First Fruits & Math

I got to enjoy the first fruits of my garden last night!  I know this doesn't look as appetizing as it actually is.  It looked better last night.  These are just my leftovers.  I got to pick my very first asparagas this year from my new patch.  I finally have some big enough to use!  It was exciting.  I celebrated that by throwing it into some shrimp risotto for supper.  I didn't have enough to make it worth being the main vegetable (only 5 stalks were ready), so I threw in some broccoli and tomatoes too.  Yummy!  I was glad there were leftovers for me to enjoy today at lunchtime. 

I've spent the last school year struggling with Ana during math time.  She disliked it very much and we would butt heads with each other on doing it and getting it done.  She is very good at math, so it's not that it is difficult for her to do it, but she just didn't like doing it AT ALL.  I never knew what attitude to expect each morning when it was math time. She finished her math book a couple of weeks ago and I didn't want her to be done with math quite yet while we finished up our other books, so I found some concepts I wanted to teach her and decided to make my own math sheets for her to do.  I also thought about how she is a very right-brained, visual learner and enjoys pretty things (math sheets are usually quite boring to look at).  So I decided to try to pretty things up a bit for her and draw some pictures, break it up with colors, make clear differences from one part to the next.  Here is an example for you (bonus points if you solve it without a calculator!):

So the other day, out of the blue, Ana said, "I really like math now." 

"Oh?  Why is that?"  I asked incredulously.

"Because my sheets are pretty!  I like doing them."

Mental forehead slap. I wish I would have tried this at the beginning of the year.  It would have saved many tears of frustration on both of our parts.  So I will need to figure out how to "prettify" her math next year.  It will take some extra work on my part.  But I feel it's way more of an advantage to have a happy learner than a grumpy, irritable, uncooperative "learner".  Good attitudes make for a better school experience all around!

David was listening in and asked why his math wasn't pretty.  I asked him if he would like me to decorate his math with glitter.  He declined.  They both do enjoy doing work on the white board using different colors - another way to visually stimulate their learning.  I'm all for that!

David's math is to the point of he is now asking the question that just about every math student asks at some point:  "Am I ever going to use this in real life?"  He's asked me this several times now as we learn various algebra principles.  I usually respond with, "No, more than likely you won't ever use this again unless you go into some specialized field.  However, we do it because it helps you learn to think in a more complex way and helps you learn to problem solve and have perseverance."  He usually accepts that argument.

Question for you to answer for me: Are you a math lover or a math hater?  - I loved math.  My big sister liked to play school with me when I was little. She was a ferocious teacher.  So I went to Kindergarten knowing how to multiply and divide.  I still remember my sister getting REALLY mad at me when I couldn't figure out how to divide by two digit numbers (I was 4 at the time).  Thankfully she didn't go into education.  But because of her, I really loved figuring out how to solve math problems.  I still do enjoy math - geometry was my all time favorite class.