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hereinantwerp
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I have been re-reading the little Ruth Beechik books and wondering about this--she claims that everything in the grades 1-3 levels could be covered in a more natural way using real objects, and not using a workbook or text. I am wondering about this for my 7 yo, he is definately hands-on--he likes numbers, but we have not done a whole lot yet because with the attention span he has we've been trying to make some headway with reading! And it seems the moment I try to sit him down with any worksheet type of thing, I "lose" him completely  . I don't want him to hate math b/c he associates it with having to sit still and stare at a sheet of paper.
So--I am toying with the idea of going "sans text" for him for the first years. Maybe using a math journal to keep track of things & record what we learn? I bought some math games while in the states. I have the "Family Math" book which looks great, tho as I was reading through it most of the activities look a little advanced for him yet. Does anyone else know of a really good REFERENCE type of resource, for activities, or a sequence, or--?
Just wondered if anyone does this! Thanks--
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Angela Nelson
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Taffy
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I think that I'm headed this way too, although my son is older than yours. However, his language difficulties make the texts hard to use outside of practice problems. The Saskatchewan provincial curriculum has a pretty comprehensive list for skills to be taught. You can find it here.
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ALmom
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If you have a textbook for that age sitting around - you can pretty much figure out concepts that are taught - just look at the table of contents. Basic addition and subtraction happen with any games employing 2 dice. S'Math is a lot like scrabble but with numbers and equations instead of words. My boys use this all the time. Building projects, science projects all involve measuring. Baking involves fractions, although there are plenty of games using this as well. Area and volume can be done with cm cubes and geometric shapes (3d ones that are clear with an opening allow for you to fill them with something else). Cuisennaire rods can also be used to find area of different pictures, etc. You can find shapes and discover relationships using felt versions of triangles, squares, etc. Graphing is easy to do with any sort of thing you are trying to follow - daily temperatures, # of children in families you know (or families at your church - you can determine this from a church directory), etc. I am sure you could come up with more.
Now, I've never really gone without a textbook beyond 2nd grade (except with dd #2 with whom we did virtually nothing in math until about age 10), but we don't usually use the textbook for learning the concept - only reinforcing it as needed.
But I don't think the textbook has been all that necessary in the really early grades (mine like it) and I in no way stress nor do my dc stress over it at this early age.
I did do no textbook math for dd 2 until about age 10, it really was no math at all (occassional real life stuff that slipped in unplanned but with vision problems that we were correcting we just focused on strenghthening her eye skills before worrying much about school at all - other than to meet some minimum for our state - 3 subjects) and though we started out behind in many concepts, she is at grade level or above now in 9th grade. I don't think I'd allow myself or dc to stress over it just yet - as long as dh is comfortable with winging it with games and other things.
If your dc has visual problems, though, you may find that they also avoid games - mine did, anyways. Just hope this is some reassurance. I know our circumstances were such that we knew that we would have correction of the problem within about a year and made the conscious decision to focus on eye skill development and not play tug of war with her eyes. We were very diligent about all her therapy exercises (this often took the better part of the day) and feel like this gave much better pay off than forcing her to do math and reading things that she wasn't ready for yet.
Hope this helps some.
Janet
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Cheryl
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Angela,
I could have written your post. We're one week into school now and my ds 7 is trying to read to me each day. He has a good attitude about it and also about every other subject except the Math. When I took out the MCP workbook the other day he cried. I looked at the 2 pages he was supposed to do according to my CHC lessons plans and I thought "he could do this by playing a game." I think I'll pull out my Ruth Beechick books too. Thanks for mentioning them. I forgot I had them. 
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JuliaT
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We use RightStart Math. There is a teacher's guide and a workbook but you don't use the workbook everyday. In face we started school 4 weeks ago and we have used the workbook once. RS is heavy on hands-on learning and playing games to learn math concepts. A math journal is also used with this program.
