-mail them for a bespoke shipping price. Info@steamrocket.co.uk

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Our favourite Math For Love resources

All the Math For Love products we’ve used have been elegantly designed and beautifully made. They’re long-lasting and a lot of time and effort has gone into making them as simple and effective as possible. Here are the products we’ve used and loved (so far!):

Tiny Polka Dot

This is a deck of cards, 0-10s, with the numbers arranged in lots of different ways: dice face, numerals, ten frames, etc. There are a number of games to play using some or all the cards. For a while I thought I could just make a deck of number cards myself, but it was well worth the investment of buying the real thing. The games are great, very engaging, and the different number layouts help children become familiar with numbers in all sorts of guises. The age guide is 3-8 and up. I’ve done the harder puzzles with a maths-savvy 13-year old and he was satisfyingly challenged, and we still have lots of mileage in our set for my 6 and 8 year olds.

Susie

reviewed it in her latest post. It’s not available to buy on the Math For Love website right now (although they do offer a printable version), so try Amazon. In the UK, buy here.

Multiplication by Heart

For several months in 2023 we did Multiplication by Heart almost every day, and my two children are now more confident with their times tables than I was in my entire school career—and I’m happy to report that I finally know my tables too! Multiplication by Heart is much more than just flashcards—the deck of cards comes with a spinner and boxes A-F, all snugly fitting inside the box. When you get a multiplication fact wrong, it goes (or stays) in Box A, which gives you lots more practice with it. When you get a fact right it moves back a box, which means you’ll see it less often. The final group of cards gives you the answer and you have to name the questions (so instead of 10 x 9, it says 90, and you have to give the five ways to make 90. Five! Can you do it?). It usually takes barely five minutes a day, and most days my children actually asked to do it. And on the days when they really didn’t want to, it takes so little time that it was still easily achieved. If you want your child to know their multiplication tables, I think this is a very painless and effective way to achieve it. Buy in the US. Buy in the UK.

Prime Climb

I only purchased this in December, when we took a break from formal learning and I wanted an enjoyable way to keep the maths going. It’s already more than paid for itself. The children ask to play it most days, and sessions often last an hour. The game uses maths ranging from simple addition and subtraction to multiplication and division—yesterday my 8 year old worked out 16 x 3 in her head (and used a different method to the one I did, so then we could compare methods and check our answers). Recommended for 8+ with adult guidance, but my son is only just 6 and loves it—if your child is keen on maths don’t feel you have to wait until they’re 8. It’s very flexible, as you can help your child as much or as little as they need.

Jamey Fisher Perkins

shared that her children love it too, and use the same tactic my own children do to make it go on and on… and on! Buy in the US. Buy in the UK.

There are other games, and a book, that I haven’t tried but I am sure they’re just as good. I especially like the look of the Pattern Blocks, but as we already have a wooden shape set I’m trying to restrain myself!

The Math For Love website has lots of information about how to get the most out of every product, so if you buy from Steam Rocket do check out the US site too.

The curriculums

I haven’t yet purchased a Math For Love curriculum, but they give you a very generous sample on the website, which I have used and loved. For us, we wouldn’t follow a curriculum day-by-day, but we like the various games, puzzles and investigations and we weave them into our learning ad hoc. Some of the games are also available for free on the website, so you can get a feel for the Math For Love approach before you commit to a purchase. I particularly like that there’s nothing resembling a worksheet—it’s a very relaxed, open, enjoyable way to do maths. And to repeat myself, the discount on the curriculums is very generous: full price is $95, down to $20.75 if you apply both discounts on the Math For Love website. I will definitely be buying at least one. NB If you put more than one curriculum in your shopping cart, the Curric-60 code cleverly deducts $60 from each curriculum, so you can do it all in one purchase. Isn’t that delightfully efficient?

If you’ve used Math For Love products please share in the Comments so readers can see what other families have enjoyed. And let me know if you decide to make a purchase!

How we homeschooled today #103

I’ll keep it brief as this is getting long!

Everyone had a lie-in (this happens about 4 times a year and I love it), so we didn’t sit down to the lists until gone 10am. The lists were:

• One spelling each

• A page of this Grammar book for my daughter (they have a US shop too), and handwriting practice for my son (two words today—double yesterday!)

• French: we just sat around the table and revised the French we’d been learning before Christmas.

• A choice of maths: a game, a workbook, or Khan Academy. They both chose Prime Climb, which we played for over an hour again.

There’s been lots of playing, and some scooting outside, and this afternoon I finished reading Who Was Joan of Arc to them (I had to do some on-the-fly censorship when she was burnt at the stake), and they listened to Secret Explorers: Plant Poachers while I cooked tea.

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