Anyone doing living math?

[shinyhappypeople]

Anyone have any living math experiences to share? I've dabbled in it in the past, but I'm seriously thinking about devoting this fall (maybe longer) to a living math approach. I'm so burnt out on traditional math curricula at the moment.

 

My girls are 3rd and 1st grades.

 

:bigear:

[Guest]

I did not use a standard math curricula for dd until 7th grade. We used a variety of resources, which I'll explain a little bit; then in 7th grade she worked out of a math text centered around problem-solving techniques, and in 8th she transitioned effortlessly -- although with a loss of pleasure -- to honors algebra from a textbook.

 

In the early years we read tons of wonderful math picture books. Dd particularly loved Loreen Leedy's books about the dog Penny (Measuring Penny, Mapping Penny's World, It's Probably Penny); we used our own dog to repeat some of the activities from the books. Another great favorite was the Sir Cumference. The books are done really well, and dd would often choose them as fun reading and again acting them out over and over.

 

Marilyn Burns has a series of picture books linked to math activities, in her Math Through Literature series: http://www.mathsolutions.com

 

For a couple of years, each fall dd would make a "Personal Numbers" book that included things like a string as long as her height, her foot size (later she'd trace her foot on graph paper and figure out how many square centimeters the area was), how many pancakes she could eat at one sitting, how far she could jump, how fast she could say the alphabet or count to 100, how many candles she could blow out, anything and everything I could think of. I remember graphing family characteristics too, such as how many people had blue or green or brown eyes, wore glasses or didn't, had curly or straight hair, etc.

 

Usborne used to have the most beautiful Sticker Math books, with gorgeous stickers. Dd went through them all and begged me to buy new copies so she could do them again and again. There were books on counting, addition and subtraction, multiplication, and fractions, that I can remember.

 

We played the games from Peggy Kaye's book Games For Math over and over and OVER, at dd's request. We also had lots of spatial sequencing and logic games from ThinkFun. When dd was older, maybe 4th grade or so, she adored a game called Dino Math, which gave her lots of rote practice in game form.

 

I can't recommend anything and everything by Marilyn Burns highly enough. Once dd was in about 3rd grade, we started dabbling with the Math Replacement Units, the picture book math, and algebraic thinking. The units are written as a series of in-depth lesson plans, usually involving some kind of hands-on activity -- dd really enjoyed them all, enough to ask to play them for fun -- approaching a concept from several different angles, and emphasizing problem-solving skills rather than drill. No workbook, no textbook.

 

We did addition, subtraction, multiplication and division practice with more games. We had a card game at one time where you matched fractions to their decimal and percent equivalents; a jar of little plastic blocks with the problem on one part and the solution on the other -- the idea was to match them, through Concentration-type games or speeding through them with a stopwatch. We played lots of games of War, first with numbers, then adding two cards, then multiplication. I made a set of fraction cards and we played War with those.

 

Hands-On Equations is an introduction to balancing equations using pawns and number cubes, aimed for third grade and up. We took our time with it, spreading it out over a year and a half or so while we used other resources alongside.

 

We covered all the standard elementary math topics, not always in the order that they occur in formal curricula (some things we got to far sooner, while others -- particularly multiplying and dividing fractions -- we did later). When we got to percents and decimals, we did some pages from the Key to... series for more practice. But otherwise, it was just a lot of games, activities, books, and messing around. As I said, dd was able to transition from this background to a formal program with no trouble.

[shinyhappypeople]

That sounds so wonderful!

 

Did your DD have any trouble transitioning into higher math? Is there anything you'd do differently?

[Guest]

That sounds so wonderful!

 

Did your DD have any trouble transitioning into higher math? Is there anything you'd do differently?

 

She had no trouble whatsoever switching over. We had been working problems all along, but just not in worksheet or workbook form.

