Math in the Kitchen

Yesterday I brought us to the kitchen table for math.  I've done this several times before but I made it a bit different this time.  I took out 3 sets of items.

First Set:  Four different containers were brought to the table.  My big Costco bottle of balsamic vinegar, a can of mushrooms, my demarara sugar and sea salt.  We worked on reading the label to know what it is and then reading the measurements of what is in the container.  So we talked about lbs, liters, milliliters and ounces.  This was not an in depth explanation but an introduction to the terms.

Second Set:  We again went over the half cup, third cup and fourth cup measuring containers.  I had two different sets and we also read the milliliters on that.  We found out that the two half cup containers were actually a little bit different because one was more milliliters than the other.  Also I asked Pooh to think about how many half cups were in my liter of balsamic vinegar.  We did this based on milliliters too.  He was pretty close in his guess which gives me hope.  He's extremely math phobic.  He probably has dyscalculia which is why I teach a 6th grader and a 4th grader together.

Third Set:  I got out the monster muffins I bought at Lowes Food and cut them into fractions.  The first muffin was cut into fourths and discussed as I put it on Tigger's plate.  The second muffin was cut into eighths and put onto Pooh's plate.

Issues I noticed were:  Tigger keeps calling the half cup---one and a half cups.  Tigger had issues with saying 2/4th instead of one half in the muffin set.  We need to review liquid measurements and get an idea of how they work....ie ounces.

Last week I got out some chalk and we did sidewalk math.  I have photos that I will post when I am able.

Measuring and Fractions

We worked on money math for about 2 weeks and I thought we needed a little change of pace. So for a fun math activity I decided that we could work on measurement--ie learning to use a ruler. I haven't ever worked on that with either of the boys. I had the boys find two rulers. As it turns out they each found a different size ruler. Tigger's ruler was the typical 12 inches and Pooh's was a 6 inch ruler. This made it interesting for Pooh when we had to measure things longer than 12 inches.

Both boys got 5 things from their room that they wanted to measure. One of Pooh's stuffed animals was more than 24 inches long so we had to 'add'. This was one of those days where Pooh forgot how to add. Again. Suddenly 6 + 6 became a huge ordeal. We had to get out the blocks and start from scratch to measure the stuffed animal. We did have smaller things to measure and he did fine with that part (ie 8 inches etc) but when he had to use the 6 inch ruler and add it more than once, it was a 'big deal'. Some days he would be able to get this fine. Other days it seems as if he's forgotten most of what he's learned. It's crazy and really slows us down with his mathematical learning. Thus the reason he's never worked on measurement before. Tigger on the other hand, was adding in his head. Sigh. But that's really great for him!!!

Before they measured their items, we practiced by tracing our feet and hand prints onto paper and measuring them. Pooh's hand and foot measurements were scarily close to mine. The boy is growing!

Tigger's measurements.

Once we got a good grasp of the measuring, I realized that we needed to talk about fractions a little too. They were getting a little confused with the 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 inch measurements. It just sort of naturally flowed into a lesson on fractions. The first day all I did was show them a pizza cut into fourths and we talked about those basic fractions that fit in with our measurements.

This is what we did the 2nd day. Pooh likes to look at all the different country and state flags and even though he's not memorized them all, he still knows a lot more than me.

So we spent our math time the second day using flags to talk about fractions. I only worked with the flags that show the basic fractions of 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 or 1 whole color. I was surprised by how many of the flags are separated into thirds with their color scheme. Any good children's atlas book with show the flags that go with the countries, so you can check there in case you'd like to 'try this at home'. ;D This was definitely a success because it was something Pooh was very interested in. I even tried showing how each part adds up to be the whole thing, but I know that will need more repetition because I could see it was flying over the top of his head. I'm pretty sure that Tigger understood it though.

Pooh was proud of his paper. Tigger was irritated by something else. LOL

Right now, we're back to MUS work but it is great that we took the break we did. Pooh has been working on word problems with dimes in his workbook so he's getting it all right. Working with money when we did turned out terrific. (One day I hope to be a little more organized with my Living Math approach. One day...) I think I'll take another week off once both boys are done with Lesson 8 to review some of what we learned.

Money Math

So far this year, we've been cruising along with our Math U See books. Both boys have finished with lesson 7, so I decided to start some 'other' math. I have MOTL and one of the things I wanted to start working on with them is counting money. Pooh, although 12, still has a terrible time with money. I just don't think he's especially motivated with it. So, we're going to be working on it for a little while, then I'll drop it, then we'll work on it again. That's how we do things with Pooh that are difficult for him. He needs breaks in between to process what he's learned. It seems to help when we get to his edge of understanding/ability, leave the subject, then come back to push it again later. It has worked with shoe tying, bike riding, speech and reading. I figure it should work with math too.

The first thing I did (a suggestion in MOTL) was about two months ago when I set up a box for each boy for their money. In it we have envelopes for them to put their money into. The envelopes are labeled as follows: Spending, Bank Savings, Donations, Gift Giving. I thought that was sufficient for my boys' ages and the amount of money they receive ($10 per month). If your children are older and/or receive more money, you may wish to add more envelopes. Some make an envelope for different expenses such as the care of a pet.

