Math help

[Arboreal TJ]

My 5 yr old twins don't care for Math but they are good at it. This year they breezed through MUS Primer, they are breezing through MUS Alpha too. One asked me this morning when he could be done with Math. I told him after he took his final test. He asked to take the test. I gave him the test orally and he only missed one.

 

How do I make this fun for them? They love word problems but they can't read well.

 

I'm thinking about taking a month off formal Math and starting up again with Beta after Christmas. Any ideas how to engage their minds during our break from formal instruction?

[Ellie]

Games that use math, like Uno!, or any dice game, including the ones that don't claim to be "educational," like Sorry or Parchesi. Playing jacks is actually a good math game, as the player has to decide how many jacks he has to pick up at one time (it's good for hand-to-eye coordination, too).

 

I have always loved the Wonder Number Game.

[letsplaymath]

Have you heard of Moebius Noodles? They have a lot of creative ways to look at math. Take a look at some of their activities -- I bet you'll find something your kids will enjoy!

[blondeviolin]

Monopoly and similar board games helped solidify math facts to ten when using two dice.

[Arboreal TJ]

Letsplaymath that site is hilarious! My kids loved the bovine video, my DH was disturbed!

 

 

[DoppeltGemoppelt]

I have 5 year old twin boys that are also doing MUS alpha and just breezing through it :-)

Crewton Ramone has many videos showing how his little boys do "algebra" by playing with the same MUS manipulatives! He never once sits them down with worksheets; and those little guys definitely have a better understanding of math than many adults! All they are doing is playing with blocks.

[Arboreal TJ]

Doppelt do you have any of the Mortensen Math books? I was looking at Ramone's blog and it's interesting. I like the approach, it appears Demme and Ramone had the same teacher. Ramone's blog has an infomercial feel to it, reading it makes me feel like I'm watching Billy Mays selling ShamWow :)

 

If I can get past the feeling that I'm being duped by an excellent salesman will I be happy with the content? I'd really like to see more but I'm not ready to pay to see more KWIM?

[Arboreal TJ]

Wow! Okay. I got past the infomercial look of the blog, watched some of his videos. We ditched the worksheets and just played with blocks today, my boys are all smiles! I need to rethink how we do Math. I loved Math as a kid, if I had learned how to do Mortensen Math I would have loved it even more. I've been doing Math the hard way my whole life :(

 

 

[DoppeltGemoppelt]

If you already have the blocks, there is no need to pay! All his most important videos about addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, algebra are there. Just look on the left sidebar. If you don't like the feel of his videos, try "Education Unboxed", she has her girls do the same games as Crewton Ramone. I personally feel that her girls are very well behaved, whereas my boys are currently somewhat rambunctious :-) I can just relate a little better to Crewton Ramone.

It is all just "games" to the kids though, you really don't need to buy the scripted curriculum.

[DoppeltGemoppelt]

Guess we posted at the same time :-)

[Arboreal TJ]

Dopplet how are you supplementing MUS with Ramone?

 

After reading much of his sight and playing blocks with my guys, happily playing for a change, I'm wondering if the MUS books are worth the expense. I promised my boys we'd stop doing formal Math till January, at the rate they are absorbing Ramone's methods MUS Beta and Gamma will be boring.

 

I don't want my guys to have any gaps but I don't want to spend a small fortune on curricula they rebel against either. I'm also not sure I want to explain why my 5 yr olds are doing calculus :p <= gross exaggeration

[DoppeltGemoppelt]

I have to admit, we've started out with Ramone first. It's only me who is worried about gaps, that's why I bought the MUS curriculum. I am really not sure where to go from here... Any ideas?

I've stopped telling other people what my kids can do. Even if I am asked, because someone overhears a conversation, I usually just shrug my shoulders and smile 😊

I've seen you signature, and the cross fit kids looks like something we would love! Are you paying for their courses?

[besroma]

Muggins Math or one of the other games by the same company might be a great Christmas gift for your boys.

 

My boys especially enjoy Knock-Out!

 

www.mugginsmath.com

[Arboreal TJ]

Dopplet I sent you a PM about CrossFit PE since it's off topic and i wanted to try some of the board features :)

 

I'm tempted to supplement with Singapore, I've been eyeing their Challenging Word Problems. The cost isn't too bad if they end up flying through it.

 

I played some of Ramone's games with my 2 yr old last night, she was in heaven! She's always begging to do school like her brothers.