 

I took the approach I did in her younger years not for any real philosophical objection to curricula, but because dd was severely dysgraphic and we needed to do math that wasn't all working problems and writing answers. Using Marilyn Burns, we had only the occasional worksheet, and did all our figuring and drawing on plain paper or graph paper. Dd had lots and lots of mental math practice, because of the writing issue and because she seemed to like it. Most of what we did was fun and for several years not much was written out (she reversed numbers and pairs of numbers until quite late, around fourth or even fifth grade), but it was still work, it still covered the topics you'd see in any standard textbook or program. Conceptually she was way, way ahead; I think this was largely because she hadn't been held back to her writing level, and because I let her solidify her math facts through working on more advanced ideas and concepts rather than holding her back until she'd memorized them. That worked for dd; I understand that this doesn't necessarily work for everyone.

 

If I had known about Marilyn Burns, I probably would have begun with her materials earlier, and gone through all the Replacement Lessons.

Edited July 24, 2011 by Guest

[Susie in MS]

My dd is only going into the 1st grade, but here is what we have been doing:

 

We started off with only hands on fun. I have things like:

a play clock

Domino Math (printed online)

dice

an abacus

a deck of cards to play Math War (instructions online)

Roman Numeral cards to match with Arabic Numerals.

Roman Numeral clock file folder game

And the math word problems that go along with our FIAR books printed from Homeschoolshare.

 

Then I was worried that she was not getting her facts in so I added R&S. That got old real fast. Then she wanted some colorful fun math so I found an ABeka math wkbk that someone was selling. That didn't last long either. So mostly we are back to hand on living math and flash cards.

 

I am considering Singapore for a year because it is scheduled in HOD and it is very short lessons. But I have to say my dd learns a lot with the things we have used above.

[FairProspects]

I'm not sure if I should reply since my oldest also does a regular math curriculum, but twice a week we do living math from the Marilyn Burns books. KarenAnne turned me on to them and my kids love it. So far we are working from:

 

Math and Literature: Grades K-1

Math and Non-fiction: Grades K-2

Lessons for Algebraic Thinking: Grades K-2

 

We have also done the Sir Cumference series and some of the Penny books. My kids aren't old enough for Hands on Equations yet, but I plan on looking into that when they are. It almost seems like they learn math by osmosis this way and it is a lot of fun. I don't know if I'm brave enough yet to use it as my only curriculum though.

[FairProspects]

KarenAnne - When you are talking about Math Replacement units do you mean the Math by All Means books? I'm not sure which book series that is or if it has been renamed...

[threeturn]

Another rising first grader here. We dabbled in MEP last year, but didn't like the worksheet aspect of it. So we ditched it and have been using books from LivingMath.net and RS card games and games I found online. This year we will continue to do the same except I bought Math On The Level because I wanted some hand-holding. I also got tons of math game books during the Scholastic $1 ebook sale (Munchie Math using food, a book of math poems and related activities, etc). I also couldn't resist LOF so I bought Apples to give that a try too. We're eclectic!

[Guest]

KarenAnne - When you are talking about Math Replacement units do you mean the Math by All Means books? I'm not sure which book series that is or if it has been renamed...

 

They must have been renamed (dd is now 15, so this was some time back). I remember a bunch of different books of lessons, including:

Geometry

Fractions

Decimals and Percents

Multiplying and Dividing

Measurement

Algebraic Thinking

 

These came in different grade levels: K-2, 3-4, 5-6, etc. I also had the Collection of Math Lessons books.

 

It looks like, from my cursory scan of the website, these aren't part of a "Math Replacement Lessons" series now, but the individual books are the same. I'd guess enough people/schools use the books now that they're not "replacing" anything but form the core of a curriculum in their own right.

[kolamum]

We did/do.

 

We started out with Saxon and my eldest cried every time math came around. I kept at it until it dawned on me I was creating a hatred in the child for a subject he needed to know. I gave the book the boot and we never looked back.

 

It was HARD at first for me to have the GUTS to do it, but once I realized it was the best thing for my child it was easier to implement. I will admit it freaked my dh out because he thought I was doing away with all math all together, but when I explained that I wasn't we were just learning in a new way he was okay with that.

 

Basically I chose to teach my children what the needed to know when they were ready for it. That means many times they knew things above their grade level, but they also didn't know some things on their grade level. For instance, my eldest is 10 and only learned official multiplication at the VERY end of last year.

