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Today’s Math Lesson

Posted in Family, and Homeschooling

What do you do when it’s over 80 degrees outside? It’s a beautiful day and you child can’t focus on schoolwork because they want to be outside???

Well, today we took the schoolwork outside — onto the pavement to be more accurate. Today, we were talking about improper fractions and common denominators. So, I wrote out the problems with sidewalk chalk on the pavers. Eureka! We had a winner. She loved doing her math problems this way.
Our work on adjectives quickly became a game of sentences about describing plants and trees around us. It was a lot of fun to see her mind start to click when everything fell into place.

This lead to a discussion about plants and what they need to thrive. That lead to her watering the plants and seeing a rainbow. We discussed what caused rainbows.

Now, seeing how it was such a nice day… She couldn’t go without getting all dolled up into order to play in the sprinkler for a bit.

11 Comments

  1. Deena
    Deena

    Very creative! Take photos to put in her work file to “prove” you worked that day…and to remind you both of such a fun time…

    March 27, 2007
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  2. Trella
    Trella

    Sounds like a wonderful day. What a creative idea, mom!
    Blessings,
    Trella

    March 27, 2007
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  3. devildogwife
    devildogwife

    Deena: Thankfully, I don’t need to “prove” anything here and we don’t need to keep track of school days.

    Trella: Not so much creative as seriously needing to get some schooling done as we’re a little behind with everything that’s been going on. lol!

    March 27, 2007
    |Reply
  4. Jen
    Jen

    cool thats what id do too
    love the way u did it on the path with chalk
    glad your enjoying the nice weather

    March 27, 2007
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  5. Erna
    Erna

    What a great way to spend the day in the great outdoors!

    March 28, 2007
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  6. aka R'acquel
    aka R'acquel

    That’s so fantastic & creative. This is precisely the style of learning that would suit my son well – as changing the environment or context like that works so well for him. Using a water spray bottle to wash the chalk off would be another way to encourage the finer motor skills for younger kids. Look forward to trying the same thing over here, so that’s for the inspiration.

    March 28, 2007
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  7. Jill
    Jill

    How ingenious! This kind of homeschooling makes a lot of sense. I have a family member who “homeschooled” her children, but all they did was watch a DVD of a teacher to learn their lessons. They sat in front of a computer screen all day!

    March 28, 2007
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  8. weavermom
    weavermom

    I LOVE those days!

    Can you send some of the 80 degree weather out here? I’ll play sidewalk chalk, I prrrooommmissee!

    🙂

    March 28, 2007
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  9. lauren
    lauren

    ooh… i will have to remember to do math on the sidewalk with baby bear when she is old enough! thanks for swinging by my blog!

    March 28, 2007
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  10. Marilyn
    Marilyn

    Ooohhhh! What a great idea. Daughter hates math. It has been such a struggle.

    Thank you.

    March 28, 2007
    |Reply
  11. Malina
    Malina

    Great idea!!! I think I might use that one during the summer for my girls, thanks! Semper Fi from one Marine wife to another.

    March 28, 2007
    |Reply

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