Math Learning Station
One way to unschool math, especially in the grammar school years, is to have a math learning station set up somewhere in your home. Ours was on the end of a kitchen counter for many years. It was very simple. It had a jar of pennies and little cup full of various coins, some kind of measuring instrument like a tape measure, folding yard stick or ruler. Some kind of scale like a food scale or a spring scale (suspended from the knob of an upper cabinet) and maybe something else, like a clock for learning to tell time or a calculator. The items varied over the years. It is best not to crowd the station with lots of things. Many of these items you might already have around the house.
A Tape Measure
Kids love to count, measure and weigh things. Gently and subtly encourage this.
One way to differentiate the station from other things on a counter is to simply keep it all on a tray. We had a bamboo tray that I got at a yard sale. The jar of pennies and the little bowl of coins belonged on that tray as did the scale. However, the tape measure would get moved around to measure various things. That one needed to be replaced often due to getting lost! I would replace with various other things like a ruler, a folding yardstick, a protractor or often just another tape measure. those cloth tape measures are really easy for kids and they'll wrap around items too, which makes them more child friendly. The retractable kind of measure that is metal used for carpentry etc we kept on Dad's work bench or in a separate kitchen drawer. Those kind make me nervous because I myself once got cut badly on one.
A Tape Measure
Jar of Pennies - this is a link to a post I wrote back in 2010. This is how we used pennies as math manipulatives in our home.
One way to differentiate the station from other things on a counter is to simply keep it all on a tray. We had a bamboo tray that I got at a yard sale. The jar of pennies and the little bowl of coins belonged on that tray as did the scale. However, the tape measure would get moved around to measure various things. That one needed to be replaced often due to getting lost! I would replace with various other things like a ruler, a folding yardstick, a protractor or often just another tape measure. those cloth tape measures are really easy for kids and they'll wrap around items too, which makes them more child friendly. The retractable kind of measure that is metal used for carpentry etc we kept on Dad's work bench or in a separate kitchen drawer. Those kind make me nervous because I myself once got cut badly on one.
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| My kids only used this type with adult supervision. |
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