"I Get It Now Mommy" Why Hands-On is Better

I've had a challenging time teaching my 6 year old to count by 5's, which as any homeschooler knows is kinda necessary if you're ever going to advance to reading clocks and counting money. My idea of just reciting over and over again wasn't exactly getting us anywhere. I'd even highlighted the 5's on a 100 number chart, but he seemed distracted by all the numbers in between. I needed him to see a pattern, but it wasn't happening.

Today I had the bright idea to make flashcards using some cheap index cards and a couple Sharpie markers. I placed the 10's in green and the alternating numbers in purple, hoping to help him see a pattern in the numbers. I then gave him the shuffled stack and asked him to place them in order.

It took him a few minutes to get it straight that we were adding 5 to each number, but after we'd passed 20, he was flying solo and had the entire number line completed within a matter of minutes. About half way through the exercise he said in excitement, "I get it now mommy, this is kind of like a pattern."

Now tomorrow we'll see if it comes faster. Once I'm able to get him to recite by 5's to 100 without a visual, we'll bring out the clocks and the play money again.

My son is so hands on with everything, which I think is very common for boys especially. He almost needs to work with objects in order to grasp mathematical concepts. I'm so glad my head was screwed on straight today and I had this inexpensive answer to a frustrating problem. Today also reminded me that I'm still learning to understand how he learns, which will make me a better teacher.