Addition boils down piles of 10's

There are just a five single digit combinations that add up to 10.  

1 + 9 = 10

2 + 8 = 10

3 + 7 = 10

4 + 6 = 10

5 + 5 = 10

These combinations are important for children to know because you can quickly add up huge stacks of numbers very quickly by breaking it down into combinations of 10.

Let's add this stack of numbers;

   145786 

   234568 

   456893  

   245985

   345677

+ 985414

    867122  

It looks frightening as a full stack of numbers but Lets look at it line by line.  Starting from the 1’s place.  The first row is:

   6

   8

   3

   5

   7

+ 4

   2   

In this row how many combinations of 10 can you find?

   6

   8

   3

   5

   7

+ 4

    2    

There are three combinations of 10 in this stack with one lone 5 left over.

Cross out the combinations of 10, keeping track of each 10. 

    6  

   8  

     3   

                        5                 lll

   7  

+ 4  

      2    

   5

Each combination of 10 reveals a number that belongs in the 10’s spot.  It’s usually called carrying over but I think it can be better understood as 10’s that belong in the 10’s spot.  

By eliminating the 10’s there is only 5 that remain in the 1’s spot.

Next let’s look at the 10’s spot.

 3   

   86

   68

   93

   85

   77

+ 14

    22   

      5

Notice I have added the three on top.  This is the three 10’s that were in the 1’s spot but belong in the 10’s spot.  

   3

   8

   6   

   9

   8

   7

+ 1

    2   

In this row there is a left-over combination that when added together equals more than 10 add this number together.

8 + 6 = 14

Now take the 10 and add it to the others and leave the 4 in it’s place. 

   3

   8

   6

   9      

   8 

   7 

+ 1

   2  

   4

In the next row there are only two combinations of 10.  But lets look at the 7, 8 and 5.  In order to make combinations of 10, the 7 wants a 3 and the 8 wants a 2.  Since 2 + 3 = 5 we can easily find two more 10 combinations in this row.

  

   4 

   7     

   5

   8

   9

   6

+ 4

    1  

   4

The next row there are 3 sets of 10’s with 7 and 4 left over 7 + 4 = 11 add a 10 to the list leaving one in the row.

4 

   4 

   5

   4  

   6  

   5    

      5

+ 5

   7 

   1

Check out the next row:

   4

   4

   3

   5

   4

   4

+ 8

   6   

This row is a bit more complicated but still simple once you get the hang of thinking in 10’s.  First pick out the simple ten combination.  there are many combinations that add up to 8.  The 8 wants a 2 and there are two 2’s in a four 2 + 2 = 4.  Look at how many numbers can be eliminated still thinking in 10’s. 5 + 3 = 8 and 4 + 4 = 8 then adding 2’s in 4 makes more two tens.   

   4 

   4 

   3   

   5  

   4

   4 

+ 8

   6   

It takes time to get the hang of it but when you do it saves a whole lot of time and energy!  

Happy Adding!

     

3 4 4 4 3

   1 4 5 7 8 6 

   2 3 4 5 6 8 

   4 5 6 8 9 3  

   2 4 5 9 8 5

   3 4 5 6 7 7

+ 9 8 5 4 1 4

   8 6 7 1 2 2  

 3 2 8 1 4 4 5

Lice ugh! It happens.

I used to think that getting lice was shameful.  Like I didn't do something right.  We didn't bathe enough or I wasn't vigilant enough or whatever.  The truth is, lice happens and when you homeschool, it happens as one big happy family ugh!  

My first experience with lice was such a shock.  I gave birth to my second child at home and in the days leading up to the big day, I had many people in and out of my home.  I had friends and their children, midwives, their apprentices and their husbands all in and out my home.  I chose to have a coach for my son who was 21/2 when my daughter was born.  It was a very good idea! I wanted him to be cared for emotionally and physically while I was out of the loop.  

All was going well until it was discovered the day after my daughter was born that my son was infested with lice.  None of us had noticed!  I felt embarrassed and like I was a neglectful mother.  My midwives were full of grace, comfort and stories of their first encounter with head lice.  I am very grateful to this day to have had gracious servant midwives who went way beyond their duty and washed everything that my son's head had touched and then proceeded to wash him up as well.  