Along with RS, I also use math games like Sum Swamp and Dino Math. I have found a fantastic web site for using living math books. The books are listed according to concept so it makes it easy to find them. Whatever we are learning in RS, I use the corresponding living books to flesh it out a bit more. Here is the address:
www.livingmath.net
Julia
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Juliainsk/
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Meredith
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Cheryl wrote:
| When I took out the MCP workbook the other day he cried. I looked at the 2 pages he was supposed to do according to my CHC lessons plans and I thought "he could do this by playing a game." I think I'll pull out my Ruth Beechick books too. Thanks for mentioning them. I forgot I had them. |
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I ust got How Math Works from my library to preview and it's AWESOME!! We're also doing more living math this year and my kids are loving it!! The workbooks DO get mundane, it's fun to mix it up if you can!!
Blessings!
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hereinantwerp
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JuliaT wrote:
We use RightStart Math. There is a teacher's guide and a workbook but you don't use the workbook everyday. In face we started school 4 weeks ago and we have used the workbook once. RS is heavy on hands-on learning and playing games to learn math concepts. A math journal is also used with this program.
Along with RS, I also use math games like Sum Swamp and Dino Math. I have found a fantastic web site for using living math books. The books are listed according to concept so it makes it easy to find them. Whatever we are learning in RS, I use the corresponding living books to flesh it out a bit more. Here is the address:
www.livingmath.net
Julia
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Juliainsk/ |
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I have not heard of Right Start--I will check it out--it sounds like it could be just what would help--
Although I want to do this non-traditional math thing with him, I am just more comfortable not having to "think up" what to do each day, or plan it--I tend to like big creative ideas but have a hard time executing things!
though, I hope it's not expensive as I'm just not up for any expensive programs at the moment!
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Angela Nelson
Mother to Simon (13), Calvin (9), and Lyddie Rose (3)
my blog: live and learn
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hereinantwerp
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ALmom wrote:
If you have a textbook for that age sitting around - you can pretty much figure out concepts that are taught - just look at the table of contents. Basic addition and subtraction happen with any games employing 2 dice. S'Math is a lot like scrabble but with numbers and equations instead of words. My boys use this all the time. Building projects, science projects all involve measuring. Baking involves fractions, although there are plenty of games using this as well. Area and volume can be done with cm cubes and geometric shapes (3d ones that are clear with an opening allow for you to fill them with something else). Cuisennaire rods can also be used to find area of different pictures, etc. You can find shapes and discover relationships using felt versions of triangles, squares, etc. Graphing is easy to do with any sort of thing you are trying to follow - daily temperatures, # of children in families you know (or families at your church - you can determine this from a church directory), etc. I am sure you could come up with more.
Now, I've never really gone without a textbook beyond 2nd grade (except with dd #2 with whom we did virtually nothing in math until about age 10), but we don't usually use the textbook for learning the concept - only reinforcing it as needed.
But I don't think the textbook has been all that necessary in the really early grades (mine like it) and I in no way stress nor do my dc stress over it at this early age.
I did do no textbook math for dd 2 until about age 10, it really was no math at all (occassional real life stuff that slipped in unplanned but with vision problems that we were correcting we just focused on strenghthening her eye skills before worrying much about school at all - other than to meet some minimum for our state - 3 subjects) and though we started out behind in many concepts, she is at grade level or above now in 9th grade. I don't think I'd allow myself or dc to stress over it just yet - as long as dh is comfortable with winging it with games and other things.
If your dc has visual problems, though, you may find that they also avoid games - mine did, anyways. Just hope this is some reassurance. I know our circumstances were such that we knew that we would have correction of the problem within about a year and made the conscious decision to focus on eye skill development and not play tug of war with her eyes. We were very diligent about all her therapy exercises (this often took the better part of the day) and feel like this gave much better pay off than forcing her to do math and reading things that she wasn't ready for yet.
Hope this helps some.
Janet |
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Thanks for the ideas--
so far, he LOVES games. In fact I pulled out the "math war" cards I bought in the states, and he said, in a quite surprised voice, "Mom, I LIKE school like this!"
so it seems like I'm on the right track--!
