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Using games in a CM math education – Richele
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Richele,
How would games fit into a Charlotte Mason math education? Which type would be considered twaddle, to avoid? There are many games on the market, and we would like to incorporate some into our homeschool. There are card games, dice games, and board games which could all help strengthen math and other skills like attentiveness and critical thinking. Some are based on luck, others on strategy, and some are a mix of the two. Some are designed specifically to enhance math skills while others are more indirect. Are there any specific games you recommend or suggest we avoid? Why? How often should they be played?
We have your math book and DVD. The addition of oral, mental math problems with CM methods from Strayer Upton beige and blue books have been a great addition to our homeschool. Also, I have been able to apply some of her methods to our regular math curriculum to make math more meaningful for my children. Thanks!
Hi Wings2fly. Good question and it is so nice to hear you’ve had success incorporating CM methods in math, including that time set aside for what has been termed “mental math”, “rapid oral work”. Since you’ve addressed the question to me I will answer to the best of my understanding.
Math lessons should be interesting and excite the imagination but, as far as I know, games and –perhaps more importantly, contrived math games—were never a part of a Charlotte Mason math lesson. Miss Mason steered clear of contrived devices in the math lessons such as songs, games, taps & claps, and specially-devised manipulatives. When we hear of her speak of games in her volumes they are usually discussed in regard to those reserved for leisure time and parties or the importance of games devised by children themselves rather than those thought up by adults.
Please don’t take anything I say as legalistic. Charlotte had principles underlying her thought and when her teachers-in-the-field had questions she often referred them back to the synopsis of her philosophy of education (referred to as her 20 principles) to seek the answer for themselves.
She does tell us though:
We give them a ‘play way’ and play is altogether necessary and desirable but is not the avenue which leads to mind. …we are not safe if we take these by-paths as approaches to mind. It is still true that that which is born of the spirit, is spirit. The way to mind is a quite direct way. Mind must come into contact with mind through the medium of ideas. … It is necessary for us who teach to realize that things material have little effect upon mind, because there are still among us schools in which the work is altogether material and technical, whether the teaching is given by means of bars of wood or more scientific apparatus” (Vol. 6, pp. 38, 39).
This is your decision though. If you incorporate games into lessons then I would encourage you to be attentive to a few things:
Has the means become more important than the end? Does either the play or the complexity of the game –including the complexity of teaching how to play the game– outweigh the importance of ideas you are hoping to relay? Is the study of math its own reward? Do the children begin to beg or whine if games don’t make an appearance?
Miss Mason did know that small things helped teach great though and lessons in out-door geography and handicraft both aided a child’s work in mathematics, as will baking, weighing, woodwork, scouting, hours in the out-of-doors, etc. We have a very long New England winter and are a family of game lovers. Some reserved for leisure time that we enjoy include: Aggravation, Shut the Box, Battleship, Yahtzee, Sorry, Chess, Catan, Backgammon, Dominoes, Dutch Blitz, Checkers, and Monopoly.
Also, I am aware that A Delectable Education had originally suggested games during math lessons in one of their podcasts but then retracted the statement in their Podcast Episode #78, “Corrections, Clarifications, and Apologies”.
I hope this is of some help. You have only my best thoughts no matter what you choose to do.
Warmly,
Richele
Richele,
Thank you for the long, thoughtful answer based on Charlotte Mason methods. I know some math curricula recommend math games as part of the lessons, but I wasn’t sure about CM math. I understand how the games can benefit math and thinking skills, but now I see how the games would take the place of valuable math lessons.
We do enjoy playing board games in our leisure time, but I find it hard to fit in with everything else we do. I am sure it is more of a time management problem than a math lesson problem though.
I am looking to make Right Start Math more CM. Wings to Fly and Richele, should I skip the games? Is there something I can do to make it more CM? It is the math program that I need to make work at the moment. I plan to purchase the Math DVD and Handbook bundle soon.
Oh, Heather, please know that I would never discuss RightStart™ in general unless it is connected with Charlotte Mason’s name and unless I am asked outright to respond. Also, please know that if this is the program you have chosen that I would never think one iota less of you or anyone else using it. You are asking me if there is something you can do to make it more CM and this is the question to which I respond:
According to both the developer of RightStart™ Dr. Cotter, –who, in addition to holding a Ph.D. in mathematics education, is a Montessori certified educator and founder of a Montessori preschool– and RightStart™’s Vice President and GM, Kathleen Cotter Lawler, theirs is a math program written with Montessori principles in mind and that Montessori’s influence is seen throughout the program.
