Math without tears

Yes indeed it was a great day!  G moaned and groaned about math when she got on in the recliner with me. Yep, math in the recliner yesterday. Then she opened the book and to her surprise she did her warm up lesson without a single issue. She was completed in record time and all correctly done. I said, "wow, seems you have been learning something after all" she tucked her head into me with a huge smile and clearly was proud of her work. We then did some lesson time briefly together and she completed the rest of her lesson page. She did it diligently and without a single tear. She sees that she is learning and likes to know new things.

This week F has been absent from class. F has pneumonia and not feeling well at all. Her little eyes plead for relief that only her mommy can provide. K has not been able to leave her side for one moment, which is not difficult as the little stinker Baby O tried his best to come too early so she is on bedrest at home.

This week G and I did complete our lessons on wolves and attended a field trip to the Endangered Wolf Center in Eureka, Missouri.  We also have been to the library to get the books I ordered in. The past two night we have read about SUE the T-Rex and the entire story about her discovery, the journey to claim her, the auction, the process of preparing her and putting her puzzle pieces together. It was a great story, the book is called- Sue The Colossal Fossil.  I still have not gotten the entire time line down great but for now just understanding millions of years is enough. 

Someone has permitted us to borrow their math rods to see if it helps G to grasp math. I have concluded that for her the rods do not help the matter but confuse it.  When I speak with others about her addition and subtraction issues they keep referring me to a MathUSee program. I have reviewed that program before but never felt it was the right fit. So now I am playing with the idea and still do not see how it is going to help her. G does understand the concept just fine but is slow because she does not have them memorized. She is not good at memorization. SHE IS THE LEARNER!  So as we worked with the math rods she even realized that herself. She told me "I get it"  "but this is like math for babies". She let me clearly know that she understands the concept she just does not enjoy it like other subjects and gets frustrated because she does not remember them. It is too boring by her standards to do the same math over and over to get the same answer over and over again. She tells me that she can do the math but it is too time consuming to have to figure the problem out every time. So I know she does understand the concept but also, even G, gets that her memory of these facts (or the lack of memory) is slowing her down.  So we are moving on! I know we will eventually develop memory of more facts but I want her to find the fun part of math so I do not want to drag her and hold her in one spot just for lack of memory.  OH YES, back to the math rods.  She wants to fiddle with them a bit more and not give up to quickly but I do not see us investing in them anytime soon.

In the long run I find that G understands her learning style better than I do so I am going to let her be my guide.

I am beginning to think our fall will be a short one as it has been very cold for this time of October, even for the Midwest region.  Highlights for our region is that the St. Louis Cardinals are in the world series again so everywhere you turn you are reminded of the experience. I know those poor Texas Rangers will have a hard time in this type of cold.