Mathematical Manipulation

Math has always been the hardest subject for me to grasp. I think it's because it's too precise. I'm more abstract. In fact, I dropped out of my Accounting 1 class in high school because I couldn't keep up with the debits and credits ~ so, I took Music Appreciation instead! My result is that I can conduct, sing, or play the piano in 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 6/8, and even 9/8 and 12/8. I've also conducted a 5/4 pattern ~ just please don't ask me what pi or x equals. I have absolutely no idea!

My son seems to have inherited my math inadequacy. The hubs was an accountant for 5 years ~ he loves math. Tweenager is a mathematical genius as well. She can do mathematical cartwheels around me! Sadly, though, Bubby has my patience and skill for math. That left me with a problem. How can I motivate him to get his math done without getting frustrated, and where he can feel good about completing it more independently?

My first option for last year was to make him a math office. There are several great ideas on the web ~ The Busy Teacher's Cafe (located in my sidebar) has great links.

So, I fired up the printer and went to work making all kinds of charts for addition, place value, multiplication, money, liquid measure, time, shapes, Roman numerals, and skip counting. These worked great for last year, but I soon realized during the first quarter that my son wasn't committing anything to memory. He was just copying from his math office. It had to go!

I've found the best way is rote drilling. I found a great CD of multiplication facts. We put it on, and chant the facts. It gets a little monotonous, but it's working. I still need to wean him off of his number line and addition chart.

I also found a great online source called http://www.kidsnumbers.com/ . It has plenty of games for addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and fractions. Tweenager can benefit as well.

Although the math office is great tool for 1st-2nd grade, I believe it to be best to supplement a bit of drilling every day as well. I've learned from my mistake, and hope I can help my son with his mathematical memory skills!