Homeschool Geometry

for Young Children

Include plenty of hands-on activities when you homeschool geometry. What children learn about shapes is important. You can start in preschool talking about the shapes you see.

Older children can use a manipulative to learn more terms.  They can also learn about how to measure shapes. Give your child hands-on experiences before you teach him problems to do on paper.

In the Beginning

In preschool homeschool geometry is about learning the names of different shapes.

We used a simple baby book. On each page it had simple shapes such as a star, circle, rectangle, and square. The book used the shapes to draw pictures.

Today there are several books that you can choose from. Two that I found interesting are;

Pick a Circle, Gather Squares: a Harvest of Shapes by Felicia Sanzari Chernesky

The Bear in a Square by Stella Blackstone

I like the illustrations in both books. The Bear in a Square is also available as a board book, so your very young child can enjoy the pictures.

Besides reading books be sure to show your child shapes that are around your house. After your child knows the names of some shapes make a fun game. Give your child a paper shape. He is to go around the house finding shape. So if he has a circle he might find a clock or wheels on car.

Also use shapes to make pictures. For more preschool ideas see my preschool math page.

Elementary Aged Children

Homeschool geometry for older children includes learning about the different properties of shapes. My children would use pattern blocks. They learned that it took two red trapezoids to cover a yellow hexagon. They learn that the shapes were symmetrical. We also used the blocks to teach terms such as line, angle, and parallel.

We used Geo-boards to teach about congruent shapes. We would also use the boards to teach about parallel and perpendicular lines.

Older children can also learn to measure shapes. Perimeter is the outside dimensions of objects. You would use perimeter when you wanted to build a fence. So if a rectangle is 3 feet by 2 feet then the perimeter is 3 feet plus 2 feet plus 3 feet plus 2 feet or ten feet. Since a rectangle has two equal sides you can say that the perimeter length plus with times two.

Area is the inside of an object. You would use area when you wanted to carpet a room.  The formula for area is length times width.

We also learned how to measure circles. When we worked with circles we needed to know pi to measure the area or circumference. We usually use 3.14 for pi.

We also learned about angles and triangles.

What my children learned in homeschool geometry when they were young is important. They will need to remember how and when to use area and perimeter when they are adults. It comes in handy when doing construction or ordering a new fence or carpet for the home.


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