The Value of a Number Line

No pun intended in the title!

Jordyn has been working on building a number line since the first day of school and she is approaching the 100th day in the month of February! A BIG celebration that we will blog about later. Anyway, each month has its own figure which usually matches the seasonal theme of that particular month.

The number line has been an excellent tool in learning a great deal of math concepts. Here are a few that we review often:

:: Number Recognition

:: Counting forwards and backwards

:: Skip Counting (22, 24, 26,....)

:: Number 'Families' (the 10s family, the 20s family, the 30s, etc.)

:: Directional Cues--RIGHT and LEFT

:: The concept of MORE and LESS--when we move to the right, the numbers get bigger, to the left the numbers get smaller; so 65 is more than 41 and 12 is less than 28. Over time, Jordyn has learned to explain this concept on her own.

:: Addition and Subtraction--slowly we have built up to doing simple word problems, verbally of course; example-"find number 45. If you had 45 pieces of candy and Grandaddy sent you two more, how many would you have now?" She now knows to move two spaces to the right and get the answer; or to the left if Mom uses the words 'less or take away'.

:: Understanding that Time is Passing--along with marking a daily calendar, the number line helps to give a visual and more concrete example for understanding the abstract concept of time. Because each month has a different figure, Jordyn is able to to 'see' that September, October, etc. are over and in the past. We can also count how many days of school we had in a particular month by simply counting the Christmas trees, leaves, or whatever.

All of this has been done without pencil and paper. Because Jordyn learns well visually and with hands-on activities, she is having fun and learning so much without feeling overly stressed. Then next year we can begin with some math worksheets and such...but she'll have a HUGE bank of concepts and framework in her mind to 'attach' all of that to!

Next year we may count the school days in the shape of a hundred board. We'll see.

3D Snowflakes

Try making one yourself, it's fairly easy. (yes, we know there is no such thing as a yellow and blue snowflake, but ran out of white paper! :o)

Two Home Runs!

I (Janelle) am not even a baseball fan, but just wanted to post about the absolutely GREAT news in my life! First, last Saturday, I participated in the county's 4th/5th grade homeschool spelling bee--and won second place! After 27 rounds of words--ten of those rounds being between the winner and myself--the word 'saucer' finally stumped me a little and I heard the ding of the bell meaning that it was not spelled correctly (If you must know, I inserted an 's' instead of a 'c'). But, let's not focus on what I did wrong....

I won second place! And, I heard that last year the bee ended at round 11, so this was a great showdown.

But that's not all! On the same day, I went to audition at a local theatre for a part in the upcoming show 'Schoolhouse Rock, Jr.' To say that I was nervous is a big understatement, but I had practiced my monologue and song a bunch of times. In I went and at the end, the director told me "Terrific job, Janelle! You will definitely be getting a callback...we'll give you a phone call in a few weeks to explain details of the show."

Y-E-A-H!!

All of the work (which I sometimes complained was boring & hard) of practicing during the fall paid off....woohoo!! I cannot wait to be on stage.

So, there is my supercalifragilisticexpialidocious day! (can YOU spell that without looking?)

Mama D's Musings

It's been a while since there has been a post about our family mission statement and the driving force behind why we've chosen to base the children's education from home for this season. Well, the primary reason is because we've been doing the work of educating them! But, the real reason is basically...I forgot.

In the fall, I posted about reason number one, and today I want to elaborate on our mission statement--five descriptions that we came up with back in 2003 that seem to give us a goal to attain. We have not perfected it by any means, but we try daily.

Number Two: "We develop our abilities and talents to honor God and help those in need. We will generously share what we have with others."

Not only are we called to experience relationship together as a family and with our Creator, we are called to relationship with those around us. No theologians here, however, if we did a quick scan of the Scriptures, much seems to focus on the fact that mankind is to care for the things (tangible or intangible) given to us. But not only for our own benefit or to make a name for ourselves! To glorify God and to serve others.

As parents we desire that our children first understand that they are gifted--created in the image of a multi-faceted and highly intelligent God. The gifts or talents they've been given are to be nutured so that they can serve and take their place in this slice of history. Any parent knows it is a huge task to discover where our children's abilities seem to flourish and to provide ways to ignite that fire.

So...we have them at home for a little longer than the 'norm'. Here we can take more time to observe, make note of, take in who they are and the ins and outs of their personalities and potential. With that information in mind, we create opportunities for them to grow in a more holistic way than a classroom might provide. We do not blame the schools, their primary focus is to train children academically. But there is much more to a person than that.

Our family has been entrusted with much. Four beautiful children and the many gifts, talents and abilities among them. Having them at home this season enables us as parents to be much more diligent in allowing them to develop, grow....and become.

Critical Thinking Skills

Janelle has been using some books that have been SO beneficial in improving her thinking and comprehension skills. The genius behind them is The Critical Thinking Co. and their products span almost every subject range and also every grade level. Janelle has been working through Math Detective, which enhances (and evaluates) her understanding of a math concept. While we work on computation, mental math, etc. with our Saxon curriculum, Math Detective has been excellent in combining reading comprehension with math practice. It's been challenging for Miss Janelle, but she is making progress! We have also enjoyed other products from Critical Thinking: Building Thinking Skills and Punctuation Puzzler. An excellent company and resource overall--highly recommended!

Enjoying Christmas Presents...

It's all about blocks and books these days for Josiah and Jordyn.

Psalm 100

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