Eclectic Parent

Math is one of the biggest worries amongst homeschoolers. So many feel prepared for reading, writing, art and history but worry about math. Our kids are young so some may argue that math becomes more difficult as children get older, but hopefully it’ll flow one step after another just like now.

We’ve been doing lots of math lately. D wanting to know how much change I’d gotten and figuring it out by adding up three quarters, a dime and nickel. Well first you have to know the coins, then you have to know their value, finally you have to add .25 + .25 + .25 +.10 + .05   Somehow it inspired him to want to know what was in his piggy bank. C helped separate and divide coins, B knocked the stacks over and D counted . . . and counted . . . and counted. Daddy helped him keep track.

Whatever D does, C follows. So now he’s walking around asking how many? how much? One of the things I love about the way we learn is that we try not to compartmentalize. No one is told first counting, then addition/subtraction, then multiplication/division, etc . So they say things like “3 3s is 9″ all of a sudden, out of the blue. And while B isn’t doing any mathmatical manipulation, as soon as the boys say any numbers she starts counting from 1 to 11. And she loves to measure. Evidently, even though we were always somewhere else on other rides, not being allowed to ride all the rides at Disneyland strongly affected her. She keeps walking around with a measuring tape saying, “I measure you.” Sometimes we’re big enough to ride and sometimes we’re told we aren’t. I personally have been measured as everything from 8 to 13 big. And that’s saying something.