? about living math approach?

[Momma Aimee]

I have just "found" the living math approach for math ..

and i am reading up on it.

I like the "reading / lit " aspect ..

We are jsut starting out in HS and I feel strongly that we inculde real book in all areas as much as we can.

I have this website

http://www.livingmath.net/Home/tabid...S/Default.aspx

and i am reading it and adding some of the suggesdted book to my reading list.

my question is for the moms / families actually taking this appraoch to math education in their homes --

this may be stupid

but

do you also "do" math .. like worksheets, or written problems on the white board or .....

I mean at some point .. you have to take writen numbers, and do additions and fractions and "work problems" ... right?

you know the good old "3 MMS + 2 MMs = 5 MMs

thoughts?

Aimee

[mangopassion]

We take the living math approach in our home and we supplement with Singapore and Miquon. So we do math worksheets every once in awhile.

One of our favorite resources for Living Math is Family Math. (I bought the book, but most libraries have it.) For the younger set, Family Math for Young Children would be a great addition to your home library!

Here are some links that may be of help to you:

Transitioning to Living Math A very helpful Squidoo Lens that was crucial in helping me realize that I can do living math in our home.

Pumpkin Patch blog This Aussie blogger does living math in her home and has many blog posts full of ideas for activities to make math fun.

Jimmie's Collage The blog of the lady who wrote the Squidoo Lens that I linked to above. Lots of ideas... although might not be helpful to you yet because she has a 5th grader ... but you might be able to save the ideas for when your kids are older.

Math Journaling is another aspect of Living Math. Marilyn Burns wrote a wonderful article about it. Even younger kids can do it! Here is a great Squidoo Lens that gives ideas for notebooking with younger children.

HTH!

[Momma Aimee]

thanks sooo sooo much

this is all new to me -- and i feel like it is so hard to get a grip on a totally "new" idea ...

thanks

Aimee

[mangopassion]

Yes, that's how I felt about it, too. Living Math (dot net) is a great website, but I found it so overwhelming! After reading all of the articles and spending days going through their booklists and figuring out which books I could get, which books would work for our family, which books were out of print, etc; I just didn't know where to start! I got discouraged and felt like I wouldn't be able to implement it into our home.

Then I found Jimmie's blog and Squidoo lens and felt much better. Her stuff made me feel like I can do this!!

I think the problem with the Living Math (dot net) website and Yahoo group is that they are all mathematic thinking people. Know what I mean? So when it comes to explaining things to people who aren't so mathematic-minded, they don't get their point across. Don't get me wrong... I love livingmath.net, but it wasn't helpful to me until I actually understood how Living Math can work in our home.

Good Luck!

[Momma Aimee]

i fall more into math phobic

DH is an Accountant and $ investigator.

I jsut want Math to not be stressful for the boys -- i have to do end of shift paperwork at a part time job and it is as bad as being back in college. I don't want the boys to feel that way

also -- i am a book addict and i want BOOKS to be a part of everythign we do -- to show that books are not "jsut" for this or that, but that books are everything .. or can be apart of everything.

I will go read up and come back with more questions.

I think the biggest thing right now i am trying to get a grip on -- is living math, but stil you know "math facts" and "application" -- you know?

yes you gotta get it in your head -- but you also have to be able to subtract to balance a check boom too -

[craft_media_hero]

Thanks for starting this thread, I'm really interested to see what others have to say. And Mangopassion, those are great links!

We definitely take a living math approach, even though we use workbooks, too (Singapore and Miquon as well!). We alternate living math days with workbook days.

I'm also a big proponent of the great books/living books approach to learning. So we use stories or living books for everything. I try to introduce math (or other subject) concepts with a story, read-aloud, or dramatic play. Right now we are reading "The History of Counting"; we just read a few pages before doing our workbooks. Basically any math reader will do, and biographies, etc. of mathematicians and such. Number poems/math poems, stuff like that.

Math readers are on days where we're doing workbooks, otherwise we just jump around and shout numbers a lot

On days that we specifically do "living math":
a lot of free play with manipulatives
"princess" math where we use the manipulatives as treasure and make up/act out stories
Numeria/Gnome/Waldorf approach
pattern blocks/bead patterns
logic/critical thinking games
cooking/measuring
sidewalk math: we do a lot of variations on this, but sidewalk chalk + movement, draw a giant number line and hop up and down it, hide/find numbers, walk out numerals/roman numerals, trace cars around numbers, draw pyramids and hop from smaller triangles to add/subtract/etc
skip counting while walking/trotting/skipping/etc
math art

Also, we do all four processes from the beginning and all the time. I really feel like this is important and totally reasonable. So any time we're doing a living math activity, I try to make a point to make up a few story problems of each process. And I don't "hold back" any concepts (like negative numbers or square roots) as something that she can't grasp. If it comes up, we talk about it.

