David loves math, but often doing worksheet after worksheet to reinforce mathematical learning is too dull for either of us to pursue. So, when I bought MindWare’s Addition Adventures, I thought it might be a nice change.

What I didn’t expect was how much fun he would find it.

On top of each page of the book there’s a treasure map of sorts, with a star indicating the starting point. Your child answers about 20 mathematical questions, and the answers to each of those questions (plus the N-E-S-W direction beside the equation) indicates how many squares and in what direction you should move away from the last point, till you reach your final destination.

The pages start off at a grade 1 level, with addition problems that only go up to ten, and don’t advance too quickly. By the end of the book the numbers go up to 20, but slowly enough that it seems like a natural and easy progression.

We always start out by guessing where the path will lead us, and if one of us guessed right, that person ‘wins’, which turns the page into a treasure map AND a game.

Highly recommended. And I’ve already ordered Subtraction Secrets in the same series so that we can keep going once we’re finished the addition book.

I’ve just recently discovered this television series, and I’ve been watching old episodes on the Mystery Network when I remember to turn on the TV.

I can’t say I was ever much good at math, but I always enjoyed the mystery of it.

So, when I found not only the show, but this blog where a professor from Northeastern University’s Math department posts mathematical comments on each episode, I was hooked.

Knowing my abysmal ability to remember to schedule any TV time, I suppose I’ll have to  buy the first few seasons to get any consistent viewing at all, but I thought I’d share the math blog for other fans.

What mother’s heart wouldn’t warm at that particular phrase?

Well, there are others more heart-warming, I guess, but I this was the one my “2+2 year-old” son handed me this morning.

So, after a long time away from the workbooks, we spent this cold, rainy day finishing up the K-1 Mind Building Math book together, followed by an hour or so of him working on a Power Mathematics workbook on his own.

It initially amazed me that he so loved the Professor B workbooks, since I can’t think of anything more unimaginative than a page full of equations, but I realized that, even when he was unable to read, he could still work entirely independently solely using the language of numbers. It must give him a great sense of accomplishment to go through pages and pages of a workbook without ever having to ask me what a word is or what it means.

He didn’t get the math-loving gene from me, but I love that he has it.

Now that David’s approaching 5, I have finally gotten to the point that I’m confident that I’ll be homeschooling him, and I’m looking at various curriculum options for Grade 1 and beyond.

As such, I’ve been signing up for Home School discussion and curriculum lists left, right and center.

I’ve seen a lot of people with three-year-olds ask about curriculum. And while I sure didn’t have a boxed set for David, I can perhaps help out by showing how we got to this point in his haphazard education.
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