Their allowance isn't based on chores, it's just for being part of the family. (It saves me having to say no when they ask for things--they learn some money management--they can learn to buy gifts for others, etc, etc) However, they started to realize how long it was taking for them to earn money for things so we instituted some 'Work' they could do for extra pay. They can earn $1 for each wheelbarrow of pine needles they rake, pick up and take to a designated spot. The King paid them $5 each (a little much for my taste) to spend the afternoon helping shovel snow off the the driveway. A cool thing the King did with that was treat them as employees. Pooh, especially, have I been trying to make understand that certain behaviors and attitudes aren't acceptable for people in the real world. You can get fired. He ended up with two warnings while working with Dad and almost got fired. He stuck with it though and I guess it worked out between them because no one came in with an attitude problem. Some other chores we've worked out prices for are:

Vacuum van-$1
Pulling weeds-$2 for each wheelbarrow full
Poop patrol-.50 each bag full
Window cleaning-.25 for two windows

I'm sure we'll be adding to these over time. I'm trying to be careful that they don't expect to get paid for everything they do. I may still ask them to help me paint gates in the summer or whatever and that's just going to be part of the family chores. However, if they are ready to earn some extra money and are willing to do the job I assign, they will get paid.

Both of them tend to want to buy something on every field trip we participate in. I'm trying to teach them that they can wait and save up for the bigger items they like as opposed to the gratification of getting little things on a regular basis, but right now it's an uphill battle.

This week we've been actually working with change. I borrowed a book from the library called The Coin Counting Book by Rozanne Williams. She very gradually takes them through the value of pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, half-dollars, dollar coins and a one dollar bill. Through the photos and the actual coins I had (yes, I did have a half-dollar and dollar coins) we made change in various ways. We practiced counting by 5's and 10's. We counted to 100 with pennies. I think we took about 4 days to go through all the pages of the book. You could go slower, but we went through about 4-6 pages a day depending and I think it was an ok pace. It's interesting that Tigger is able to understand the value of money even at his age, so I have some hope that Pooh will pick up more on it this time. One of the things I tested was whether they could understand that 25 pennies and one quarter were the same. I asked them which was more by holding them in each hand. They both got confused so we counted it all out with a couple of different situations to try to make them understand better that you are trading coins as opposed to getting more/less money. We hopefully understand a bit more about working with change. LOL Tomorrow I'm hoping to put all that into practice by setting up a little store. The boys thought that was a cool idea! I hope it goes well.

Update: We tried the store thing and Pooh was freaking out trying to count the change all together. Sooooo, we've backed up and each day we've been just taking some change and practicing counting it up all together. I do some too that involves adding enough money that I have two or three dollars plus change. I think he's finally got the .25, .50, .75, 1.00 down! Whew!

Carrot Cake Math

I had some carrots that were past prime so I decided to make carrot cake today. I printed out the Carrot Cake III recipe from Allrecipes.com. (It's ok. I didn't fine it cakey enough though. Plus it cooked waaaay faster than what was indicated.)

First I had the boys help with the grating of the carrots. They are a little timid with the grater as it can 'get' you if you're not careful. However, they managed pretty well. We ended up with 6 cups of shredded carrots. The recipe only called for 3 cups. Sooooo, we worked on doubling the recipe.
Pooh really hasn't paid all that much attention when I've done baking with him before as to 1/2 cups, teaspoons, etc. Frankly, he was only barely paying attention today. What made him work for it was the doubling. He didn't know how to think out the problems so I did a lot of scaffolding. I had him read the recipe and we kept going over how "We need 4 eggs for one cake, but we're doing 2 cakes, so how many do we need?" Same thing with teaspoons of cinnamon. "It says 2 tsps. That's for one cake, but we're doing 2 cakes." Lots of long pauses to see if he'll figure it out. When he needed help I'd say, "This cake has 2 tsps. The second cake needs 2 tsps. How many tsps is that?" Pooh needed all of this to be slow and deliberate. There were a couple of times when frustration started to get the best of him, but we quickly worked it out and managed to keep him in his 'zone'.

The other thing we tried was working on what 1/2 is. How many 1/2 cups do we need to make 1 cup? We took the 1/2 cup and filled it twice to show how it is equal to 1 cup. We went over it several times. With the shredded carrots, with the flour, with the oil, with the salt (using the teaspoon).
Did he really get it? Probably not. We'll have to be doing a lot more baking for that to happen. Sometimes he got sidetracked by Tigger yelling out wrong answers. LOL Then sometimes Tigger would actually remember how to do it and he'd get it right. I have a few pictures that I'll add into this post. However, I was too busy trying to get two rowdy boys to focus and not make a huge mess to take many photos.

P.S. Uh, the Icehouse is mine. Product of a long day baking with two young boys. ;D

Economics 101

Pooh is trying to convince Tigger to pool their money so he can buy a
George Washington hat tomorrow on our field trip. Evidently, Pooh has
had this in mind since last year when we went on this same trip. If I
remember correctly, the hat was expensive. I think it was $40. I'm
sooo not going to let them spend $40 on a hat. This conversation
started yesterday when I let Pooh know he didn't have enough money to
buy it himself. He wasn't happy.

