DIY Math Manipulatives

My kids easily grasp and learn a concept by using manipulatives. I could just grab a box of pencils and that would instantly becomes a way to teach Math concepts.

I like Singapore Math because it teaches concepts but I also like Kumon for mastery and rote teaching. Mixing both ideas worked well for my kids.

Sharing some of my math manipulatives to you which you can easily do as well.

We learned addition with this. This has greatly helped my 5 year old math-challenged kid to understand the basic concepts of addition.

We call this our Addition Machine. Pompom balls are placed on each cup and it will sum up as it falls in the basket.

I also introduced number bonds thru our number links. I have a 5, 10 and 20 links for my kids level.

The pipe cleaners and beads are placed on each link. They will come up with different addends to come up with that number.

This gave my Kindergarteners a quick idea of the concept. Now, they  are much faster and I can soon introduce worksheets once they can fully grasp the idea.

Manipulatives can be just everyday household materials. But, if you want to buy your own, you can buy them at Hobbes & Landes, Toys R Us, Toy Kingdom, National Bookstore or Office Warehouse.

Pipe cleaners, pompom balls can be bought at Office Warehouse, Little Town Bookstore, or at Daiso.

Happy Math day!

Expect excellence with your children

I posted this on a Homeschooler's group and was surprised on the number of likes it got. My purpose, was just to share an incident and yet I felt that the message was relevant and was particularly striking for most parents, homeschoolers or not. I do not see it as my own, but I feel that it is what the Lord is trying to convey to families that we should value excellence with our children.

Sharing this on my blog and I hope that this becomes a goal for our children. To take excellence as a way of life.

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I was a terror teacher today. I had my 10 year old narrate a chapter of his reading, Doctor Dolittle, by making a drawing of a scene. He made a drawing straight to a notebook and started drawing to no more than a minute and said "I'm done!!". Quite alarmed by the manner that he has finished it, I knew there was a lesson that I had to teach right that very instant - Excellence.

I told him excellence is not perfection. Excellence is putting your heart into something and making sure that it is the best that you could do on the task given to you. I asked him, "Is this your most excellent work?" He said, "no".

He was very upset when I told him that his work is not acceptable and I cannot ask him to use it for his narration. I had to literally tell him to drop all his other tasks for the day and make an EXCELLENT (not perfect) narration of the topic. Quite emotional but still focused on his work, he proudly showed me the other picture after an hour. Nothing too fancy really, but I was impressed as to how he added elements such as aluminum foil, construction paper and how excited he was when he showed me what he did. He was very proud of his own work as well.

I guess as homeschoolers, we can sometimes feel that we just have to go thru the day and tick off the things we need to finish for that day disregarding this precious value. But, if we value excellence and not mediocrity, we can see this reflected in our child as they grow. They will reflect the heart of our Father in heaven, for He is excellent in all His creation. So, yes - being a loving "terror" teacher could sometimes be necessary. #sorrylongpost #justsharing

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By the way, this conversation with my 10 year old also made an impression with his 5 year old younger sisters who heard about it.  My preschoolers were doing a copywork material which they despise. But, after they heard the lesson I spoke about with their big brother, their copywork were surprisingly excellent too!

Seeing this, I would rather prioritise and focus on good values over advancing leaps of academic advancement.