Just another home-school perk

"Some people just aren't math people."

Sure, you've heard it. I've said it. But for my kids, I refuse to believe it.

That said, Jake has never liked "math time." I say "math time" and not "math" because in the right situations, or with the right applications, he loves and uses math all the time. When the word "math" is said, however, he shuts off. That's all there is to it. Eyes glaze over, a pained look slowly morphs his face, and "I don't know" comes out of his mouth before the first problem comes out of mine.

Something isn't working. Geometry he gets. Measurement: of time and length and quantity he gets. place value...simple. Computation? Simple add and subtract stuff? Blank.

But do you want to know what the beauty is about this situation? I don't have to stick to a curriculum, I don't have to keep other kids up to speed, heck...I don't even have to move on in any other subject. And that is just what we are doing. From here until who knows, our schooling will consist of math, more math, math games, math drills and then I will say it all again in a different way. I will let him read...so long as he tells me how many pages he read and how many are left in the book. My goal is to fill his mind so full of numbers that he begins to see and think them when he closes his eyes.

For you "not math" people, this may sound like torture. But I really do believe that math can be fun and engaging. And that is my quest.

Tips are ALWAYS WELCOME!!!!

And with two days of math behind us and one more to come in several short hours, I will take a deep breath and read again these wise words:

 Just as the eye was made to see color and the ear to hear sounds, so the human mind was made to understand quantity." --Johannes Kepler