(You have to say the title of this post with a vaguely French faux accent in the dulcet tones of a six-year-old, as in: Mish-i-ohn complet-eh, since that is JediBoy’s current favorite phrase.)
JediBoy wrapped up his studies in Math-U-See Beta today. Gamma is out on the table, patiently waiting for Monday.
Overall, we continue to enjoy this math curriculum. It provides me with a step-by-step structure, so that I don’t worry I’ve forgotten or glossed-over anything vital. Like me, JediBoy seems to have a fairly good intuitive number sense, and he enjoys playing with numbers and puzzling things out.
Of course we have Those Days. You know Those Days. As cool as math can be, there are days when I’m tired, or he’s tired, or BabyGirl is coveting my attention, and I just want him to do the problem already.
That’s not easy. When I push him, I get the rolled eyes. The sigh. “Oh-kaaay. Four minus six? He calls help, help, help, and blah, blah, blah, you know the rest.”
It’s totally reasonable apathy, though. I do know the rest. If I’m pushing him through these problems because they are vitally important, why don’t I just do them myself? If I want to encourage him to play his way through the problems because they’re fun, I have to let him spin his story about how the 4 is battling the 6 and must call for reinforcements, and a great and bloody battle ensues, and in the end, only 8 remain.
So I pay the price if I try to make it into work. As long as it’s just puzzles we’re doing together for practice or fun, our time with Math U See stays light and enjoyable. He has kept a good sense of what we do and why, and he loved the enrichment topics like Bar Graphs and Line Graphs, Gauges and Thermometers, Telling Time, and Days of the Week / Months of the Year.
He’s proud of himself for finishing Beta, and excited to learn multiplication next week.
Already, he’s coming up to me at random moments to say things like, “So, is 3 times 4 equal to 12?” He has an idea of what multiplication is and he’s excited to use it.
I’m going to pick up a deck of Mythmatical Battles for him, because I know he would enjoy that. If you have other fun multiplication tools or games, pass them along!
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