Inside the Guide: LHFHG’s Math Exploration Box of Plans
This “Inside the Guide” series provides a quick snapshot of Little Hearts for His Glory (LHFHG)! It’s a handy “how-to” reference, just one box of plans at a time. Have you ordered Little Hearts for His Glory from Heart of Dakota? Thank you – so fun! Are you getting excited to start? Totally understandable! Well, here’s your quick-start “Inside the Guide” for…LHFHG’s Math Exploration box of plans!
Quick Start Info
Time It Takes: 15-20 minutes
Days It’s On: Days 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5
Description: LHFHG’s Math Exploration box of plans can be found on the “Learning the Basics” right side of the plans. Choose to use Essential Kindergarten Math A/B, Singapore Primary Math 1A/1B, Math with Confidence K or 1, Apologia Math Level 1, or your own math program. Daily schedules with hands-on math plans are available for Essential K Math and for Singapore Math 1A/1B. Math with Confidence and Apologia Math have their own daily four-day-a-week schedules that include interactive activities as well. Lessons take about 15-20 minutes, and they are parent led.
A Handy How-To for LHFHG’s Math Exploration Box of Plans
Gather any needed household items and/or manipulatives noted for the math lesson. I usually did this quickly at the start of the math lesson. We enjoyed doing our math lessons at the kitchen table. The table gave enough room for hands-on math activities, yet provided a hard surface to write upon.
Children should sit in a chair that is the proper height for them to be able to write comfortably. Likewise, they should have writing utensils that fit them well. One of my sons enjoyed Ticonderoga pencils, and another enjoyed clicky pencils. Little ones press hard, so have either handheld or electric pencil sharpeners nearby. Erasers should be nearby as well. It seemed my sons quickly wore off the erasers on the pencils themselves, so having one big separate pencil eraser was helpful too.
It is important to follow the provided directions sequentially. In general, the lesson usually begins with the interactive hands-on part. Then, the parent reads aloud the lesson. Finally, the written part would follow. At this age, the parent leads each portion of the lesson.
The hands-on part is meant to be fun, so have some fun with it! There are no wasted words, problems, or illustrations in math, so read/explain/do them all (i.e. even those word bubbles in Singapore Math provide important teaching and are worth reading/going through). I also liked to have a few handheld markerboards, multi-colors of dry erase markers, and a marker eraser handy for me as well.
Box Specific Notes
Reversals are common at this young age. If my sons had a number reversal (i.e. wrote 6 instead of 9, or wrote 3 backwards), I’d write the number as it should be written in big black marker on my dry erase marker board. Then, I’d have them erase theirs and rewrite it properly. If they still reversed it, I would have them trace mine with their own marker on the marker board and then rewrite it on their paper with their pencil properly. Reversals are best fixed right away, so they do not become habits.
I found it was worth staying by my little one’s side for even for the more independent end part. If my sons were getting the wrong answers on the more independent part, I’d do the hands-on part with them on the problems they got wrong. For example, maybe the initial hands-on lesson was for 12 – 4 = 8, and my son had to line up 12 cheerios, eat 4 of them, and see 8 were left. If on his more independent part he missed 13 – 6, I’d have him line up 13 cheerios, eat 6 of them, and see there were 7 left.
Other Helpful Notes
Using fingers is not cheating; it is a good way to solve problems, as kiddos always have their fingers with them. Eventually, they will give up using their fingers, or they will become so very quick at it, that it won’t matter!
For example, a child might move on to use his fingers instead of cheerios. For 12 – 4, he might fan his 10 fingers out, put down 4 fingers and put up 2 fingers to end up with 8. This is quite smart actually! It shows number sense, and place value is based on units of 10. Or, if a child is adding 8 + 4, he might put up 8 fingers, put up 2 fingers more, and then tap the table twice for the last 2 to get to 12. Again, showing good number sense!
You can order math as part of LHFHG’s Basic Package by clicking here! Or, you can order math individually by clicking “view details” and adding it to your cart individually!
This Post Has 2 Comments
These are such great tips! Even for those of us done with LHFHG. My 7 yo son will start Beyond in August and is doing Apologia Level 2. He still reverses a lot of his numbers and I don’t always correct him as I figured it was more important that he be understanding the math processes. But you are so right, I don’t want the reversals to become a habit so I am using the tip to keep a dry-erase nearby and making him correct the numbers when they are wrong. Looking forward to the “Inside the Guides” for Beyond!
Thanks, Jaime! I’m so glad you are finding these Inside the Guide posts helpful! I am enjoying writing them. I do think you make an excellent point about it being important for kiddos to understand the math processes prior to fixing reversals. I’m really glad you mentioned that! If a kiddo writes a reversal in the middle of solving a math problem (i.e. they are adding two-digit numbers with carrying and the 3 is reversed in the ones column), I would let them finish the math process to find the answer first so as not to interrupt the process. After they’d finished the problem though, I’d have them fix it. Such a good point! I’m glad you are enjoying these posts, and Cole should be posting my Beyond “Inside the Guide” posts soon!