Charlotte Mason said that she herself preferred not to get onto the bi-ways when there was so much work for her to do on the highway. Yet, she felt strongly enough about Montessori’s philosophy and methods of education to write a letter to the editor of “The Times” and an article she entitled “The Three Idylls”. In both Miss Mason tells of the inherent dangers she saw in Montessori’s scientific pedagogy which develops the senses at the omission of much else.
This is why I find RS difficult to adapt at anything more than a surface-level (shorten the lessons, use household objects, take out the games, etc.) when, at its very core, its methods and principles are in sharp contrast to Charlotte Mason’s.
Again, people I know and respect have used or recommend this curriculum. My intention is only to speak of it in light of my in-depth knowledge of Charlotte Mason’s living teaching of mathematics.
Warmly,
Richele
Heather,
Years ago, we used RS math B and part of C, 1st edition. We were successful with it, but the lessons did get long at times. Is this math program not working for you now? I hesitate to change something that is working. I agree with Richele’s suggestion to use short lessons. Use a timer for 20 minute math lessons and don’t worry about getting “behind” or trying to finish a certain book by a certain time. Go at your child’s pace. If they know a concept well, go through it faster and skip some lessons. If they struggle, spend more time on that concept before moving on. You can show concepts which are typically shown on the AL abacus by using household items like beans, coins, buttons, etc. It is your choice whether to keep using the abacus along with those or not. It worked out well for us, but that was before I knew about Charlotte Mason math methods. I see the benefits of using a variety of objects as math manipulatives.
As far as math games go, that is your choice. Have you had success with them? Will the benefits of time spent on math games outweigh the costs of time spent elsewhere or on the math lessons themselves? I am asking myself this question now. Review what Richele shared about Charlotte Mason math methods. Is it your goal to teach math based purely on CM methods? Ultimately, I suggest you do what works well for your family.
As Richele pointed out, afternoon handicrafts can use math too. I have found this true in making potholders with colored cotton loops on a small, square loom. Counting, sorting, and patterning come together with the craft of creating a useful work of art. I regret that we have not yet done any paper sloyd, which Charlotte’s schools did. I believe much measuring is involved in it. These would be afternoon activities which would supplement a math education, not substitute for the math lessons. Perhaps games have a place here on occasion?
I have been able to adapt our current math curriculum to CM methods by adding a meaningful story to some of the lessons and practice problems. One time, we used toy cars to show the information the book used to make and read a pictograph. We don’t do this every lesson, every day. I do what I can with what resources we have, but I have seen the benefits. I no longer get asked, “when am I ever going to use this stuff? Why do we have to do math?” So the addition of CM methods with manipulatives and story problems have brought meaning to our math lessons, which was severely lacking before. The math book and DVD by Richele available in the SCM bookstore would give you more guidance and ideas in adapting a math book to fit CM methods.
Richele, please correct any errors I may have made in applying CM math methods here. Thanks for your help. I am still learning!
Ladies,
Thank you so much for your time and responses. There is a lot to consider on this matter.
Wings to Fly,
I have been looking into Charlotte Mason Method for around a year. I was using My Fathers World during this time. (No regrets, just realizing we would like something different moving forward.) I am now using mostly the recommended lists from Simply Charlotte Mason.
As far as math is concerned, we used Saxon for around a year. Then switched to RightStart, we are just about to complete level b. My son seems to get the information quickly, and does well with it. However, it seems that when he knows something, he becomes bored. If I do not catch that he knows it, we fall into a difficult cycle. Even when he is learning new things, he is bucking me. I get impatient. It is hard. He chooses not to listen or responds with something not on topic or something to make himself laugh. So it makes me unsure whether or not he actually knows the information.
Math has never been living to me. I used a calculator as soon as I could. It is one of my weakest subjects. With using rightstart for my son, I could finally do 2 digit addition in my head.
I did drop the math games, and the lessons have seemed to run more smoothly without them. I have recently tried to start skipping what he knows, so he doesn’t get bored. But this is hard for me to recognize and implement.
I just ordered the DVD and handbook, got on the facebook group. I am looking forward to learning more what a Charlotte Mason math can look like. The methods have made school so much more enjoyable and doable in other subjects that I want to give math a shot.
I really wanted RightStart to be able to mesh with Charlotte Mason. At this point, I have to continue with it until I it becomes compelling enough to make the switch. I will be doing the superficial things to make it more enjoyable for us.
Heather,
Great for you to have been able to order the book and DVD. I am sure you will be better able to adapt RS to CM methods afterwards. You might consider adding the inexpensive reprinted Strayer Upton math book for interesting oral story problems, (used with CM methods, not as written). Check Rainbow Resource and CBD. We had played RS Go to the Dump math game a lot, but not so much with the other math games. I liked the math strategies RS taught for mental math. It is just as you said, “no regrets, just realizing we would like something different moving forward”.
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