Manic Monday: Money

Kees has learned a lot this school year, already.  Of course, somedays, as a homeschool mom, I panic and think we're miles behind.  A good friend, Lavonne, and even my friend Bonnie, have been good to remind me that learning should be fun at this age, and we basically need to learn to count to 100, know our alphabet, how to write our name, using scissors, and early reading.  I remind myself this often!

That's the brass tacks, but then there's all the fun things!  Like dramatic play, discovering the world around us, calendar, telling time, weather, building, engineering, measuring, games, mental math, spatial reasoning, coordination, verbal skills, and MONEY.

Yes, the love of money is the root of all evil, but kids do latch on to money.  Kees loves doing chores and putting money in his bank.  And even more than spending it, it's fun to hold it, look at it, and count it!!!!

Last week, Kees was counting to 70, but he knows we're working up to 100, and likes to count higher, higher, higher. I decided to make him a chart.  After he was done with his counting work for the day, he was looking at his money, and I decided we should talk about it together.  That's the nice thing about homeschooling, it's so easy to follow their interests, and learn while you play.

First, I asked if he wanted to count his money.  When he agreed, we started by identifying the coins, discussing their size, and how much each one was worth.  We talked about the color of the coins, and that some have ridges and some are smooth on the side.

After we talked all about the coins, then I put one of each in my hand, and called out the name of the coin, or the value, and had him point!  Don't let the picture fool you, he had fun!

Next, we talked about all the different ways to make $1, well not ALL the ways, but some of the ways.  We counted his quarters first, he had 4, PERFECT!  Then we did the dimes, nickels and pennies. We placed the coins on his 100 chart, that's a great visual to re-inforce the value of the coins.

It's money, it's math, it's keeping track.  And it's fun!  It's also counting by 1s, 5s, 10s, and 25s.  Which is early multiplication.  Of course, when we talked about the quarters I explained that the word quarter is describing one fourth of a whole, and since Kees is SO into football we talked about how quarters in football, how they are 15 minutes (not 25), and they are 4 parts to the whole HOUR.  BAM!

Love, love doing what I do, especially when it goes well....but who doesn't love THAT!

And who could forget our famous conversation about how to "trick" your friends.  Trade 2 dimes for a quarter! Or in this case, one penny and one dime!  They get 2 coins, but you have more money!!!