Graphing- Family Style

Last week I decided to work on line graphs with the older kids for math. I also thought it would be a fun day if the younger two joined in the graphing fun. I found some simple coordinates for I7 to plot so he actually did an "artsy" line graph practicing putting a dot at an intersecting coordinate. J4 worked on a Very Hungry Caterpillar graph. I wanted to share this lesson because it shows you how math goes at our house. Several times a week we do a family lesson like this one and then the other days I work with each child on something that is new to him/her. Also, everyday they do their "5-a-Days" which are 5 math problems in rotation (which I choose) to practice their skills.

J4 did a great job counting out his caterpillar bar graph. He's been working on some caterpillar school this week.

I7 does a spring themed coordinate graph.

I love the Family Math series of books. This day I pulled out the middle school book so that E11 could graph some equations. I found a very cool lesson or series of lessons on making the x and y columns in the table they were to graph using different equations related to x. For example, one they graphed was x, y=2x. This way the kids got to see how a pattern would form and how the graph would look as a result. I had them do about 4 equations that I gave them and then they got to make their own.

R9 especially enjoyed this lesson. She decided to color each line a different color. Very nice.

E11's lines. It was cool for them to predict what the lines would look like as well. Here you can see the tables they filled out before they graphed. I used graph paper from the Family Math book which was nice because it was already labeled with numbers.

I just want to say that switching from a traditional text to Math on the Level and sort of doing my own thing just building the skills and showing my kids how to use math is going extremely well! It was one of the best homeschooling moves we've made so far. It takes more time to make sure the lessons are ready and you have to have some sort of math vision for your family, but it's like I always say...homeschooling, like parenting, is not meant to be a time saving endeavor.