Maths Tricks To Teach The Kids

I was never a big fan of Maths at school, I had one great teacher at high school, she was that good that I actually understood everything she taught, aced my exams and got me into the top class the following year. That turned out to be my downfall because I didn't understand anything the next teacher taught.

For maths I need to see every step and it wasn't until a few years later when I was at college that I figured out that was the reason I never understood Mr Murray's class. He would skips steps that he assumed everyone would know.

I was always under the impression that I was crap at maths because as a kid, that is what I was constantly told. BUT when I was 18 I applied to get on a government run scholarship, at that point I had done a year at art college then a year at tech doing an engineering foundation course. I had not got A level maths or physics and hadn't studied the curriculum.

Nether the less I managed to get an interview for the scholarship and then we had to sit some tests. I was the only one in the interviews that hadn't done A levels or the Scottish equivalent yet I aced the test and got the top score on my maths!

And yes, I got the place, there were just 60 in the whole country so it was a pretty big thing for me.

The point of this story is that I struggled at school and was led to believe that there was only one way to get the answer, this appears to be another deception! When I look at Ebi-kun's maths book I am often baffled at the way he has been taught to find the answer, it doesn't feel logical because it's not the way I was taught. It doesn't make it wrong and I do like the fact that he is taught different methods to reach the same answer.

I think the bead material that is used in Montessori hit a chord because I wish I had been taught in that logical way, I still love the Montessori maths materials and I'm sure it is down to that, that Ebi-kun has a strong foundation for his maths.

Anyway, this might be old news to you but for me, this trick made me very happy! I discovered the Trachtenberg method, Ebi-kun loves the idea, so I'll hare each trick on here as I teach him.

Challenge #1 - Multiply by 11

3 2 4 x 11

Imagine the number is is actually written:

     0 3 2 4 0

Start from the right and work to the left, add the first number to it's neighbour, the 2nd number, and write the answer below the 2nd number


     0 3 2 4 0  (0+4)
              4

Then add the 2nd and 3rd numbers...

     0 3 2 4 0  (4+2)
           6 4

And continue along the row of numbers adding the next to it's neighbour...

     0 3 2 4 0  (2+3)
        5 6 4

then....

     0 3 2 4 0  (3+0)
     3 5 6 4

Easy-peasy right? But what if you use numbers that carry over. Well then you do the same as normal, carry the ten over to the next number, represented by a * here

437440 x 11


     0   4   3   7   4   4   0
                              4


     0   4   3   7   4   4   0
                         8   4


     0   4   3   7   4   4   0
                  *1   8   4


     0   4   3   7   4   4   0
             *1 *1   8   4


     0   4   3   7   4   4   0
          8 *1 *1   8   4


     0   4   3   7   4   4   0
     4   8 *1 *1   8   4

therefore 437440 x 11 = 481184

The best thing to do is try a few out for yourself. When we showed this to daddy, he had another method which was similar but involved an extra line of numbers.

Ebi-kun pointed out that at school they have to show the workings out so that the teacher could see how they have arrived at the answer, which is fair enough. But I still think it is valuable for kids to know that there isn't just one way to do something.

There are quite a few of these tricks in the Trachtenberg method so as we work through them I'll share what we are doing. Who would have thought I found maths fun!  Not me!!

Heathy Snack Station Treats For Kids

Heathy Snack Station Treats For Kids

As you know Ebi-kun has his Ebi-kun Eats show, so we always have an array of weird and wonderful snacks in the drawer. Generally he record a show a week and I don't want him munching on crap food the rest of the weeks so I try and stock up on healthy snacks.

A Montessori snack station is an area that is set up for kids to be able to prepare their own food. They should have everything they need, from a chopping board and suitable knife, to cups and plates and cutlery.

We used to have a shelf for Ebi-kun but now he is bigger and older he can reach everything he needs in the kitchen.

Here are a couple of snack station ideas, I like that everything si easily accessible here and the an and brush is hanging from the side, perfect for any accidents!

This one is great for spooning too! One thing that I get asked about is whether you should leave all the snacks out or restrict them. For this, it really does depend on the child. My son will just take a scoop full of mix and be done but I know other kids (like me as a child) would polish off the whole box! 

It really is a matter of child by child. If you have more than one child then maybe implementing a colour code system so each child gets their own ration.

