Family Math

 We just put up a white board in the homework room yesterday afternoon.  We have all been drawing on it all day and evening [with Colin opting for the wall a couple times].  Michael posted his test/quiz schedule for the week to keep organized, and each little brother copied him.  The boys drew flattering pictures of each other, we played pictionary, but my favorite part was when all the boys got excited about math problems. 

 Mikey wanted to know what pi was used for.  It began a whole evening talking about radius, diameter and circumference.  He found a notebook to begin a math journal.  We solved circumference equations and talked about how to write the equation out correctly.  He woke up thinking about it this morning and we reviewed it all.  So fun.

Jacob wanted to try a multiplication problem as Mikey was demonstrating complicated problems with huge numbers.  Jacob is in 2nd grade, and they have not started this yet.  I wrote up a couple problems, explaining that the bottom number tells us how many groups of the top number there are.  He understood this new rule instantly [which is a new experience for him].  He quickly answered those problems.  I wrote out all the 2's times table.  He could answer each one easily, shocking himself.  He was so thrilled - his entire face was alive with that excitement that comes from learning. I then wrote some 3's and 5's problems, which he quickly solved giggling with excitement.  As he realized he actually was smart enough to quickly learn this new math rule [which he thought was originally too hard to learn], I watched him adjust his self perception.

It reminds me of Peter's 2nd grade teacher that told him that he was only good at sports - and from that day on he believed her, disregarding any love of math.  8 is such an impressionable age!  I also realized [again] how much I am loving Waterford and Jacob's teacher particularly.  There is such a focus on learning how to learn and think, while enjoying the process.  What a gift to go to school there!!

Scotty wrote out addition problems for himself to solve as I was helping the big kids - not to be left out of course.  He wanted to learn how to write "12", and then proceeded to come up with many math problems on his own that would give him the answer "12",  just so that he could write it over and over.  It helps to be a 3rd child and see the excitement of learning from older brothers.  He will love starting this real math later in his kindergarten year.