Math (doesn’t) Stink!

I cannot believe it is week 3 of the Virtual Curriculum Fair. Every week we have been touching on a different topic and this week it’s time to talk about my favorite (NOT) subject of all.
MATH!!!!!!
Did anyone else giggle just a bit? Or maybe you chuckled? Or groaned?

 

 

 

I admit this is not only my least favorite subject to teach but it’s also the one that I struggle with the most.
Of course we can’t just pretend that math doesn’t exist. We cannot skip over such an important topic. Soho do we make math something that our kids both understand and appreciate?

 

Especially when we don’t!?!?

 

I may have mentioned before how much we love to read!
Let me rephrase that. It’s how much I love to read. And my kids certainly don’t mind having time to paint or draw or build while I read aloud.

 

 

I believe that like all things when it comes to learning our kids need to see that what they are learning matters. And so even with math we try as much as we can, to bring it alive.

 

 

 

 

My oldest son is both a little magician and a little musician. And my younger three certainly enjoyed making their own music too! There are so many ways that we can use and practice our math skills while having fun doing magic tricks and making music!

 

 

 

We love playing games too! Some of our favorites are: Risk, A Ticket to Ride, Monopoly, Dominos….even games like Candyland and Monopoly can encourage our kids to have fun while learning at the same time. We are working with numbers and patterns in so many ways.

 

 

 

 

 

I often think about how much I just don’t like that. Some days I even think I am really good at it. But then I have one of those light bulb moments…. I realize that while I’m baking a cake I am doing now. Well my daughter and I are so we are doing needlepoint or crochet, we are also doing math.

 

 

Don’t be so often take for granted those simple little tasks that we engage in each day? How silly are we at times when we forget that there was so much learning that happens all around us every day. In so many things that we do.  I often have to remind myself slow down and to open my eyes. Because learning is all around us and there are so many opportunities that I fear we miss because we weren’t really looking.

 

 

I still cannot say that I like math. But when I have the right perspective I see how there is so much that we do each day that involves math. I cannot say that I always do, but certainly I always try, to see the opportunities around me and take hold of the learning that can happen in each of them.

 

 

I also strive to remind myself you guys each one of us is so very different. We are on our own Journey and learning takes time. My younger son Garden Atticus when he was five. He requested it and he used it diligently for so long. She loves numbers and now and they just naturally makes sense to him. My older son on the other hand struggles in so many ways to really understand and master even the most basic of mathematical concepts.

 

 

And it is here that we remember the greatest blessing of home education.  It is the ability to take our time and to let our children move forward as they are able. To encourage and inspire them!