Ebi-kun was about 14 months old when he started preparing his own snacks, his first snacks were butchered banana and squeezed to death mini grapes. His knife skills have improved over the years! He started out with a little wooden butter knife which was great for chopping soft fruit like banana and spreading things like jam on bread or crackers.

This one looks good too, depending on the age/ability of the child you might need to pre-slice the apples

There are some fun ideas here, which would fit well with theme study units, but remember if doesn't have to be 'fun' or complicated, mastering making a simple sandwich is a task most kids are happy to do all by themselves. Just give them what they need to do the job. And the best bit is that it always tastes better if you have made it yourself - until you are a mom and you are doing all the cooking, then it always tastes better when someone else cooks!

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Listen To Languages All Over The World 🌏

🌏 Listen To Languages All Over The World 🌏 

I stumbled upon this great interactive map the other day. I'm sure you and the kids will enjoy it too.

Click through to the page, the click on a country, underneath/to the side depending what you are watching on,  it shows how the name of the country is written in their own language, the countries flag and then if you click on the little faces (make sure your volume is up) you can hear the name of the country in several languages.

Also, if you click the speech bubble icons, you will get s few phrases in whichever language is indicated. Be warned, after clicking around I found some - not-suitable-for-kids phrases, you can flag them which will obviously help keep the site clean.

Some countries also have the national anthem and other extras. You can also add your own recordings to the site, some of the smaller countries don't have much info so it would be great if you can add to it.

This would be great if you are studying a specific country to include with your continent work!

Click To Play!

If you are looking for some ideas for continent work, we have "travelled" to these places, see what we got up to... Nigeria, Australia, North America, Antartica, Barbados...

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Let's Teach Mastery

I am already a Sal Khan fan, if you don't know who he is, he set up Khan Academy, an online learning space where kids (and adults) can learn maths for free.

Well, initially it was just math but there are many other subjects up there now too.

The thing I LOVE about Khan academy is that it works on a solid foundation rule, as you progress through the program onto more difficult levels, it is impossible to skip ahead, which, if you did, it would leave holes in your knowledge. It lays a good foundation to build on.

Unfortunately, this isn't what happens at school. Unless you are a student who never misses a day and gets straight 100% in everything then you are going to have holes. Because the school has a curriculum to keep to and standardised tests, one the test is taken and the scores noted, the class moves on. No matter how many holes the kids have in their knowledge.

The system that Sal talks about in this video could very well be a Montessori class, kids learning at their own pace, mastering a task before moving onto the next level, embracing the subjects that they are drawn to and exploring them in as much detail as their heart desires.

I do so wish I had been able to be educated in such a system.

Sal's academy is online HERE and available to anyone with an internet connection. They are funded by sponsorship and donations (I donate every month, it is a cause I truly believe in) and I hope, like Sal that we can change the antiquated Victorian education system that most of the world is using, into a Mastery system instead.

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Did you join the Montessori Summer Summit?

Wow, there is so much good stuff going on at the moment. The Montessori Summer Summit is run by Seemi - remember that big Montessori giveaway we had at the start of the year, same person, she rocks!

Seemi put together this fab online summit, the live presentation are over but the recordings are available. There are 3 tracks, parents, teacher and admin so you can pick the right thing for you! Nothing more annoying that investing in something and finding it is aimed more at admin or teacher when you are wanting it as a parent!

Go and CHECK IT OUT it's only available until the end of the month.

Introduction To Montessori Workshop

Deb and I have have decided to run the Intro To Montessori workshop again, it was a big success last time and we had lots of great questions that we helped people with, so if this sounds like you:

• You are new to Montessori and want to learn more
• You are struggling with using Montessori at home and need some help
• Your child is in Montessori school and you want to support him/her at home

Then this is for you!

Yes, it's free and we will do a brief intro into Montessori Crash Course too.

Just CLICK HERE to register your place!

If you have any questions, let me know! Otherwise I'll see you over there 

Jo xx

Taste Tests: Ebi-kun Eats Book Giving Day Special Recipes

This week is a little bit different. Ebi-kun wanted to do something special for book giving day so we decided on making recipes from Roald Dahls Revolting Recipes book. This meant cooking them before he could taste them!

This is also the episode where I apparently got the sack! More on that later...

He got busy making Boggis Chicken, he did most of the work himself, I just stood around taking photos! (My kind of kitchen work!)