Okay, that's all I can think of right now. Can't wait to see other people's ideas!

[elizawill]

i agree that the website for living math is a bit overwhelming. i'm glad others thought so too!

in addition to the other recommendations, i also like peggy kaye's games for math. it is very hands-on and lots of fun. my library has it.

[Momma Aimee]

I still don't have much to add here.

But I related to what craft_media_hero said about teaching with living rooks / real books.

Even before this i had put several books like Mathematicians Are People, Too: Stories from the Lives of Great Mathematicians,​ Vol. 2 by Luetta Reimer on my book list. In hopes of putting a human face on math ...

I am Glad to find a bit of guidance on makeing math more reading based. I also have this book on my to get / to read / ? to use list:

Books You Can Count On: Linking Mathematics and Literature by Margaret Clyne (Author), Rachel Griffiths (Author)

I am looking forward to searching though more of the links -- and getting more of the "how to" down. Theodore is only 4 so i have time.

Aimee

[AngelBee]

[Lillian J]

Originally Posted by Momma Aimee

my question is for the moms / families actually taking this appraoch to math education in their homes --

this may be stupid

but

do you also "do" math .. like worksheets, or written problems on the white board or .....

I mean at some point .. you have to take writen numbers, and do additions and fractions and "work problems" ... right?

you know the good old "3 MMS + 2 MMs = 5 MMs

thoughts?

I didn't follow any named plan, but we didn't do ongoing "work problems" - it's one thing to do a few of this and a few of that once you already have an understanding of what they represent, but it doesn't take ongoing practice to be able to understand how to do written calculations. If math is threading through your lives, that part comes a lot easier/faster when it comes up.

Lillian


























































































Aimee[/QUOTE]

[Momma Aimee]

Originally Posted by Lillian J

I didn't follow any named plan, but we didn't do ongoing "work problems" - it's one thing to do a few of this and a few of that once you already have an understanding of what they represent, but it doesn't take ongoing practice to be able to understand how to do written calculations. If math is threading through your lives, that part comes a lot easier/faster when it comes up.

Lillian





Aimee

[/QUOTE]

ok, but -- even if you UNDERSTAND the "idea" behind addition .. at some point don't you have to pratice the "facts" (1+3=4 and so on). Apply the knowledge?

I am new to thins, and reading as i can with two active boys, but it seems to me even if you UNDERSATND the WHY that doesn't mean you can DO it.

I failed Calcuis in College. i understord the lectures on teory great, and i followed the Prof do problems i always knew the next step -- but i never could make the problems work right myself.

I guess i am just trying to fit together teh THEORY and the WHY behind it .. with the "application" and the pratical "doing the math"

sorry to be so dsnse.

Aimee

[pageta]

Yeah, I also found that in math...that if I "understood" it, I didn't know it. In my experience, knowing it comes first, then understanding it. Knowing your numbers is something you know, not something you understand. Knowing your math facts is just like knowing your numbers - they are the basic elements on whcih all math is composed of. So I teach basic math facts just like I taught the alphabet.

[Lillian J]

Originally Posted by Momma Aimee

ok, but -- even if you UNDERSTAND the "idea" behind addition .. at some point don't you have to pratice the "facts" (1+3=4 and so on). Apply the knowledge?

And you do when math is an ongoing part of life - it happens all the time. You eventually need to get into books and some exercises when pursuing math - it's just that you don't need all that for the basics and you don't need to do a whole lot of it even later. There are some really good resources - FUN-Books carries some great ones - but to start out using worksheets and such for learning basics just isn't necessary. Home Education Magazine has a number of articles on how that can work in their Closer Look at Math page. Here are a few other good sites from math enthusiasts:
Joyful Math
Marvelous Math!
And there are more on my math links page - Go Figure!

By the way, there's a program called Calculus By and for Young People
- math "made interesting for people age 7 and up" by wonderful math teacher, Don Cohen. It offers some sample problem pages so that you can get an idea of what the program is like. My son wasn't interested in it, but one of Miranda's daughters was using it awhile back and really enjoying it.

And you're not being dense - it's only natural to think of it all having to come in methodical and traditional forms, but experience can demonstrate that more natural immersion works very effectively.

[Momma Aimee]

thanks Lillian.

I will keep reading.

It is -- amazing to see in ME -- the very learning processes i am reading about for the boys ...

[AngelBee]

Originally Posted by Momma Aimee

thanks Lillian.

I will keep reading.

It is -- amazing to see in ME -- the very learning processes i am reading about for the boys ...

I have learned more homeschooling my kids than I did in school. It has been quite a process