Miracle Math

Math is anything but pleasant to my distractible darlings. They can easily compute, but the extra boring processes of writing and thinking when they would rather be outside playing is torture challenging to them and me.

Miraculously, I discovered math on a dry erase board. We sit together on the couch and finish our lessons in record time--as long as they can mark and erase themselves. So far that's working great--except when I gave them a test the other day, they acted like they had never seen a math worksheet. So today, they did their actual math lesson with their miracle markers.

Apparently to them, it's not really math if it's done with a dry erase marker (of their favorite color, of course).

I slipped their worksheet into a sheet protector, thus giving them a dry erase surface. They snuggled on the couch, happy to get their work done. Dry erase=no whine!

All the doodles disappear with a paper towel. Of course I don't have a record of what they have done, but that's okay because it's actually getting done. Besides, I'm only keeping tests as a sample of what they accomplished.
This sheet-protector/dry-erase-marker-system works entertains toddlers and preschoolers, too. When the girls were younger, I'd slide various coloring pages and tracing worksheets (you know letters, numbers, etc) into sheet protectors. Instead of giving them use of a permanent dry erase pen, I'd give them a washable crayon. Voila! Instant no-mess, reusable pages!

Happy learning, y'all!