Making the dumplings was fun, we have never made them before, I always assumed you needed suet, which we can't get but the recipe called for lard, which we can get...

A rather messy process, great for a sensory activity! The recipe made enough for 2 nights worth of dinners for the three of us.

I think we should have used the iron pan as it did stick to the bottom, I managed to clean it off thanks to a friend Lias's top stip - use a dishwasher tablet and some hot water and leave to soak over night, no scrubbing needed at all!

Looks good right? But how did it taste? You will have to check out the video below to find out...

Don't forget to enter the giveaway, it runs until the 21st Feb 2016. Click HERE to sign up (scroll to the bottom of the page)

Did You Know That Ikea Is Amazing For Montessori Inspired Equipment?

You guys know that I love me some Swedish home design goods! I popped down to Ikea last month for some new bedding, yay! And even though I didn't need anything from the kids section, I still had to take a poke through, they have just released a while new range of open ended toys and these are some of my favourite oldies but goodies!

Play food - Every kids should have some kind of play food and kitchen set up, it is great for language development and can be used in so many ways. We actually had a combination of plastic, wooden (with velcro so you could cut it) and fabric/felt food. Ebi-kun got hours of fun out of it.

Ikea Fruit Basket

I really wish they had this tea set available when Ebi-kun was little, it is perfectly sized for little hands, ceramic - so kids learn to take care of it properly and can be used for real, not just as a play set.

Ikea Tea Set

Balance beam, this is like an extension of walking on the line, if you have the space, it would be great to have indoors, especially when you have kids bouncing off the walls because they need to get their wriggles out.

Ikea Balancing Beam

Cooking set, I don't think you can actually cook with these but they make a great addition to the play kitchen. 

Ikea Cookware Set

Hooks! They have loads of great hooks which can be set up at child height so the kids can hang things up by themselves and also a lot of the kids furniture is actually made with the kids in mind, making it easy for them to open/reach. Plus a lot of it is made with a fun design!

Wall hooks

We have several steps in out home, what I like about this one is that it has handles, making it easier for the child to move it around. You should have a step at the sink so your child can wash their hands and then anywhere else where they might not be tall enough to reach yet. We have one in the closet for the game boards, they are on a higher shelf and one that lives downstairs and gets used when Ebi-kun is working in the kitchen.

Ikea Step Stool

A thin shelf! These are brilliant, especially if you are lacking in space. Ebi-kuns bed had a small gap between the bed and the wall so we used these to make shelves, I have moms in My Organized Chaos who have used them for reading nooks. A handful of books can be places forward facing, easy for the child to see and take down and return. We also use them for pictures, it means it's much easier to rotate artwork.

Picture ledge

Handy when you are potty training and the actually toilet seat is too big for your little ones little bum.

kids toilet seat

These shelves work well for Montessori work. The square shelving unit that is very popular at Ikea is difficult to work with because the space is too small to fit shelves on, this on the other hand is much better size wise.

Storage combo shelves

I know not everyone is an Ikea fan but I do like that they design with the kids in mind and their prices are reasonable, there aren't many other companies you can say that about.

Are you an Ikea fan? What is your favourite child orientated piece of equipment/furniture?

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Where to find Montessori Style Child Sized Equipment

If you are in Japan or you live somewhere with a Daiso store, keep a beady eye open  because there are lots of great Montessori style things you can buy in there. Other places that are good to have a rummage through are charity/op shops, thrift stores and garage/yard sales.

One of the things that Dr Montessori insisted on was to have child sized equipment, you can expect a child to so a good job when he or she is battling with the over-sized equipement they are using, watching a toddler trying to sweep the floor with a full sized brush give you an idea of what I mean.

Now whether it's because Japanese homes tend to be small or that Japanese women tend to have small hands, I'm not sure but there are some great finds to be had in the ¥100 store!

Like this half sized grater - thinking about this one, it could be because blocks of cheese are so small here not so much the small hands!

Mini tongs, these would be great for Practical Life activities like transferring pom-poms from one bowl to another.

How cute is this mini sieve? This would be perfect for washing fruit when they make their own snacks or just using in water play. Ebi-Kun would spend hours 'cooking' with bubbles/ice and water using kitchen utensils and a couple of bowls.

