Friday, April 29, 2011

Hop Counting

The weather was so beautiful while we were out picking dandelions, earlier this week, I decided we should stay outside for our math lesson. Both C, and E (ages 4 and 6) are working on skip counting, right now. So, I rummaged around in the garage, to find one last, surviving piece of sidewalk chalk, from last summer, and used it to write out the numbers 1-20, down the path.

As E, hopped her way through the numbers, I chanted...land on 8, hop over nine...


...land on 10, hop over 11...


...hop over 11, land on 12...


...hop over 13, and land on 14...


...and so on. When she reached 20, she turned around and hopped back through the numbers, counting down by twos. It seems like I might have gotten this idea from one of my blogger buddies, but I can't for the life of me remember who (from whom?).


C, hop counted too, but she needed me to hold her hand, to keep her hopping straight, so I didn't get any pictures of her efforts.

Meanwhile, D (age 8), who mastered skip counting years, and years ago, kept himself busy by estimating how many hops on one leg it would take him to get from one tar line, to the next.





In the background, you can see C discovering the leaves are beginning to open on our trees, as math gave way back into science.


It's great to be a homeschooler.

8 comments:

Natalie PlanetSmarty said...

Good to see that spring finally arrives to you too! Hop-skip counting sounds like a great idea :)

Pebblekeeper ~ Angie said...

Hop Counting was the final way that opened the doors to subtraction for my now 13 yr old son. I will forever remember the a-ha moment in the driveway as the lights turned on. What a privilage and a joy to share these moments with our little children!

Sheltie Times said...

Sidewalk chalk is so wonderful for teaching numbers, letters, math problems. It is endless what kids will do when you give them chalk, a side walk, and let them play.

We used to paint hard tops here years ago with games kids could play that had letters, numbers, etc. Then they stopped and I never understood, why. They made up wonderful games with their own rules.

Debbie said...

Selena would enjoy this activity, hopscotch is one of her favorite games. We are still waiting for many of our trees to get their leaves, Spring is coming very slow.

Christy Killoran said...

Our leaves and flowers are beginning to appear too.

I love the hop skip counting.

Ticia said...

That would be hugely popular here. I was looking at our history for next year and it has 13 colonies hopscotch.

Unknown said...

Math giving way to Science...the lovely nature of homeschooling...

Phyllis said...

That is a great way to practice math for those who hate to sit still!