Karen's Clan

As a homeschooler, there are golden days, when the way you want to teach something inspires your children, and they get it, and with glee they realise they ahve learnt something..and then there are days that are just plain horrid! This post is about one of those golden days, a golden moment about Maths!

Aragorn who is 5, has a wonderful heart and a curious mind, but writing, recognizing letters and numbers etc is not yet something that comes naturally to him yet. I'm thankful I have the option of homeschooling him because I really can do things at a pace that would suit him, and it's much later than his brother. 

But this morning had that feeling to it. The feeling that he wanted to learn something noteworthy, something big. So...out came a baking tray, and some jelly powder (nothing like an incentive!) and these fantastic number rhymes...

0 - Around and around we go, when we get home we have a zero.

1 - Start at the top and down we run, that's the way we make a one.

2 - Half a heart says "I love you". A line. Now I've made the number two.

3 - Around the tree and round the tree, now I've made the number three.

4 - Down and across and down once more, now I've made the umber four.

5 - The hat. The back. The belly. It's a five. Watch out it might come alive ! (Aragorn's favorite. I hear him chanting it when he thinks no one's listening, and he loved drawing what he thought a five might look like - complete with Viking Helmet!)

6 - Around to a loop, number 6 rolls a hoop.

7 - Across the sky and down form heaven, that's the way we make a seven.

8 -  Make an s then close the gate, now I've made the number eight.

9 - Make an oval and a line. Now I've made the number nine.

10 - One egg laid by a hen. Now I've made the number ten.

(I seem to have saved these without their source, so if these belong to you, please forgive me and let me know and I will give credit where credit is due!)

But look at this face - isn't it wonderful! A very proud little boy!

Maths seemed to naturally become the master of the day after that. We started playing some Maths games with a pack of cards. Our curriculum is Singapore Maths, and this is the first year I've had the teacher's guide. In it are suggested games for each unit, and we had such fun I'll give you some simple suggestions too!

Remove the face cards from the pack and deal them out between the two (you can easily adapt this to play with more children should you need too) players. Then each player draws two cards from their pack, and puts them face down on the table in front of them. They can either add them, or subtract them, or use them as tens or units ( ie a 3 and a 9 could be 39 or 93. If you choose this, it might help to let them do this in secret - otherwise the other player who may be older or better at strategy can easily adjust his cards to win!). Then the player with the highest/lowest/larger/smaller (whatever you decide) number takes all the cards. The person to win all the cards wins the game. I called it war, and the boys loved it, trying to destroy each other! Boys..she smiled!