I’m planning on homeschooling my kids. In fact, I say that I’m already homeschooling my children, as in my area it is nearly unheard of to have a child who is 2 or older be at home instead of in nursery/daycare. Having a 4 year old at home? Well, there is public school preschool already for children aged 3 and up, and keeping a 4 year old at home raises quite a few eyebrows, indeed, when people see him with me during normal school hours.
So yes, I consider myself to be homeschooling already, as I have a 2 and a 4 year old child at home with me full time; I am the one providing all their educational needs.
At this age, there isn’t much schooling that needs to be done. Kids pick up so much just from their every day life; their head gets full of knowledge just from living life fully and the explanations about the where’s, why’s and how’s that inquisitive children’s minds are always asking every day of their lives. Formal schooling certainly isn’t necessary during the preschool years.
A lot about the unschooling homeschooling philosophy speaks to me. Unschoolers believe that a child naturally is motivated to learn, and by forcing them to learn by having a rigid learning schedule, etc… a child’s thirst to learn is quashed. Unschoolers believe in child led learning, not parent led learning. When the child expresses an interest in something, the parents provide the material and help to learn it, but not before. If the child doesn’t show an interest in the subject, the parents won’t require him to learn it.
I’m not completely in the unschooling camp; there are things that I’d require that my child learn, even if they weren’t particularly interested in it, as I think there are some basics that must be learned in order to be a fully functioning adult in society, but the child led learning is something that I think is beautiful.
And so, for a while, Lee and I were learning the alphabet together, identifying and writing letters, learning the sounds the letters made, and beginning to put together basic words. But lately, Lee has shown that he really wants to learn arithmetic. I’d be standing there washing the dishes, the kids coloring pictures, and Lee would ask me “Mommy, how much is 4 and 2?” And I’d stop what I was doing, show him how to figure it out using his fingers, and then go back to washing the dishes. 5 minutes later- “Mommy, how much is 6 and 3?” And again, I’d show him how to figure it out.
At least a few times every single day, Lee has been asking me arithmetic questions. Even though some might say 4 years old is a drop young for teaching subtraction and addition, Lee has shown a strong interest in learning the subject, so I decided the time is ripe to teach him math.
Here is a tool that I made to teach my son arithmetic. It cost me absolutely nothing to make, and with its visual aids, is working wonders to teach my son basic arithmetic concepts.
What do you need to make these arithmetic manipulatives?
Cardboard- any kind will do. I used corrugated cardboard I found near the dumpster; old cereal boxes would also work fine.
Apricot, plum or peach pits, cleaned well. Or soda bottle caps, small pebbles, dried beans, etc… Any small things that are a uniform size that you can get in large quantities cheaply or free. I used apricot pits because they come out cleanly from apricots, and I had a bunch saved from apricots I bought cheaply in season.
Colored markers. (I used markers I got for free from a family moving to Australia and emptying out their apartment; they gave me to sets when I came to pick up 30 canning jars they’d advertised on freecycle.)
A razor blade or scissors to but the cardboard.
Paper.
How to make the math manipulatives?
1. Cut out squares from the cardboard. Make a lot.
2. Write numbers 1 through 10, 15, or 20 on the cardboard squares, one number on each square. If desired, do this on both the front and the back of the squares. Ideally make more than one of each number to make the numbers easier to find.
3. Make a minus sign, a plus sign, and an equals sign on a few squares. Make a few of each, and ideally make them in a different color from the numbers to make it easier to find them and differentiate between them.
4. If using pits or pebbles, using a marker, color half the pits or pebbles one color, half another. You can use paint for this, but I found markers much easier to work with.
Thats it! Now you can use them to teach your child math.
How do you use these math manipulatives, and what is the purpose of doing so?
My purpose of using these math manipulatives with Lee is to make math more real so it is easier to visualize. I want him to be able to do addition without needing to count on his fingers. I want him at some point to be able do written arithmetic problems at some point. I want Lee to connect between visual amounts and numerals, and to learn what different math signs look like. I also want him to practice his writing numbers.
I know some people have an issue forcing a kid to use manipulatives in school when they can already do math without it, that manipulatives were “made for developmentally delayed children” and requiring kids to use manipulatives when they can do math without is just taking things a step backwards. I beg to differ. I think that if a child already knows how to do 3+4=7 on his own, he shouldn’t be using manipulatives to figure it out, but if a kid is doing what Lee is doing, and constantly asking “Mommy, what is 2 and 8?” then these manipulatives can help him learn math better and improve his math skills.
How do I use these manipulatives with Lee?
