Homeschool Math
Many people think you have to purchase a homeschool math program and drag your children through it each day to to able to teach and learn math. Although math workbooks help children stay focused on math and teach the basics in order, they are not the only things you can use to teach math.
When my son was in Kindergarten, we used various resources to reinforce math concepts since he wasn’t ready to sit and write in a math workbook every day. I made a resource box with flashcards, math manipulatives, clock for telling time, abacus, fraction tiles, fun books with math concepts, puzzles, skip counting tape, and a few other odds and ends that I have collected over the years.
We changed things up every day. One day we counted money, another day we measured things around the house, another day we used math bears and the bucket balance and played with that. One thing we worked on almost every day was taking a chart of multiplication facts laid out in a chart with 2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16,18,20 on the first line, then 3,6,9,12,15,18,21,24,27,30 and so on. I would point to each number on a line and we would sing a song to go along with those numbers. We didn’t do more than 1 or 2 lines each day. He now knows all his skip counting from 2-6. It is amazing how many times he uses this each week when counting things. I encourage him to count the fast way when I see him counting something.
Where has all this homeschool math work gotten us? Well, the other day we were in the car and he said, “Mom, is 6 plus 6 = 12?” I, of course, said yes with a big smile on my face. Children are always thinking and experimenting with numbers in their heads.
The other thing he said on that day when we were at a Wrestling tournament looking at a trophy cabinet was, “Mom, that number is 200 with a 3 at the end.” I said that it was actually 2003. Then the light went on and he said, “So when there are 4 numbers it’s thousands.” Again, I answered, “Yes” with a big smile on my face. That little bit of work we did with the hundred blocks, tens, and units with our Math U See program was really paying off.
I say all this to encourage you that homeschool Math can be fun and interesting for both parent and child especially in the early elementary years. Use every day things to introduce math and then spend a little time each day working with different math concepts and your child should understand math and maybe even enjoy it.
