| If there is one thing that seems to be a constant struggle during our school day, it's the math portion. First, I will wholeheartedly tell you that I am not a big fan of math. Oh, I don't mind some fractions due to my quilting, or figuring out percentages when there is a great sale at Target or JCP, but one you start getting into Calculus or Trig (or worse, Algebra), forget it. Well, my son seems to have picked up on my distaste for the subject because, he too, puts up a fight when it's time to break out the math workbooks. Big UGH! Granted, we aren't anywhere near Algebra (we're still working on subtraction with borrowing), but he really likes to fuss and put up a fight. At least he did. I'm glad to say that it seems that I've been able to finally create for him a helpful math mat that he can use while working through his figures. I pulled a bunch of resources that we had been using in our instruction and put them in a laminated cover with a hole in the middle that he can lay over the ONE problem that he is working on (apparently, he was getting overwhelmed by seeing all the problems on the page and it would freak him out). The hole allows him to look at one problem at a time. The sheet also contains some poems that we've been using when remembering what to do, a number line, some counting fingers, and a hundreds chart. I'm really proud of it actually and it seems to really be helping The Monk work through his math at a much easier rate. There aren't nearly as much whining as there used to be since he started using it! |