These were herbalist midwives who didn't use toxic chemicals for much of anything.  And I learned from them how effective other methods can be.  I'm not sure of the mix they used but I know it included tea tree oil and olive oil which was slathered on my son's head.  We kept it their for a short while and then washed it out.  I guess there is now a lot of discussion on whether tea tree oils works for head lice.  I wasn't in a position to ask a lot of questions at the time.  I was simply grateful.  

Mostly I was grateful for the grace and relief to know that stuff happened to everyone.  Its a well kept secret but we all go through it.  We are just too embarrassed to tell anyone. 

Traveling Part 1: ENGAGE!!!

Traveling can be a tough!  It's much harder now that children must be tied to their chairs for the duration of a trip.  I know not using car seats is unthinkable, now.  But a generation ago it was a new concept and traveling was much easier when children could stretch out or even sit between you on the  front bench seat.  Back then, if you tied your child to a chair for hours upon hours it would be considered abusive.  Now, it depends on where you are whether tying your child to a chair is considered good parenting or bad parenting.  I still question the difference between the two.  If you leave your children pretty much unengaged for hours in a car.  How is that different from leaving them at home tied to a chair?  Sitting in a car seat in uncomfortable.  Your kids are troopers just getting into them over and over again!

It's true; things have changed and now more than ever children need a diversion while traveling long distances.  I am sure that many now use movies and smart-phone games to while away the hours. But if you are like me, you want a better solution, one that makes a trip fun instead of something that must be endured until the end.  I would suggest banning electronics while traveling or setting a specific time when the movies or games come out so that the rest of the day is spent enjoying and relating to each other.  I don't mean banning electronics simply for your children.  Ban them, period!  If there is no emergency, there is no need to use a phone while driving.  If you are texting, (hopefully your not driving!) you must by definition, ignore the rest of the people in your car.  It's a good example to put away phones while driving anyway, isn't it?

There are great advantages to traveling.  You can use it to make some changes in how your family is functioning.  It's a good way to punch the relational restart button with squabbling siblings and if there are no friends to muddle the mix, you can start to straighten out hurt feelings or mean behavior.  If you are up to the challenge, this can all be done while having a great time with your children.  In the next few blog posts,  let's look at some things that help make the trip as fun as getting where you are going.

Top on the list, engage, engage, engage!  It is important to remain present while you are in the car with your children.  This is a great gift.  You have your kids in close proximity to you, and they can't get away (he he he). They can ask questions they wouldn't ask if you were in another room. You can ask questions you wouldn't ask without their undivided attention.  No, this is not your time to shut down and just watch the scenery.  You can do that when your car is empty and and your children are grown, which will come soon enough believe me!  Right now your car is full of information seekers and adventurers.  Engage!  Fill their heads with adventure.  Fill their time with fun!

Snow Days: Consistency vrs Spontaneity

One of the greatest advantages of homeschooling is flexibility.  There are days when school just isn't productive.  If you or your children are sick--if everyone is uncharacteristically bucking the system--if your just having a bad day.  The best solution my be a break in the routine.  You can say, "You know let's just give it a rest and try again tomorrow."  There is a balance. Consistency is important to a point.  But sometimes it's time to put your books down and check out the elephant shaped clouds in the sky!

The other side of the balance is spontaneity.  There are some days that are just too beautiful to waste. My children grew up in an area where is it would snow a few inches two or three times a year.  It was beautiful and fun and usually short lived.  If it snowed on Monday, it's likely it would be gone by the weekend.  Or, if it did stick around, it would be way too cold to enjoy.  Though public schools in our area seldom took a "snow day",  we had a standing rule.  School didn't happen on snow days.  When it started snowing we put on Christmas music, (didn't matter what time of year!) dug out our sleds and took to the hills!  

Remember your end goal.  It is not to get the most information into the heads of your children as possible.  Raise your children able to stop and smell the roses-- to notice the things we all miss.  Raise them to learn, laugh and enjoy life!  

Balance sometimes will mean to play more and study less.  Trust me, if children have the opportunity to play,  they will have more capacity to learn.

