Mars adores reading and walks around with her nose buried in her book. I mean this literally. Her father’s come close to a coronary watching her – “The stairs! The stairs! Put the book aside before you crash down the stairs and break something!” I’m pleased that she loves reading because there was a time when I was worried about her seeming lack of progress. My fears were completely groundless of course – but then you do develop some measure of paranoia when everyone asks you why your daughter isn’t reading at such-and-such age. (She read independently at 6 in case you are wondering.)
Anyway, she is so much like me that it is uncanny. She reads constantly, loves learning new words, has a strong inclination for the humanities and enjoys Science, especially natural history. She’s been trying her hand at writing stories and poetry as well and this has been a great source of pride for me. She is a novice for sure but I’m so glad that she has put her thoughts and feelings down on paper. She had never dared to before – she had never thought that she could or should, always harbouring this notion that she was never good enough.
So like her mama, Mars is doing well on the language front. Unfortunately, like her mama, she is less inclined towards Math. OK, let’s just come right out and say it… she hates Math with a vengeance and would do anything to get away from it.
I’ve tried to inject a bit of fun into her lessons and alhamdulillah there’s been a positive change. I prepared her a Math notebook – the cover has cowboy and horse clipart (she is horse mad!) and and old western style font. I’ve uploaded some of her notebooking sheets here if you want to download them. (Just click on the image below.)
Some 'fun math' books we've used
I’ve used some fun Math books like the following:
- Arithmetricks: 50 Easy Ways to Add, Subtract, Multiply, and Divide Without a Calculator by Edward H. Julius
- Brown Paper School book: I Hate Mathematics! by Marilyn Burns
- Brown Paper School book: Math for Smarty Pants by Marilyn Burns
- Funny & Fabulous Fraction Stories (Grades 3-6) by Dan Greenberg and Jared Lee
- Fraction Action by Loreen Leedy
- Spaghetti And Meatballs For All! by Marilyn Burns
- Amanda Bean’s Amazing Dream by Marilyn Burns
- Family Math (Equals Series) by Jean Kerr Stenmark, Virginia Thompson & Ruth Cossey
Do any of you have Math phobic kids? If so, what have you done to help them along? What resources have you found useful?
As salamu alaikum, she did not like the MEP?
wa `alaykum as salaam wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh Umm Mus’ab!
She likes MEP – it is a breath of fresh air, alhamdulillah. It’s just that I have to get her to do Singapore books as well as her dad still wants her to take the PSLE. That’s when her Math-phobia rears its ugly head… and that is when I have to trot out all the fun and games, cowboy/horsey notebooks and all that jazz. It was my mistake – back when she was in P2, I got her to do drills from some of the Popular bookstore assessment books and they got her so frustrated that she cried. She has developed a much better attitude towards Math since we began using MEP… really should have started out with it right? Qadr Allah!
How are you finding MEP?
As salamu alaikum
SubhanAllah, its good that you told me about your experience. I was planning to get assessments books for my son, when i go to Sg next.. Definitely, not after hearing your experience. Alhamdulillah so far, we like it. He is only at reception level so i do it slowly. Instead of one lesson at one go, i just do few minutes daily.
What is the reason your husband wants her to take PSLE? I cannot imagine my kids going through what i went through! Alhamdulilah in Australia , its not that stressful.
wa `alaykum as salaam wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh!
My mother has kidney problems and while she is pretty much OK now, we have to be prepared for the fact that her condition may deteriorate. If we have to return to Singapore, Maryam and Khadeeja will have to do the PSLE. My husband feels it is better to be prepared.
I think what you are doing is so nice – small doses consistently. It’s the road I should have taken with Mars… something I am doing with Khadeeja now :)