Soap and Math

I really enjoy the times when learning happens and comes from a genuine desire from the child to really 'get' something. I really think all learning should be that way. Think about it. How many things did you learn because you 'should' and you just forgot afterwards? Even rudimentary things like ABC's and counting were done to music and using stuff we were interested in ("Johnny, do you want one cookie, or 2?")


I encouraged Simonne to start making soap for 2 reasons: so she could make some money to start attacking the list of toys she wants, and to help her make math practical. So here's a pic of the soaps. They are 50 cents each, so people often pay her in quarters. I asked her one night, what's 25 and 25? I was sure she knew, the amount of times we had done this. she said "About...45 cents?" and I figured she had no idea. A little testily, I explained in about 3 different ways, how to add 25 and 25. We used regular sum notation, base 10 blocks and counting by 5's on fingers. I wrote it up on the blackboard side of the easel. Some time later, I saw this on the white board side! She wrote out what I had on the board, expanded on it and added some annotations of her own! She said "Look Mommy, is this math?" I had an enthusiastic affirmative. Of course, I was suspicious. Did she really get it? Was she just copying what I did on the board? A few days later, I found out. We emptied the piggy bank, and started counting the money. She counted 2 quarters with no problem, then we moved on to the problem of 50 cents plus 50 cents. She got it!