When It Rains, It Pours.

Have I mentioned that BatBoy likes math?  Yep, I think he does.  He likes math games, he likes manipulatives, and he loves worksheets.  What?  Who loves worksheets??  Seriously, this boy drags them around like a security blanket.  He brings them everywhere we go.  Whenever he can spare a minute, whether he's waiting for his sister to finish her class or riding in the car or hanging out at home, he works on his worksheets.  He even drags the worksheets to bed and refuses to sleep until he is done what he is working on.  Between his obsession and his willingness to brush off and learn from errors, BatBoy is gaining arithmetic skills at a rapid rate.

What Have We Learned This Year?

As I complete weekly reports throughout the year, I ocassionally purposely slip in a little math, just for the record.  But really, this year, I had been feeling that we hadn't done a ton of math.  SpiderGirl never mastered the multiplication tables, worked much with area and volume, or advanced in fractions, all things that had been on her learning plan.  BatBoy has been exploring many mathematical concepts, but still, not much to go into a report.  So I thought.  When I began working on their final reports for our Distributed Learning school, I realized just how much they have learned this year.

Math Fever

For the most part, the kids practice their math here and there, for short periods of time.  Their skills, while not lightning quick, are pretty competent for their level, and their depth of understanding is much better than what they would attain through drill-and-kill methods.  And every once in awhile, for some reason, one or both of them will spend large concentrated periods of time playing with math.

Life of Fred

At the end of May, SpiderGirl had a little educational funding to be spent.  Since I was looking into them, I thought it would be worth it to pick up the elementary set of Life of Fred.  I figured she could quickly finish Butterflies and most of Cats, and then we would settle in to go through Dogs a little more slowly.  Apples wouldn't be a complete waste either -- BatBoy could start there.

The Little Things

Most of what we do when it comes to learning math is not blog material. Not every task contains an 'ah-ha!' moment; not every activity is new or surprising. This post lays out some of the little things we do to support mathematical thinking and learning, and some things that we don't do yet, but are in the works.

9 Things I Love About The Abacus

Since they were babies, my kids have had an abacus that they could play with.  Last week, I showed SpiderGirl how we can use the abacus to add and subtract larger numbers.  Not until we worked with it together did I truly see the power of the abacus as a manipulative.

Top Things I Love About the Abacus

1. The abacus is both visual and kinesthetic.  Oh, it's auditory too.  We hear a satisfying clack! for every bead we count.

More Math in the Car

A few years ago, I picked up a book called Carschooling, by Diane Flynn Keith.  So far, I love it.  It's full of fun ideas that can keep our family enjoying a long car ride without falling into arguments due to anticipation or boredom.

On a recent car trip, I dug it out to look for some new math activities.  A song that we enjoyed for at least a few verses was a variation of "99 Bottles of Beer On the Wall."  I substituted 'beer' with 'juice.'  The lyrics went something like this:

Integers Before Subtraction?

The learning consultant to whom I report SpiderGirl's learning activities seemed rather impressed that she was learning about integers in Kindergarten.  It's understandable, I suppose, given that integers usually aren't broached until middle school here.  After all, I haven't told anyone else, lest they think I am "pushing" her.

I offered the concept upon request for something new in math to explore.  We had already introduced simple fractions.  This seemed to be the next logical concept to introduce.  Yet, SpiderGirl hadn't yet mastered subtraction or time or grouping.  What would make me think of such a thing?

Was there method to my madness?

New Toys

We picked up some secondhand cuisinaire rods this week.  Although we probably could have done without them, at $5, they were just too much of a steal to pass up.  Personally, I've been wondering what the fuss is over these manipulatives anyway.