Almost Unschooling Grama

  Mighty Red is now pretty much an independent adder. We started out with him on my lap as his sister and I played math games. He would move the pieces while I gave the answers. Then we moved to him copying me as I did the finger math. For the past several weeks, we have been doing the problems on our fingers together, but this week he announced that he could do this and just took off without me! When I was in school, having someone help me like I have helped Mighty Red would have been shameful and "cheating". Go ahead, help your kids "cheat". It works!

  When I was in school, the only thing we ever used index cards for were speeches and research papers, but these things are actually worth their weight in gold!  For homeschooling, there are only a few things that I consider essential. You can get along without fancy curriculum, lesson plans, and even the internet if need be, but index cards are a mainstay at my house! They are cheap and versatile. Over the years I've used them for sooo many activities.  Bible: Write one word (or phrase) on each from your current memory work, mix them up and race to see who can put them in the right order or set them out on the floor for a "memory walk".  Spelling: Use them for the simplest spelling curriculum ever! F or several years I tried to teach my children how to spell. Every year I would get a new “curriculum” and follow it precisely, but nothing worked. Finally came up with my own... 1st day: Find 2 words they don't know how to spell. Have them write those words 7 times. A ...

To make this game, create a board with 15-20 squares. Then make cards just a little smaller than your squares for the count-bys your child is learning. Mix up the cards and place them on the table. Start out by flipping the cards over and placing them in the correct square. Show your child how to place his finger on each square and count by the number to find the correct square. When he is really good at it, you can make 2 sets of cards (each a different color) and play a Tic-tac-toe like game. Each person takes turns flipping one card and placing it on the board. If one person fills a row, up or down with his color cards, he is the winner. If you play until the board is full without anyone getting a row filled up, the game is tied. God Bless You All! ~ Grama Sue

Most of you can count by 2s, 5s, and 10s, but how many of you can count by 3s, 7s, or 11s? Even though I flunked out of math in high school, my kids were great in math. Why? Because I threw out the math books and insisted they learn each basic skill well before they moved on. No addition until they could count to 100, no subtraction until they could add a column of three four-digit numbers. We worked on subtraction until they could subtract three-digit numbers from four-digit numbers. Then before we worked on multiplication, we learned to skip count. I insisted they learn to skip count 2s, 3s, 4s, and 5s before I introduced 2 x 2 = 4 and then continued all the way up to 15s before we were through. Skip counting is fun and gives a child a firm foundation to figure out multiplication problems they haven’t memorized. One hands-on way to teach skip counting is to have your kids create necklaces that have sets of beads separated by a different color and shaped bead. Have your chi...