Heliconia Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 I have an accelerated 1st grader who took a 2-month break from school as we traveled abroad. When we came back, I noticed he lost much, oh so much of what we learned. To give you an idea: we were working on topics like division and algebra (with hands on equations) and now we are reviewing ADDITION and SUBTRACTION. Worst of all, he is now reluctant to do any math. Last week, we just dedicated our math time to games, and it has been working so far, but still not good enough. Then I realized the problem might be deeper than I thought. So far, math has just been part of our schedule, we just finish whatever we have to do and move on. This is NOT how I wanted things to be. Math IS a focal point in our schooling. The problem is that my attitude doesn't reflect that. I don't discuss math throughout the day for example. Any thoughts? Any helpful books to give me and my DS the math-itude? Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mckittre Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 I have a first grader who's pretty good at math and has learned nearly everything he knows by talking to me while we walk through the woods. Math is so easy to do verbally with fun puzzle-ish games, traveling or otherwise. If it helps, I'll share some of my son's favorite no-paper-needed ones. Magic function: Take turns coming up with a mathematical function, anything from x+1 to (the square root of x)/2^2. One person asks numbers, and the other person spits back what the function says. Guess the function. Good practice on both sides, playable at any level. My kid got interested in graphing functions after this game. Puzzle scenarios. Some good ones have been 'water bottle problems', where we pretend that each family member has a water bottle twice as big as the next persons, and come up with different scenarios where you have to fill them different amounts, pour them into other bottles, lots of converting and playing with fractions in that one. Or 'oops too many things on the scale' -- you want to know the weight of two different variables, and the first time weigh 2 of one and 3 of the other, second time 4 of one and 1 of the other, etc... Making up silly stories to explore new mathematical concepts is quite fun, really. We do this more or less as interest wanes and waxes, but I'm pretty sure my first grader learned more math from a month or two of doing this daily than from anything else we've ever done. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternallytired Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 I find that there are so many times I use math in daily life, and just vocalizing my thoughts can give my kids an opportunity to see its usefulness. On vacation, for example, we'd talk about how many more miles we had until our destination (or our next stop, or the next state, or...) and estimate how long it would take us to get there given our current speed. After getting gas today, I talked through my mental process of estimating my car's mpg--as well as a few comments about what that data tells me, and the fact that Daddy's car uses far less gas, which is why we drive it whenever we can. (I reset my trip odometer every time I get gas and always fill all the way to the shutoff, so the mileage and gallons should roughly correspond--and I keep track of mpg to make sure all seems well with my car.) When I'm planning dinner, I talk out loud about how long each step will take, add all that time, and then determine when I need to start cooking to have it finish when I'd like to eat. When I'm making my grocery list, I estimate how long it takes us to go through each gallon of milk or loaf of bread and decide how much I will need to buy in order to last as long as I'd like between shopping trips. At the store, I figure out the price per unit on sale items if it's not listed and show the kids how to compare the true cost of different items. I think if you consider your thought processes throughout the day, you will find a lot of times that you use math. The trick is to notice them and vocalize them and involve your child in them. As for books, my kids love the Sir Cumference series, and some of the MathStart books are pretty good. Sir Cumference shares terminology and skills in silly stories about math-ly-named knights and ladies, while MathStart books tend to be more everyday stories about kids applying math to their lives. As a side note, I've noticed that my DD loves math when it's on her own terms. At the moment, I'm letting her choose which pages to do in her Singapore workbook, and it seems to be going well. She starts from where she left off and pages through until she finds something that interests her. She tends to stick with a topic until she knows it pretty well, so I'm not too worried about her missing skills. And her attitude and motivation and performance are all vastly improved when I let her take the wheel...scary as that feels to me. We'll see how long I last. Another thing to consider is a game like Prodigy, which my kids are addicted to. It's a fun, free, online RPG in which your wizard has to answer a math problem correctly to cast a spell. DH says it's pretty well done and similar to some of the first RPGs he started on, and it sure motivates them and offers lots of variety in topics. You can set the level to match their ability, and you can assign them problem sets on topics you choose from other levels as part of the game, too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black-eyed Suzan Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 My kids loved playing Monopoly at that age. If they couldn't read, I would read it for them. Both eventually memorized enough to play by themselves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hellojwolford Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 I must second "Magic function", known as the function game in our home. We also like to play 24, but we don't have the actual card set. We just take turns coming up with 4 numbers that can be put together some way to make 24 and let the other person figure it out. For example, I might say 5,5,1,1, and he might come up with ( 5x5-1)X1. I don't suggest trying to play these games while figuring out which paper towel brand is the best buy for the money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heliconia Posted November 1, 2015 Author Share Posted November 1, 2015 Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I'd also like to add two books and website from which I hope to incorporate new ideas to our schooling: Marshmallow math Kitchen Table Math Natural Math Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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