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Math Magic




We have a great little book in our house: Money Math Magic by David Ginn. As I've mentioned before, I'm trying to make math more fun and interesting for my nine year old, and for my six year old I'm just trying to keep up with him by providing challenges in math. We did this activity in about 5 minutes, but then I let my oldest practice several times (she wants to show it to her piano teacher at lessons today --- so I think I succeeded with this activity! Yay!)

Have fun with this!

1. Use a piece of paper to write down the number "1089". After you write down the number, ball it up and place it on the floor.

2. Tell your friend to write down any three digit number with different digits(on a second sheet of paper).

3. Tell your friend to reverse the digits.For example, 742 is reversed to 247. Next, tell your friend to subtract the bigger number and the smaller number.

4. Tell your friend to reverse the answer he just got. After that, your friend should add up the last two digits.

Here's what ours looked like:

5. Your friend should come up with a total of 1089. Ask your friend the answer he/she got. When he/she tells you the answer, grab the piece of paper that you had on the floor. Unball the piece of paper and show your friend.

6. Your friend will be amazed!

7. Examples: A. 753 - 357 = 396 B. 396 + 693 = 1089 A. 846 - 648 = 198 B. 198 + 891 = 1089 As you can see, the answer will always be 1089

*No matter what three digit number your friend uses, as long as the digits are ALL DIFFERENT, the answer will always be 1089. However, if the third number has only two digits (the number 495 in my example), your friend must add a zero to its left to make it three digits. If the remainder was, for example, 99, you have to put a zero in front, making it 099.

This post is linked to the Hip Homeschool Hop - hope you find some good ideas hopping around to other homeschoolers' blogs today!

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An Adoption Story - Coming Full Circle




Way back in the fall we were studying China. Our study was quite personal, because our good friends Karen and Bruce were traveling to China to adopt their second baby boy, Noah. I blogged about it here - it was such an emotional time for us, and we weren't even the ones making the trip half way around the world to adopt a child!

Noah is home and doing so well. He is a bright-eyed two year old, who will just capture you at first glance. Getting to know him has been a blessing, for my children, and for my husband and I. Noah is especially close to my daughter.


Watching this relationship form warms my heart! This past weekend was Noah's baptism (you can read about it on Karen's blog) , and we were honored to be Noah's Godparents.


All along I told my friend Karen how proud I was of her and how brave she was to adopt two children from China. I mostly thought how I was not brave enough to do that, but Karen told me to find any way I could to support adoption. I'm so honored I get to be a part of Noah's spiritual development and to witness his incredible life here. We also like to support an organization, Love Without Boundaries, that provides very real assistance to orphans in China.

I can't help but think there is MORE that we can do, so I'm praying about that and I'm certain God will show us a way. For now, I'm going to enjoy this time with our friends (they will be moving away in July - many tears then, I am sure) and thank God for providing a loving home for two precious children.

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