Car Games

I know that there are many electronic ways to entertain children in the car.  These are great if you want a quiet trip without much interaction.  But in my mind they are a huge waste of opportunity!  How long is your trip?  We made many cross country trips while my children were little. Each could take 18 to 30 hours of driving time.  That's a lot of time where you have your children in very close proximity.  What an opportunity to build relationship, have deep conversations or simply have fun as a family?  Here are a few of the car games we enjoyed:

"Horsey, Horsey" 

As far as I know this game was made up by our cousins and embellished to the point of crazy by our family.  It started with just counting the horses you saw.  Each time you saw a horse you would say, "horsey" for every horse that you saw and keep a score of how many you found in a day.  If you yelled "horsey" and it turned out to be a cow, you would lose one point.  We often traveled through areas where you could see many wild creatures as well as horses so we added any wild animals we saw and created a score system that was based on the rarity of the animal.  

Antelope = 5

Deer = 10

Elk = 15

Eagles = 35

Bear = 50

Fox = 35
Wild Turkey =35
Be sure and add your own discoveries here :)

Instead of competing as individuals we set a goal for the trip like 1000 points and then worked to together to reach that goal.  

"Road Pizza"

This is a variation of "Horsey, Horsey"  It might seem a bit morbid but one trip was dedicated to counting and setting up a score system for what didn't make it across the road.  Sometimes it might take a bit of the bizarre to get your child'a attention ;)  It turned out to be an educational experience since we were traversing across an area where we weren't familiar with the wildlife.  It was in the spring when wildlife is just coming out of hibernation (which is the best time to look for road pizza ugh!) And we learned a lot about muskrats. :)

"The Alphabet Game"

We started with the letter 'A'.  One person in the car would look for something outside that all could see that started with the letter 'A'.  Maybe they saw and Antenna.  Then the next person would look for something that started with the letter 'B' and so on.  We gave a lot of grace for letters like 'X' or 'Q'

"The Spelling Game"

This is the same as the letter game but as my kids grew older they had to be able to correctly spell the thing that started with the letter they had.  Like 'H', there's a hill.  H-I-L-L, hill.  And so on. 

"Baseball"

We had a friend who taught us the game "baseball".  If you are a baseball fan there is a lot you can do to embellish this game.  Ours was pretty simple.  Every regular car was an out a pickup truck was a single, a car with a trailer was a double and a big 18 wheel truck was a home run.  Everyone had a chance at bat and we would count their score based on how many runs made it home before they had three outs. 

"Front seat fishing"

This was something my mother invented when I was young.  It required a small pole and a string with a magnet tied to the end and some paperclips.  We used all kinds of things as "fish" sometimes it was the way we got a snack.  You can put just about anything in a small envelope like crackers or candy.  Fish crackers of course are the most logical choice right?  Just attach a paperclip to your "fish and away you go.  You can also use fish shaped pieces of construction paper with a paper clip on it's nose and different numbers written on each one.  When you catch a fish with a number on it that is your score. After catching all the fish, add up the numbers on your fish to see who wins. Or just munch down on your fish crackers and have fun!

"Car Wars!"

Give each child a mirror that is big enough that they can use it to see out the back window.  cut small strips of black tape to make crosshairs in the center of the mirror.  The object is to find any red cars (you can decide what cars are the enemy) and try to get those cars in the center of the crosshairs and blast away.  

"Water Pistols"

Wait, what?  Water pistols in the car?  Well, there were a few extenuating circumstances that made this seem like a good idea.  First we were in "Desert Center" California.  And as the name implies it is in the center of the Colorado Desert in southern California.  It was super hot that day and the air conditioning in our car decided to quit.  Right there in Desert Center!  My solution was to stop at a store and buy water pistols.  We had a few rules... like you can't startle the driver with a shot of cold water, you can't aim for the face, that kind of thing, but between the kids it was a free for all.  After a while no one was complaining about the heat.  It was a lot of fun and made a miserable experience a memorable one.  There was no fear of water damage.  In temperatures well over 100F, in the dry heat of the desert water didn't last long.

I think we played about as many games as there were trips.  But these were among the most fun.  I'd love to hear of your suggestions.  What do you do to entertain your kids on a road trip without electronics?