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Angela Nelson
Mother to Simon (13), Calvin (9), and Lyddie Rose (3)
my blog: live and learn
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TracyQ
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It's been so much on my heart this year to try to bring more games and different ways of learning math for our 6th grade daughter. It gets so much more difficult when the math gets more difficult and they hate it so much! 
We're GOING to do some fun math this year! Thanks for this thread!!! 
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Tracy Q.
wife of Marty for 20 years, mom of 3 wonderful children (1 homeschool graduate, 1 12th grader, and a 9th grader),
 homeschooling in 15th year in Buffalo, NY
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We played a dice rolling game (addition) today from CHC's Catholic Math activities. We all had fun. dd 4 and ds 5 were able to play too, but I did most of the adding for them. It probably still helps them to hear over and over - 5 and 3 is 8 (one example) ds 7 was adding without much trouble at all, no melting down like when there is a worksheet in front of him.
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Cheryl
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Leonie
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We have had seasons of no maths books and seasons of books.
I love keeping maths journals with the kids.
I like to often just see how maths will come up in every day life, wihout me manipulating things for a "maths lesson." Keeping a (maths )journal for myself of these daily/weekly things has enabled me to see learning.
And I also like going to the library to the children's non fiction and pulling out a different fun maths book or maths picture book on each visit, for us to borrow. We have used games books, maths cooking books, history of maths books, maths for real life, "all the maths you'll ever need" books for teens - you name it!
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Leonie in Sydney
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ladybugs
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Marilyn Burns has some great stories that he might enjoy.
Also, the game Jelly Bean - I tried to do a search online just now but couldn't find it.
We would also take 4-5 large die - or make them from wooden blocks, roll them and see who could come up with the answer. The kids enjoyed that...
I can make a recommendation for the book, Great Wildlife Search by Usborne - it's a search book but you could easily do math with it...not just counting....
The way my dd, Isabella, learned multiplication was from folding laundry. I'd ask her to fold 8+8+8 (or whatever equation) things, she'd calculate that and we'd discuss concepts. There is also a free downloadable game called Timez Attack.
Tomorrow morning and early afternoon we have a full day of soccer.
When we return, I'll try to find these recommendations online and let you know - if you're interested.
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Maria P
My etsy store - all proceeds go to help my fencing daughters!
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hereinantwerp
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Funny how the last 2 posts mentioned books!
I was just thinking how maybe it would be neat to organize our math study around some of the neat books they have now. I know I used some with my older son, a few I remember are "zero is not nothing" (OOP now, I checked) which fascinated him, and "how much is a million", and books by Anno and Loren Leedy--
Anyway I was just thinking maybe it would be neat to organize a future study, looking at the different math topics, around these kinds of books, then spend time practicing the ideas for a bit after we read about them. I looked up the math list on Macbeth's website and that looked great for ideas--I think my problem will be NARROWING DOWN a list, verses coming up with titles! So if anyone has absolute favorites, I'd love to know!
The trouble is now I have to *BUY* everything (no library!). So if I do this I would have to really choose the best of the crop--
But then I thought even if I bought several (paperbacks!), I might not spend any more than for a typical elementary math curriculum like Saxon or Horizon. I like the Calculadders for drill, so I plan to use those whenever he seems ready re. the concepts.
I like the idea of a math journal to keep this organized. When we talk about math I tend to grab scraps of typing paper a lot to illustrate or explain things, then who knows where they end up later, it would be wiser to keep it all in one place, LOL!
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Angela Nelson
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hereinantwerp
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Leonie wrote:
We have had seasons of no maths books and seasons of books.
I love keeping maths journals with the kids.
I like to often just see how maths will come up in every day life, wihout me manipulating things for a "maths lesson." Keeping a (maths )journal for myself of these daily/weekly things has enabled me to see learning.
And I also like going to the library to the children's non fiction and pulling out a different fun maths book or maths picture book on each visit, for us to borrow. We have used games books, maths cooking books, history of maths books, maths for real life, "all the maths you'll ever need" books for teens - you name it! |
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Hey, that sounds rather like what I'd like to do!