 

Best part? He took off with it and had NO problems with it. I approached the subject very sneakily. I called it "groups of" and would say it about lots of stuff. "Let's make 4 groups of 4 cookies so we can be sure everyone gets a fair amount. Oh, wait how many cookies will we need then? I'm not sure I have enough!" ;)

 

I always, always, always called it groups of. I even purchased the game Ka-Ching and we played it {stock market 2 player game. Multiplication and US money.. super fun, super addictive, totally educational.} over and over again always with me saying "groups of" If you sell 3 groups of stocks for $5 each you'll need $15, right?

 

Then, one day I said, "Today i'm going to tell you about multiplication. BUT, I don't want you to panic about this big word. It really just means group of, and you all ready know ALL about groups of right?" Then I read a picture book about multiplication {Bunches of Bunnies..}

 

Afterwards we made a bat cave on regular paper {because the entrance looks like a 0} and we colored 12 bats and wrote 12x0= 11x0=, etc. Then I demonstrated what that meant by showing him that if I gave him 12 groups of nothing he still had zilch. nota. nothing. I told him he now knew ALL his 0 facts. Then we made a "cootie catcher" for 0 multiplicaiton facts. That was it.

 

We then quickly learned our 1's, 2's, 10's, & 11's. These were ALL easy for him because they were so simple. If they know double facts they know 2's. Find the pattern for 11 and you're set. etc. We worked a little slower on the others, but he has them all down pat and now I've stared working sneakily on division. ;)

 

Basically I taught my kids all their math concepts like this. We drew a giant clock on the floor and became the hands for it or used large items. We called up all our uncles and found out how tall they were and compared it to a giant's height. Then we graphed their heights and even averaged it. We learned greater and less then by eating up the most and leaving the lesser. Odd & Even became fair and unfair in our home.

 

This year I caved a little bit for fear I was messing my kids up. Ever do that? I tested them, and they each tested above grade level and I put them in Teaching Textbooks, which works at a reasonable pace. There's also Fewer lessons then most math books which leaves us plenty of time to still sneak in lots of living math lessons.

 

Some of my favorite resources would be the math game books by Box Cars & One Eyed Jacks. There's many resources for living book lists which you can use if you wish. Fred Math books are also a great way to teach living math. Then there's also a fantastic book by Scholastic that uses picture books to teach with. I adore that book too and we used it lots. {Still do!} I actually blogged about a lot of our math lessons because I think it allowed me to see the meat of what I was teaching my kids by sharing it with other people, kwim?

 

Either way, I accomplished what I set out to do. I helped two children fall in love with math and feel confident in solving equations and throwing numbers around. They aren't afraid to hit the problems head on.

 

Example? My son said we were all in the under 40 club. I snickered. He said, "What are you 40?" "No, not me." So he asked Daddy who denied being 40. Daddy wouldn't fess up how old he was, so my son simply said, "What year were you born." ;) He then proceeded to workout how old his father was by obtaining that one number. Dh is 39 for the record. So my son gasped and said, "Wow, so how does it feel to know you are nearly 40? Are you afraid of being that old or is it just normal feeling?" :lol:

[woolybear]

Hey KoalaMom, can you link to your blog? I love the sound of what you did, but it seems like SO MUCH work. I'd like to see more.:)

[jenangelcat]

This is what we're doing for grade 1 math. Last year we used Rightstart A and it was okay but not spectacular.

[Iamblessed]

You could also try the LOF fred math books which I supplement with the Key to books. There is also a web site called Kahn Academy which has videos/lectures on simple math all the way up through advanced math. My kids like the practice sessions you can do there! :)

[Julie Kirkwood]

koalamum, i love all your ideas. Thank you so much! Bookmarked this thread. What wonderful gems. :grouphug:

[cloversandlions]

Then there's also a fantastic book by Scholastic that uses picture books to teach with. I adore that book too and we used it lots. {Still do!} I actually blogged about a lot of our math lessons because I think it allowed me to see the meat of what I was teaching my kids by sharing it with other people, kwim?

 

I love your ideas, and wondered if you could elaborate on this book - perhaps share the title, at least? :)