Asian stores in general are a great place to look for small plates and dishes, we obviously have a random collection of small plates anyway, Ebi-Kun has favourites, one that is shaped like a cherry blossom flower and another with blue stripes that he took a liking too. 

Many people worry about using breakables and think it's dangerous. Montessori believed that if children are shown how to properly care for things from the offset there would be less in the way of breakables. When kids use plastic they are learning that it doesn't matter if you drop it on the floor or knock it over, because it doesn't break. With a real plate, it will break and so they learn that they need to treat things carefully.

In our 10 years, we have only suffered one plate causality, it got knocked off by accident and Ebi-Kun sobbed for about half and hour, you'd have thought it was the end of the world! 

We also used small cups when he was learning to drink from a cup, rather than a sippy cup (I did use a sippy cup if we were out and about). We have a little espresso cup which was the perfect size. That coupled with a small cream jug were perfect together for Ebi-kun to start to learn to pour his own milk.

Yes, there were spills but it is part of the learning curve, and they learn to clean up to!

Extra cute and pink scrubbing brush!

Indispensable, child side brush and pan, kids love using these! To teach the child how to use it, mark an area on the floor with masking tape, about 50cm x50cm. Drop bits of paper or dried beans on the floor, show the child how to brush everything into the square first and then onto the pan.

There are loads more things out there you can use, just remember to keep an eye out and think about it from your child's point of view. There are some Montessori shops that sell child sized equipment but there was nothing I couldn't find closer to home, cheaper and easier!

Favourite Montessori Style Open Ended Toys part II

Part II of the favourite toys series...

These are not Montessori toys but do complement a Montessori setting.

Wooden train track

We actually got ours from Daiso and I bought a few pieces each time I wen to the store to build up the set. I think many of these sets are interchangeable but some more expensive sets will only work with their own pieces. I think it's a great toy to build on as you can ask family/friends to get the add on buildings, trains, people etc. Ours gets used in conjunction with the wooden blocks too.

Available on Amazon

Play Silks

Kids can get so much out of play silks, they can be used for no end of things. From impromptu dress up outfits to secret dens to flags. Etsy is also a good place to look for play silks, get a pack of coloured ones or some plain ones and dye them yourself, even make it a project with the kids.

available on Amazon

Marble Run

This is another gift that can be added too, we got a basic set and then added to it. Hours of fun! And it has been known to have this set up with the train track (and absolutely no way to make it to the sofa!) The wooden sets like these are trickier than the plastic ones that slot together so I think these are suitable for a slightly older child. Ebi-kun got very frustrated when he first had his because anything slightly out of sync meant the ball doesn't roll properly. Now he has it down and he can work out what is wrong these days.

Available on Amazon

Play Food

Absolutely every child should have a set of play food. We had a mix of wooden with velcro on them so you could chop them, plastic items (good when water gets involved with the playing) and felt items that I made. Etsy again is another great place to look for play food and Ikea have some great cheap options too.

Available on Amazon

Musical Instruments

Another fun but noisy choice! If you are a musical family then a selection of instruments are a no brainer, for us not-so-musical families a set of percussion can still be a lot of fun for impromptu dance parties and the such like. Ikea have just introduced a great musical instruments set too.

Available on Amazon

Make Your Own Montessori 3 Part Cards - UPDATE

Update!

I know I have mentioned this before but I just wanted to give you a quick update. When I launched this a lot of people had problems logging into the course - unfortunately this was down to the course software and I couldn't do anything about it, which made me as mad as anything. Aghhhh.

Anyway, I've finally had time to set it up a bit differently so it's easier to sign up for! Which means you now just need to pop your name and email addy in the box and you will be whizzed off to start the course! Full disclosure, you will get my totally awesome weekly playbook too - I know, more free stuff, I must be nuts! Nuts but I love you ♡

You don't need any fancy software, just an internet connection and an idea of which set of cards you want to make. Simple tip there - what is your child interested in right now? Use that as your cue, easy!

In the mini course you will learn:

• The foundations - what you need to do before you get started
• How to set up the template so you save yourself time next time you want to make a set
• How to legally source high quality images

And yes, it is all free! 

Feel free to share the post with anyone you think might be interested and I have added a button in the sidebar so it's easy to find in the future.

Build your own den part 5 - the big reveal....

We had aikido in the morning and because Ebi-kun had a national demo to attend the following week he couldn't skip class. So after aikido we grabbed some lunch then got straight to it. The first job was to put up the pillars, we used L brackets to do that.

