Around here we do use math an awful lot without even necessarily trying. There's no way to get around it - baking and cooking requires measurement and counting, same goes for building things as easily as cutting fabric for curtains or building animal housing in the yard. A trip to the grocery store is a lesson in money (counting and managing). It's all just part of everyday life - like learning to walk and talk.
But in the past month we've taken it to the next level!
Daddy had spent the last month or two looking for a new job. Which got both of my kiddos thinking about work and jobs, and how all of that works. So we had a lot of discussion about finding a job vs. starting a business, and earning a salary vs. hourly wages. I think for the first time an understanding of multiplication really happened. A true understanding. And a lot of money counting too.
The kids decided they would like to do an experiment: They want jobs of their own here around the house, and to earn an hourly wage from that. An allowance so to speak but they have decided on their own that it should be earned by things they do in the house and around the yard.
So we've decided to devise a chart of chores that they'd like to help with, and come up with a wage for each job.
Like Owen decided he wanted to feed the goats for me. And Audrey wanted to clean windows. We agreed that feeding the goats was much harder work, and took more time, so should make more money than washing windows. And then we'll calculate how many hours per week that will take and multiply a hourly wage to find the value of pay. Oh how exciting to see them really get into this! And for me to find just a tad more help around the house. :-)
This is just one of many many ways we learn math around here.
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