I'm just finding it harder to be spontaneous w/o the library
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Angela Nelson
Mother to Simon (13), Calvin (9), and Lyddie Rose (3)
my blog: live and learn
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hereinantwerp
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ladybugs wrote:
Marilyn Burns has some great stories that he might enjoy.
Also, the game Jelly Bean - I tried to do a search online just now but couldn't find it.
We would also take 4-5 large die - or make them from wooden blocks, roll them and see who could come up with the answer. The kids enjoyed that...
I can make a recommendation for the book, Great Wildlife Search by Usborne - it's a search book but you could easily do math with it...not just counting....
The way my dd, Isabella, learned multiplication was from folding laundry. I'd ask her to fold 8+8+8 (or whatever equation) things, she'd calculate that and we'd discuss concepts. There is also a free downloadable game called Timez Attack.
Tomorrow morning and early afternoon we have a full day of soccer.
When we return, I'll try to find these recommendations online and let you know - if you're interested. |
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What great ideas--
Have you liked the Marilyn Burns storybooks? I just discovered those via Amazon and was intrigued.
Sure, I'm interested in recommendations
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Angela Nelson
Mother to Simon (13), Calvin (9), and Lyddie Rose (3)
my blog: live and learn
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Leonie
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hereinantwerp wrote:
| I'm just finding it harder to be spontaneous w/o the library |
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I think you can buy a book every month or so - and if you stick to the smaller ones you would probably spend about the same amount of momey as you could spend on a full maths curriculum.
And I always find that having a plan for book buying/resource buying throughout the year works better for me than having a big buying spree at the start of the year - a monthly or term plan is easier to fit into the budget and we can buy just for current needs/interests,iykwim?
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Leonie in Sydney
Living Without School
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Tina P.
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I have 12 and 10 yo who hate Saxon math. The 12 yo is not the world's best mathematician, mostly because he gets sloppy and careless. The mistakes he makes are the kind that make you want to smack your forehead. 
The 10 yo, bless her heart, just jumps through hoops for me whenever necessary.
I have 8 and 7 yo who hate MCP. Math is our most daunting, time-wasting (because they dawdle through it), tear-causing subject. I don't care for Singapore as I don't think it was practice-intensive enough and it left gaping holes in the years our children used it. What do those of you who have older children do to make math enjoyable? I'm just about to throw the Saxon and MCP books away and manage strictly on the living books and games I own ... and then I think about double digit multiplication and long division, fractions and percents, decimals, algebra, trig, calculus. It's all so daunting to me. I don't even know what my kids have to know by the time our hsing adventure ends.
Last Friday, the older kids played three-way multiplication war. They had a blast. I played addition war with my 7 yo. Everyone was laughing and whooping and slapping down the cards. Isn't this what math, what *all* of homeshcooling is supposed to be ~ a joyous experience? I'm so on the brink of the precipice here. Anyone want to give a gentle push for someone with older kids? Leonie, I would love a post from you showing about a week's worth of math.
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Tina, wife to one and mom to 9 + 3 in heaven
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Leonie
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Tina P. wrote:
| Anyone want to give a gentle push for someone with older kids? Leonie, I would love a post from you showing about a week's worth of math. |
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I don't know - I might be embarrassed to see it in print.
How about I keep the log this week and post our experiences next week?
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Leonie in Sydney
Living Without School
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Rebecca
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My family normally uses Math-U-See but we will not be ordering this year's books for another month or so. In the meantime, we have been using from Math Fact Cafe as well as many math games. My ds6 has learned quite a bit of math since this time last year, simply by playing Rummy and adding up the score as well as Yatzee. He knows his multiplication tables up to 6 thanks to the latter. This is the child who could not count much past 10 prior to playing these games.
I would love a list of math games to play with kids!Any other suggestions?
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JuliaT
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Rebecca,
My kids love playing Sum Swamp and Dino Math. I am slowly gathering math games. These are the first ones that we have and they are a success.
Julia
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Juliainsk
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4Real Forums : Living and Loving Numbers
Topic: does anyone do math without a textbook?
