You Know, Those Skin-Coloured Things With The Cracks

Dylan (6) has found a new love for math worksheets. With him being a boy, loving to move, I had spent a great deal of effort to do math in 'real' ways with him. I didn't want pages and pages of laborious writing to bog him down.

We played games, we used 30-sided dice, we used counting bears, coloured tiles, an abacus, dominoes, measurements, a math scale...you know, the fun stuff.

One day he saw a math worksheet somewhere. I didn't think anything of it - I mean, how exciting could that be after all the 'real-life' math we'd been doing. Very, apparently. He's hooked. Can't get enough math worksheets! So much for me rescuing him from the drudgery.

With the math worksheets, I gave Dylan his abacus and his counting bears. At first he used them but then he decided that it was much easier to do it in his head.

I watched him do 8 + 9. He had a look of concentration on his face and then wrote down 17.

Me: "How did you do that in your head?"

Dylan: "Well, there are these skin-coloured balls with cracks in them and red-hot lava coming out. I see them in my brain and then count them."

Me: "Why are they skin-coloured balls?"

Dylan: "I don't know. That's just how they are." Duh.

A couple of equations later...

Dylan: "And you know what else?"

Me: "What?"

Dylan: "I noticed something strange. When you add 10 plus another number all you have to do is write a 1 and then the other number. That's strange. Those are the easiest ones in the world, except for 0 + 0."

Oh, I want to just crawl right into his brain so I can see exactly what he sees. It fascinates me.


5 comments:

Frizzy said...

You've got a smart one on your hands. You're doing a great job if he enjoys learning and can see it work in his head. Give yourself a pat on the back! Thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving a comment. Hope you'll come by again.

Anonymous said...

Wow! You have done a marvelous job stimulating his imagination and intellect. You may have a budding genius on your hands. I am so proud of both of you. All's well. Love Grandma Margaret & Peter.

Jackie said...

Whoa...that's really awesome. How do they get so smart so fast? YOu can just see the little wheels in his head turning!

Renata said...

You know I had no idea what he was talking about, but if it helps him with his maths worksheet- then I say it's great!
Thanks for your comments on my blog about homeschooling. It was so lovely of you to take the time to comment. We are currently praying & praying & looking into it closer.

4funboys said...

I'm right there with you!

I brought home boxes of manipulatives from my classroom that I was so "excited" to get to do with the boys...

they are so NOT interested!

they love completing books, and books, of "dittos"

what in the world???

this... from the boy who doesn't even sit through a commercial? But he'll sit for hours to "complete" workbooks?

(I haven't had the heart to tell him that when he's done, he'll still have other school work to do) ignorance is bliss... ha