A conversation with Kyle

Before bed this evening, Kyle wanted to tell me something. He said that he figured out what 90+20 was. He then proceeded to explain to me that he first realized that 90+10=100. And 20-10=10. And 100+10=110. Therefore 90+20=110. He was very proud of himself for figuring it out.

Since things have been so busy lately, I had been feeling guilty for not doing more math with him. (He is a strange boy and actually enjoys workbooks!) But it has not held him back…I noticed today when we were trying to kill some time by playing Pig* that Kyle was starting to be able to add the higher numbers. Pretty cool. I love watching natural learning at work.

* To play Pig, roll two dice, add them together and the first one to 100 wins. To make it more interesting, if you roll a 1, you get no points. If you roll double 1 you loose all of your points - Kyle loves it! (And no, I don't know why it is called Pig!) But it is much more fun than drilling and flash cards that is for sure. We found the game in The I Hate Mathematics Book by Marilyn Burns. I now carry a pair of dice with me so we always have something to play.