Ecstasy in Math

A couple days ago my daughter, Mira, was working on her phonics workbook when she suddenly stopped and exclaimed, “LOOK Mommy! It’s your favorite thing!” This is the page she showed me:

I quickly scanned the sheet and thought bath? whale? but before I could ask for clarification she pointed and proudly excalimed “MATH!”

This episode was funny for a couple of reasons.  One being that I am horribly mathophobic- numbers and I have never gotten along. Never. I hate cooking to this day for the simple reason that fractions scare me.  The second reason Mira’s statement was funny was because we happened to be  with my mother; she was sitting there and probably would have burst out laughing had it not been for the earnestness in my daughter’s voice.  My mother probably thought- wait a second? Kristen? My Kristen?  The one who got her first ‘D’ in math on her third grade report card?  The one whose eyes glaze over at the mention of an equation?

To Mira I simply smiled widely and said, “why yes! It is my favorite.”

I’m a homeschooling mom now and if I can’t beat it at least I can fake it.

So ever since Mira and I started our formal math curriculum I make sure that everyday when we take out our math mainpulatives or our math workbook I have one GIGANTIC smile on my face.

And magically – this smile is becoming slightly more natural everyday.  It’s definitely not looking like the grin of Batman’s Joker anymore and that’s saying something.  Miquon has proven so fun and educational for both of us.  I can’t begin to describe what a huge weight it has taken of my chest.  Math was my Achilles heel whenever I contemplated homeschooling for the long haul.  But suddenly I’m feeling less doubt and more excitement. Heck, maybe I’ll start learning this stuff!  Educating your children allows you to give yourself the education you never had- with all the joy and excitement learning alongside your children grants you.

We’ve added the Base Ten Flats to our regular cuisenaire rod play.  Mira, who I should add has a little habit of ‘falling in love’ with random objects and using them as toys: boxes, bottles, tubes, etc… So when she got her hands on those base ten flats she was ecstatic.  She would run around the house hugging her 100 flat and saying how much she loved it. After our lesson, when it came time to put our flats away one 100 flat always seemed to find its way back into Mira’s hands.

We’ve been working on ones, tens, and hundreds for awhile now.  We spent some time earlier in the week experimenting with making 10 single units turn into a ten flat; making ten flats equal one 100 flat.  Mira was really digging it so I decided that now would be an opportune time to unveil our 1000 cube.

I had her count out 10 groups of the 100 flats.  (Around this time Lyra popped up to check out what was going on.)

We used the flats to guide Mira to find the pattern of groups of ten becoming larger numbers.  So when we got to the hundreds group she said, “..seven hundred, eight hundred, 9 hundred, 10 hundred- no wait. That doesn’t sound right.”  She paused for a moment and then asked, “what does 10 groups of hundreds make?”

All you homeschooling parents out there can imagine my excitement, right?  How exciting to witness your kid making these discoveries and seeing the wheels turn inside their brains.  And to top it off- I knew Mira would be pretty darn excited by the 1000 cube so I made sure to have the camera ready for the unveiling.

Happiness in homeschooling is made up of moments just like these.

And to think.. I’ll be experiencing this x3.