The attached the cross beams for the roof...

There were a couple of re-calculations that had to go on, due to the plans not being quite right but nothing major.

Then they put netting over the roof frame to help prevent bugs and beasties getting in..

And this it was time to put the walls on. Either DH or I helped them put the wall in place and get the first couple of crews in and then the boys got busy and did the rest.

Daddy took charge of the roof. It would have been great if we could have had another weekend to work on it but the following weekend we had plans then we fly to the UK a couple of days later, so it was crunch time and no slacking off was allowed.

And here it is... a lot of sweat, no tears and quite a bit of blood loss (thanks to the mozzies) went into building this! Ebi-kun is one very happy chappy, this incidentally is his birthday present! Nothing quite like having to design and build your own birthday gift. 

I think the experience he will carry with him forever, long past when the den had gone. 

Interview with the designer:

On a scale of 1 - 10, how difficult was this project?

7 because working out all the problems was difficult.

What did you learn from the project?

How to use the tools.

That it was really important to do all the plans first and it's good to have people helping you.

How do you feel about the final result?

It was fun but difficult to build it. It's cool and turned out better than I thought it would!

What I feel he learned from the experience was project planning, that it's sometime slow and boring but vital to get get a good end result. That you have to be prepared to make changes along the way and that creative thinking will help solve a problem. 

And that big projects don't happen over night, that perseverance is very important and that quitting half way through is not an option. I think this is really important these days as we live in a time when everyone expects instant results and life really doesn't work like that.

I'm really proud of what he has achieved and I'm sure hours of fun will be had in the den. He has yet to do the interior, I will be sure to give you a tour when we get back from the UK. I did suggest a trip to Ikea for interior design but they both look at me as if I were mad! can't imagine why...

Build your own den part 4

The foundation was all in place so it was time to start building! S-kun was bought in again to help, they were loving it! Even though they had done a great job with the concrete blocks, they weren't perfectly level so we needed to add a bit of packing under the main frame to ensure everything would be level.

Next job was to put the frame together. That was pretty straight forward as the wood was already cut to size. 

Again the boys took it in turns to use the drill and everything moved along quite quickly.

Of course we had to stop for a tea break, or more accurately a senbei (rice cracker) and mugi-cha (barley tea) break.

Then it was back to it. Even though it was hot, this section of the yard doesn't get much direct sunlight which was a blessing as it was a really hot day and the mosquitoes were out in full force. The frame was attached the packing and then to the concrete blocks.

Time for the floor boards...

And to try it out! Get up you lazy muffins and get back to work!
note how cute it is that they take their shoes off automatically!

We doubled up here, Ebi-kun and daddy drilled the holes and S-kun and I put in the screws, we had the job done in next to no time.

Which obviously meant another snack break! I could get these lads jobs on an English building site!

S-kun had family stuff to do in the afternoon so after lunch we went back to the home centre to buy the rest of the den supplies. The plywood was not pre-treated so we had to buy paint/stain to treat it with. Ebi-kun picked green for the door and window and honey maple for the doors.

Whilst daddy got busy cutting the window out, Ebi-kun and I got busy with the paint brushes. We just about managed to get everything painted and cut out before we had to call it a day. Luckily the weather gods were on our side and it was a fine night so we just left all the plywood out to dry.

We had one afternoon left, would we manage to finish the build in an afternoon? Find out next time in the final part of this exciting installment of "Build your own den"

Build your own den part 3

We left you hanging, wondering about the solution to the concrete foundation blocks! Before that got figured out the boys measured the frame and cut the wood to size.

Starting off with the hand saw..

But soon moved onto the power saw. Once all the frame pieces were the right length, we set about the foundation blocks - OMG this was such a huge job!

This is where we needed daddy muscle on site, the blocks are really heavy and he decided that the best thing would be to dig holes and level them that way. Easier said than done! Eventually we got all 7 blocks in.

There was a lot of taking out and putting in. I'm pretty sure this wasn't the most efficient way to do this job! Part of the learning curve.

Ebi-kun filling in the soil around the blocks after checking the wood was level.

Finally, this took hours. We finished off all filthy and exhausted! The wood hasn't been fixed on here so that went back in the car. We'd have to wait until the following weekend to continue on the project...