This is the conversation we had today discussing it.

First I talked with Pooh about how he didn't have enough money to buy
the hat. Again. That he needs to save money for other things too.
There are other trips coming up and he also needs to set aside money for
donations. Later I heard them in the kitchen collaborating on how they
were going to work things out.

Pooh: Hey Mommy! We got it! Look, here's $20 (2 tens) plus $5 is $25.
(Now pointing to Tigger's money) $5 more is $30 and then another two $5
is ten and that makes $40! We can buy the hat!
I watch as they discuss the fact that they can share it (yeah, right).
I mentioned to them that it might be hard to share.
Pooh: But I shared that other hat, the one we got at Disney.
Me: You mean the pirate hat?
Pooh: Yeah.
Me: Well, that one wasn't $40! Besides, Tigger is going to have to
give at least two more dollars for taxes. You'll have to give the
cashier ALL this money, plus $2 more dollars.
Pooh: Don't you pay the taxes, Mommy?
Me: We all have to pay taxes when we buy stuff.
Pooh: Oh.
Tigger: (Isn't so sure he wants to give up more money.) I don't know,
Pooh. Then we won't have any money left at all!
Pooh: Maybe Gramma can send us another check and then I'll have money.
Me: Nooooo, we don't ask people for $$. Money is a gift.
Pooh: I know! We can sell something so people can buy it. Like
lemonade.
Me: Where are you going to sell it?
Pooh: Here-to people that pass by.
Me: Well, that's something people do in the summer. It's not hot
enough for lemonade now.
Tigger: Well, I know! We can sell soda or maybe some wine.
Me: You can't sell wine! (That was yelled with emphasis. LOL)
Tigger: I know. We can make model boats. You know, like Daddy made me
that boat, the catamaran.
Me: Oh no, if this is your business, then it's something you have to
make, not me and daddy.
Tigger: Well, we could get some of the yard sale stuff and put it on a
table.
Me: Nope, that yard sale stuff is for the homeschool group. So you
guys get free field trips.
Pooh & Tigger together: Oooohhhhhh
Pooh: How about Star trek pictures? I can write stories. There are
lots of trekkies out there.
Me: That's true
Pooh: I like to write.
Me: That's fine, but you'll have to do a lot of them. You can only
charge $1 per book.
Pooh: Well, I'll just do it when I don't have any money.
Tigger: Soo, how are we gonna do the books?
M: You have to use blank paper--not the lined paper and you CAN'T do it
today. You have chores to do and other stuff.

In the end I continued our conversation so that Pooh understood that
tomorrow we can see how much the hat is and if it's more than he has, we
can look online and buy one cheaper. We saw one yesterday similar to
what he wants and they called it a Napoleon hat. He loves Napoleon too
so that wasn't a problem at all.

Math Ladder

Pooh has been having a rough time learning the addition math facts. We've actually finished his Alpha work from Math U See and he still doesn't know all of them. He'll know some of them for a while and then it disappears. He was always able to get through the material for the simple reason that he loved using the manipulatives. He's very adept at using them and after a little trouble in the beginning became very good at 'solving for the unknown'.

However, I think that he became a bit lazy with using them. He uses the manipulatives without really thinking too much about it. As soon as he comes to a problem he doesn't know, he just uses the blocks. There are a few he would get without them but most of the time he took the easy way. That, of course, is my fault. If I had made him stop and we had discussed each time why 4+5=9 (doubles plus one), then I think he may have been learning to do more in his head. He's keeping the math external instead of trying to internalize it and that's where we'll be getting into trouble if we don't get it corrected.

Anyway, I've borrowed the book Games for Math by Peggy Kaye from the library. The other day I found a simple game we could try together. I liked this plan because it will help him learn the addition facts in a fun way and yet doesn't require massive index card preparation. (Preparation for stuff like that almost always make it impossible for me to follow through. I admit it. So there! ;D)


The game is Math Ladder. Basically, you take one sheet of paper. Draw a ladder on it giving enough rungs so that you can write 0-10 one on each rung in random order. The game is played using one die. If I roll a 3, I then take the die, keeping the 3 up, and put it beside each rung starting from the bottom. I must then solve the addition problem of bottom rung number + 3 = (blank). If I solve the bottom rung, I move up one level. I keep going until I get a wrong answer or reach the top.

Pooh and I have played it for two days now. We play after doing some flashcards. Due to that, I make sure that we only go through two or three cycles of tossing the die. I also make sure that I get things wrong. Who wants to play with someone who's always right and wins?

This is a great referencing activity because both ways can be used for referencing. When it's my turn, I'll say 4+3=7 and wait for Pooh to nod his head yes or no. Sometimes he'll say he doesn't know the answer, sometimes he says "let me think" and a couple of times he's said the answer before me. ;D The same type of referencing can be done when it's Pooh's turn.

If I find any other simple, easy prep games in the book (or anywhere else) that work for us, I'll post them.