I have a confession to make. We have not used a formal math curriculum in more than two years.
There, I said it. Bring on da funk.
HEIDI! Are you crazy? Poor Newt will grow up unable to balance her checkbook or calculate tips! She’ll never be able to get a job and she’ll be reduced begging by the roadside. She’ll have to count the change she collects on her dirty little fingers and toes!
Whoa, hold on there. I said we haven’t used a formal math curriculum, not that we are ignoring math.
Here’s the thing, Newt used to hate math. She’d cry whenever I brought up the subject. The worksheets and drill did not fit her learning style at all. So we ditched them, if favor of a more organic approach to math. Here’s what we do now:
First of all, I make it a point to talk about math often. That’s pretty easy to do because math is everywhere: cooking, sports, shopping, art, sewing… the list goes on and on. I point out situations where I am using my math skills as they arise. For example, I may say something like, “I’m doubling this cookie recipe. It’s a good thing I know how to add fractions, or they wouldn’t end up tasting good at all.”
I also make time to study math myself. I am still enjoying the Kahn Academy (sun badge here I come) and I read mathematical books.
But HEIDI! Just talking about math and having Newt watch you do math isn’t the same as teaching math! Poor, poor Newt!
Settle down now, that’s not the end of the math instruction in our house. There is a lot more to it. I just find that it’s easier to teach a child something if they can see some value in it.

That reminds me of a story…
Once upon a time my parents had some neighbors. My parents’ neighbors bought a new couch and wanted to get rid of their old one. They could have tried to sell it, but they wanted to be rid of it quickly, so they put it out at the curb with a free sign on it. There it sat for nearly a week. Now these neighbors were either pretty smart or pretty dumb because they decided to change the sign from free to $10.00.
Someone stole their couch that night.
Moral: People value what you value. In showing Newt that math is important to me and why, she has begun to value it as well.

Some of the other ways that I have chosen to teach and inspire Newt mathematically are through games, books, DVDs and videos. I’ll talk a bit more about games today and save the books, DVDs and videos for next time.

Games are great at teaching math skills. Just about every board game I can think of uses math. Even word games, like Scrabble, use math for adding up points. Looking over at our shelf, Yatzee, Monopoly and Life are three that jump out as great math practice and skill builders.
Modifying card games for math fact practice is also fun. We like playing Math War with our Skip-Bo cards. For instructions and other variations, see Let’s Play Math: The Game That Is Worth 1,000 Worksheets.
There are some other games on our shelf that were created specifically to help practice math skills. Zeus on the Loose is great for learning or brushing up on adding in your head.  And then there’s Mythmatical Battles.  This is a really fun trading card game (think Pokemon) that uses multiplication problems for attack and defense strengths. We like it, but a few friends with boys love it. Love it to the point of obsession – love it. Trading card games must be on that Y chromosome…
There are also tons of printable math games online. Lately, we have been enjoying the Times Table Board game (see picture), from Dr. Mike’s Math Games for Kids. I printed it out, cut and pasted into a file folder, and Newt and I decorated it together. We use an Oscar Meyer Wienermobile and a plastic dog for playing pieces because we think it’s really funny when the dog chases the Wienermobile.
When your piece lands on a question mark, you take a ? card and must answer a multiplication question. When you land on an exclamation point, you take a ! card and follow the instructions. For example: Roll the die. Move each of your opponents back that many spaces! or This ‘!’ square is now a ‘?’ square for you!
Note: The game is fun, but Newt and I agree that its name was really boring, so we changed it to The Game?! The Game?! must be spoken with the proper punctuation.
Often a math game will put Newt in the mood for more math. She’ll ask me to write out some harder questions or help her practice things like multiple digit multiplication.
As a matter of fact, when I was in the middle of writing this post, she came in to tell me she had made up a math game and she invited me to play it with her. It was a role playing game about running a dog groomers and boarding company. She had a list of services and needed me to be the customer. Once I had selected the services I wanted, she tallied them up, along with her hourly rate.
I don’t mind telling you that I got hosed. All I’m saying is that if I’m paying that much, my pet better come home gold-plated…
The point is, Newt has gone from Math Hater to Math Lover. It’s no longer intimidating or frustrating.
I have another confession to make. I did, just this year, purchase a new math curriculum. Newt is trying out Teaching Textbooks, but as a supplement to her math study, not the core. So far, she has chosen to do a couple of lessons and likes it, but we’re not giving up our games.
Next time, I’ll share with you some of our favorite books, DVDs and videos for inspiring a love of math.

If you homeschool, do you use a formal math curriculum to teach arithmetic? If not, what do you use? If so, do you supplement it in any way? Tell me, I’d love to hear!

Click over to read But What About Math: Part 2 – Books and Part 3: Shows, DVDs and Videos