In case anyone is interested in homeschooling stuff, here is an amazingly simple and effective tool for teaching beginning math concepts. I think I first got the idea from a book called Montessori at Home when I was getting started teaching Jonny at home. I no longer have that book and I don’t remember whether there was a lot of detail as to the many ways this tool can be used. This year Miss Aveline is learning beginning math concepts according to the Math on the Level approach. Both Aveline and I have had a great time with this system. We’ll start with photos, then I’ll explain.

Materials used are:
1. A muffin tin
2. Several small objects (at least 6 for the youngest students and 78 for advancing students), we use buttons
3. 3×5 cards cut into strips with numbers 1 – 12 (or 0 – 11 if you feel the need to include zero) written on top end

Games:
1. Place one number card in each cup and have your student count out the correct amount of buttons to drop into each cup. This covers number recognition and counting. For very young children you could start with just four muffin cups and the numbers 0 – 3.

2. Shuffle the number cards and have your student first put them in either ascending or descending order, then have them place them in order into the muffin cups. Then they can go on to complete the above game. This adds number sequencing to the skills covered. Again, with a very young student you could just give them a small amount of number cards to sequence. Also with a more experienced student who struggles with say, 9, 10, 11 and 12, just give them those number cards to sequence and count buttons for.

3. Count a different amount of buttons into each cup (1 – 12 or 0 – 11 for more experienced students, and again, just 0 – 3 into four muffin cups for the younger ones). Have the student count the number of buttons in each cup and place the corresponding number card into the cup. This covers number recognition and counting also.

*For all of the games, we check together to see how they did. We count the buttons from each cup out loud, this way we catch any mistakes together and correct them right then. Then you don’t have to say anything that might damage their confidence. As they gain confidence in their skills, it seems to me like they are able handle it better when they’ve made a mistake, but when they are learning a new concept they can be sensitive about getting things wrong. At least that’s how my two students have been.

I just had to share this because Miss Aveline loves math time, and has had fun gaining and honing her math skills with this simple and fun system.