Whizzing Through Math

M&M is finishing the last page of her math book . . . the book that was supposed to last her through the first half of the school year.

She's yelling excitedly as she does each problem, "Mom! Three plus five is eight! AJ, did you know that three plus three is six? And look! Four plus six is TEN! Wow!"

She finished the book in less than half the amount of time it was supposed to take, even with me telling her she had to stop before she wanted to almost every day.

AJ, too, is finally seeming to enjoy her math workbook again.

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AJ is doing much better with her writing the last week or so, and isn't getting so bogged down by the difficulty of writing the numbers. She can do the calculations quickly and easily enough in her head, and now that she's getting less frustrated with translating that to paper she is seeming to enjoy it more.

She much prefers doing story problems orally, though. The other day M&M sat down with a book of story problems and was reading them out to AJ. She snapped out the answers as fast as MM could read the questions.

AJ, of course, basked in the adoration from her little sister as M&M was totally amazed and delighted that AJ was so good at solving the problems, and told her so effusively. "Wow, that was so fast! You're really good at math, AJ. That's amazing! Did you hear how fast she did that, Mom? Isn't she SO good at math?"

It continually amazes me that the kids enjoy math so much and are so good at it. Math was never my strong point. DH is the one who will work complicated math problems just for the fun of it. I did all right in math in school, but it was always a lot of effort and concentration--certainly not something I would choose to do for fun.

When AJ does her math I often have to think longer than she does to solve the problems, while she knows the solution in a snap. I'm actually enjoying learning along with her. The Singapore math books are taking the kids through a different process and a more thorough way of thinking through the concepts in more different ways than I learned them. Even with the simple addition and subtraction she's doing, I'm finding the training in basics of thinking mathematically enriching for myself.

We're one of those geeky families that plays games with numbers and words for fun. You might catch us exchanging mathematical riddles or thinking up rhymes over the dinner table or riding in the car, just for entertainment--often at the kids' request.

The last few days, though, the kids' favorite pastime has been painting. They're going through reams of paper painting animals, places and people, or just experimenting with colors, brushstrokes and textures. Most of the pictures get taped to the wall. I think the colorful wallpaper is much nicer than anything we could buy.

I'll post a photo of some of the paintings soon.