Rolling coins for math

This was a late August homeschool lesson, but I've had so little time for blogging that I am just getting to post about it now! And only if the baby sleeps a few more minutes!

The pink dinosaur bank and a jar or two were getting pretty full, so I thought it'd be fun to roll coins and do a little math in the process. We got all our coins, a few colored bowls, and some wrappers out and got to work. I let the kids sort the coins. I really just grabbed some plastic bowls from the kitchen without thinking, but the different colors came in handy. I could tell Ivey, "that's a quarter; it goes in the pink bowl." The lengthy coin sorting process allowed for lots of hands-on discussion and practice identifying coins. Does it have ridges? Then it's worth more. If someone said they'd trade you their penny for your dime, would that be a good deal?

I did most of the counting and rolling, but while I did it I took the opportunity to show the girls skip counting--mostly by twos with the pennies and tens with the dimes. Skip counting is something I had a hard time grasping as a child, and I think I might continue to get the coin jar out whenever we work on it. Money serves as a manipulative to let you put your hands on skip counting and helps bring it into the real world.

Once all the coins were rolled, I let the girls feel how heavy they all were. It was hard to hold that bowl up, but Ivey is strong!

Then we visited the bank. Now, I realize you can take all your coins to a machine in the grocery store that will do everything I just talked about and spit the cash out into your hand within a couple of minutes. But then you would miss out on the money lesson. So we went to the bank with our heavy bowl of coins and turned it in for some paper money, which was much lighter! I think Jordan might have been a little embarrassed to have his picture taken in the bank!

Finally, we went shopping. We bought movies to watch together and other fun stuff, and let the girls "pay the lady." When I was little, my parents helped me roll coins so I'd have money to spend when we went on vacation. I remember rolling coins for Disney World! But we are not going to Disney World until Robert is old enough to enjoy himself, so we figured for this roll-up, we might as well have a little fun right now!

Now the dinosaur bank is hungry, but he'll be full again before too long. Maybe next time we will be rolling coins for Disney World. I hope so!

Counting by fives

Because Suzi had a birthday last week, she received several cards with $5 bills in them. She was so excited. Of course, she wanted to count her money. This led us to try counting by fives. I hadn't intended to start that quite yet, but for counting money it definitely comes in handy!

I remember having the hardest time counting by fives as a child. The only instruction I recall getting was rote memorization and calling out the numbers as a class. There may have been some sort of manipulative used, but I do not remember it. We were probably given worksheets for it, but those were torture for me as I couldn't finish them fast enough, couldn't focus, and was kept in from recess to work on them. Anyway, during skip counting I was lost in a sea of chanting children. I needed a visual or some sort of way to tangibly connect counting by fives to something familiar. When I forgot which number was next I was totally stuck, until one day my brother's girlfriend told me that if I got confused I could just count five up to the next number. It literally hadn't occurred to me!

I told Suzi to hold her hand up and count on her fingers. Starting with her thumb, I told her to whisper "1, 2, 3, 4," and then when she got to her pinky finger to yell "5!!!" Suzi loves yelling. Then we started back at her thumb and counted "6, 7, 8, 9... 10!!!" We continued to about 30. Then we did a little dance and counted rhythmically by fives up to 30 or so. Memorizing things this way is fine, but some kids (like me when I was little) need to have this information anchored in a meaningful way to something they already get, in a way that is agreeable with their learning style. We will also use our little number chart that I colored for skip counting. I colored the fives and tens in red. That way, Suzi can count just the reds and she will be counting by fives. It's already been a helpful visual aid for counting by tens.

I found this neat website called IXL the other day. It has all kinds of interactive online games for teaching math skills (and other subjects as well). Check out their problems for counting by fives! You don't have to pay to play the games, but if you buy a membership you get access to more features. I am seriously considering it, but there are just too many fun things to buy! Homeschooling can get expensive fast.

If you have already started skip counting, how did your child understand it best?

Learning about money

When I was a child, I loved learning about money. Which coins were most valuable? How much did I have? What could I buy? How could I get more? It was fascinating! Suzi is about the same age now as I was when I started learning about money. I wasn't planning to start money with her quite yet. Her counting skills are still coming along to the point where she will be able to effectively count her money up to dollar amounts. But it wasn't just about the math. Suzi needed to learn how to appropriately use money. We kept hearing "you didn't buy me anything!" and "I want this, could you get it for me?" She is kind of a material girl sometimes. I was too. I remember asking my parents for toys, and when they said you have to have money to buy toys, I told them "you can just go get money from the money machine! It's easy!" I had no idea you had to put the money in the bank first.

So I decided to get started. First, we identified the penny, nickel, dime, and quarter, and I told her to feel for the ridges on the edge--those are worth more! I made her a money reference card and placed it in a ziploc bag with the corresponding coins. On her own, she decided to make another one. We've been reviewing coins whenever the opportunity arises. We have to be careful not to drop any in the floor where Robert might find them!

We are offering her the opportunity to earn a little money by doing certain jobs around the house. This has the added benefit of teaching her some basic housekeeping skills! I am super excited about that part. So far, here is her job list:

Cleaning Robert's high chair with a Norwex cloth - 10 cents

Putting away a load of kids' clothes - 25 cents

Washing a small sinkful of dishes - 25 cents (I dry and put away)

Bringing laundry downstairs - 10 cents

Sweeping - 10 cents (this will change to 25 cents once she can do it by herself)

With this mixed bag of chores, there is usually something she can do. Sometimes I ask her if she wants to and she says no thanks. That is okay. She does it when she is ready and does it cheerfully, and eventually she'll realize that saying yes means having more to spend. Also, I know this price list might make it look like I am getting a great deal. Right now, though, Suzi is just learning. Sometimes it would be easier for me to just do these things myself, but I know that if I help her learn now, in a matter of months she will be a great help to me, and it will help her learn responsibility. In addition to paying her for these jobs (and we hope to add gradually to the list), we have decided to give her $1 each week for allowance.

We put a savings jar on her desk and bought her a little zipper pouch to take shopping. Of course, Ivey wanted one, too... And of course, Ivey wants money to put in hers, too. I can't do that, because I know the money will end up in the floor where Robert can find it and put it in his mouth. I'm thinking of making up some paper "Ivey bucks" to pay her for jobs until she gets a little older. Hopefully that will work.

Now if Suzi asks us to buy her something and we don't want to, we can tell her we will help her figure out how to save up and buy it. It'll be empowering.

How have you taught your kids about money? Any tips?