Kirk's Tutoring

06/06/2026

I have some rekenreks.

My student lined them up.

06/06/2026

06/05/2026

My student called this a flesh wound burrito.

I laughed.

06/05/2026

🚨Random Math Problem Alert 🚨 I've seen numerous reports 📑 about students not being able to think critically 🤔. Lacking the capacity to comprehend what they read 📖. An inability to interpret data and text 🧐. They're insufficient at analyzing information 🔎. Enough is enough 🛑. Now that we've kvetched 😫 and identified📍the problem. Here's a solution 🧪. Send them over our way so we can show them how. Here's a math 🧮 problem from the SAT ✏️ that does just that. Not just imagery 🖼️ but vocabulary 📚 as well. Give it a shot and put your answers in the comments section below...⤵️

06/05/2026

06/05/2026

06/05/2026

The full quote, as it appears in my Math You Can Play books:

“Mathematicians don’t sit around doing the kind of math that you learned in school. What they do is “play around” with number games, spatial puzzles, strategy, and logic.

“They don’t just play the same old games, though. They change the rules a little, and then they look at how the game changes.

“So, when you play games, you are doing exactly what mathematicians really do — IF you fool with the games a bit, experiment, see how the play changes if you change a rule here and there.

“Oh, and when you make up games and they flop, be sure to examine why they flop — that is a big huge part of what mathematicians do, too.”

—Pam Sorooshian, Games and Math

Excerpted from my book, Prealgebra & Geometry: Math Games for Middle School. https://tabletopacademypress.com/products/prealgebra-geometry-paperback

[PHOTO: “Blue night” photo by Vincent Chin on Unsplash.]

06/04/2026

An introduction to decimals.

I can’t explain how some is derived from decimal, but it is.

Once again, the decimal point never moves. The digits shift. The decimal point is always next to the one.

06/04/2026

My favorite school!