Our Homeschooling Journey: Math with Toys

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When one of the homeschooling peeps here in homeedders advised me to use a play-based teaching style to toddlers, I was not exactly sure how to go about it. I was used to compartmentalizing. Our motto at home is "There's a time for everything." I personally planned on separating play and study. What I wanted was for her to see that we should be serious when we are in our study time. That was the plan. We trashed that. That plan produced stress, tears, and even more stress. So I tried looking into this play-based teaching.

I bought a big bag of building blocks. It was okay. Not what I had envisioned but still she's learning, and imagining, and slowly I get the hang of interjecting teaching while we play. The big plastic cover I placed in the wall was very handy when I want to emphasize the teaching part. I taught her how to count, how to add, and divide (share) with the help of toys.

I did not realize that during the process, I have already learned and am slowly mastering the art of teaching through play! She is a very competitive little girl and she likes having spelling contests on our improvised whiteboard so I gamified her spelling/reading/writing lessons.

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On one of my market days, I chanced upon a toy bowling set. Immediately, I thought these would be perfect for our lesson in subtraction. She sees subtraction as a negative thing. She doesn't like it when I say "take away". She took her lesson of sharing and giving a bit too far, we end up in a conversation of not taking things away. I couldn't get her to focus on the topic of subtraction. So these bowling pins are perfect.

And I was not wrong! As soon as we opened the set, we were subtracting while filling the house with giggles and laughter whenever she hits those pins. Of course we have to stop to count which she thought was tedious at first. The next thing I know she was already aiming at making it 10-10=0.

Kids will be kids and it is not a good idea to take that away from them. And besides, it is way easier to teach a happy child than a bored one. I learned that through experience. I thought that wpuld not be an issue because I one of the things I remember in my childhood is that I love reading up and studying. My daughter reminded me that each person has their own ways of learning. She learns more when she is interested and she is interested when she is not bored and she is not bored when we are playing. It took me months to get up to speed to her her pace, but now that we are on the same page, our homeschooling journey just got a lot better. And it is erfect timing because we are about to enroll her to the homeschool provider we are choosing.


@romeskie is a full-time stay at home mom juggling homeschooling, crocheting, and homemaking. A Business Administration graduate with a major in Marketing who ended up in the contact center industry, on the frontlines, climbing her way up to Workforce Management where she found her passion in real-time analysis and management. A once self-proclaimed careerwoman who soon realized homemaking was her real calling. Her passion varies from reading, writing, photography, and most of all, crocheting.

Connect with her through her Facebook Page: The Leftie Crocheter and on Instagram. Feel free to subscribe to her Youtube Channel: The Leftie Crocheter


Big thanks to @bearone for my Hive PH badge.

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