31
Aug

MATH STINKS!!!

   Posted by: MotherHen   in MATH STINKS!!!

I may never get the hang of it.  I hate it.  It gives me the headaches from hell.  I hate doing it.  I hate teaching it.  I would be happy if it went away and never came back.

Why aren’t kids born knowing their math facts already?  And why do some kids not know any math on some days?  And how can a person forget all of the math they know in one weekend?

You realize that I don’t expect you to have the answer to any of these questions, but if any of you would like to do my kids math for them for the rest of their lives we’d all be pretty grateful.

But since I don’t see any volunteers lining up at my door for that assignment I think I’ll go make some triangular flash cards.

If you don’t hear from me for a few days, send chocolate.  or brownies.  or rum.

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This entry was posted on Monday, August 31st, 2009 at 3:43 pm and is filed under MATH STINKS!!!. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

9 comments so far

LoisG.
 1 

Bless you for saying it!!! I am SO sick of not being allowed to lament the teaching of math. I hearby lament with you! The way I have been putting it this week is “I am SO tired of trying to cram math into thick skulls!”

We will both feel better about the whole thing on another day – I know that – but for now, we need to LAMENT! (Which is different than complaining, I assure you all.)

August 31st, 2009 at 5:10 pm
MotherHen
 2 

Well, Lois, I was so fed-stinkin’-up when I wrote it that I didn’t even think about whether or not I was complaining or if I should or whatever. But thanks for the justifiable term “LAMENT”. I love it. And will continue to Lament until I feel all better. ;)

August 31st, 2009 at 5:33 pm
Teresa
 3 

You are not complaining, you are warning those of us that are not there yet:) I am lamenting wtih you- someday I will be there. (Actually I was there this morning, but I am blocking that from my mind for fear of having to think I have 12 more years of this!!

What is a triangle card and what do you do with it? you can answer that sometime in the future when you are not math weary.

August 31st, 2009 at 9:23 pm
MotherHen
 4 

The triangle flashcard is too cool to for words. I’ll just give an example. Say the fact family you wanna teach is this: 3+4=7, 4+3=7, 7-4=3, 7-3=4. You make a card with the 7 at the top and the 3 and the 4 in the bottom corners, then you put a + between the 3 and the 4 and a minus between the 7 and the 4 and another minus between the 7 and the 3. It doesn’t make a nice tidy vertical math problem like traditional flash cards do, but all the numbers for those four problems in that fact family are all on the same side of the card. You just cover one of the numbers and the child tells what is hidden. In the example I gave, you might cover the 7 and ask the child what is missing. Or you can just let the child hold the card and tell you the four problems that those numbers can make (two addition problems and two subtraction problems).
Anyway, since I am a VERY visual person it makes sense to my way of thinking.

August 31st, 2009 at 9:44 pm
Cyndi L.
 5 

I’m not a math person. Hate it! Love history and geography. Love to teach history and geography. I’ve got two math kids… they love it and it comes easy for them. I also have one non-math kid who cries through most lessons. It’s a good thing that my DH is a math person. It is a good thing that God has not called any of my children to be rocket scientists. (At least not yet.)

September 1st, 2009 at 7:42 am
petersonclan
 6 

We bought a resource called the “Flashmaster”… it runs the flashcards (electronically) and now I don’t have to. It was around $50 from Sonlight, and well worth EVERY PENNY!!! The kids hate it, but it is my favorite math thing.

September 1st, 2009 at 8:17 am
MotherHen
 7 

Googling “Flashmaster” right now.

September 1st, 2009 at 8:39 am
MotherHen
 8 

I am a kind of idiot, though. We have a MathShark, we are totally gonna exploit explore that more TODAY!

September 1st, 2009 at 8:42 am
Stephanie
 9 

Math U See has an online drill and let’s you know how long it takes to do 20 math problems. You can challenge yourself to beat your last time and you only get a ribbon if all 20 are correct. My son loves to see how fast he can do all 20 and I know if he gets a ribbon then he really knows his facts.

September 2nd, 2009 at 9:02 am