This post was originally sent as an email to Milestone Maths subscribers and has been archived here for reference. Some formatting may differ from standard blog posts.
| Hello! |
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| Welcome to the first Milestone Maths Newsletter. Read the latest from Milestone Maths, have fun solving puzzles and grab an opportunity to have your say. |
| Are we “big school” ready? |
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| If you’re planning on home schooling from the outset, you are probably wondering when ‘formal’ academics should begin. You might have questions like:What skills does my kid need to succeed in year 1 maths?How can I get my kid ‘up-to-speed’ if they don’t have some of these skills?How can I even know if my kid has the skills they need? Do I need to give them a test?Read our blog post “Is My Child Ready for Year 1 Maths?” to find the answers. |
| The Secret Names of Numbers |
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| Hey kids! Did you know, numbers can do way more than just count? Some numbers even have names and crazy stories to tell! Over the next few months we’ll be meeting some seriously surprising numbers but today we’ll just take a sneak peak at a few of them.Read our blog post “The Secret Names of Numbers” to learn more. |
| Puzzle Corner |
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| A regular feature of our newsletters will be puzzles that are appropriate for kids at each level of Milestone Maths. They are designed to be challenging but achievable. |
Level B Level C  Level D  |
| Ask Kathy Anything… |
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| This will regular feature is powered by YOU: our readers! We’ll kick off this month with a couple of hypothetical examples. From a parent Q: What do I do if lessons are taking too long? This is a common issue and can happen no matter what curriculum you use. See our post on Studying Maths Efficiently for some great strategies to deal with this. From a kid Q: Are there any tricks for multiplying by 5? Yes, you’re in luck! Multiplying by 5 is super easy. You may already know that multiplying by five is a lot like skip counting by fives. So, if you want to work out 7 × 5 (or 5 × 7) you can just skip count like so: 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35. But what if you want to know what 28 × 5 is? That would take WAY too long to count. Then you can use a neat little secret. All you need to do is remember that 5 is half of 10. So 5 times a number is exactly one half of 10 times that same number. Multiplying by 10 is SUPER easy, right? You just have to “tack on a zero!” So 28 × 5 is just one half of 280 which is 140. Too easy! |
