Mommy learns a lesson…

I am always amazed when God answers prayers and answers them quickly! I know I shouldn’t be: I mean He is GOD and can and will do anything, but still, when little ‘ol me asks for help, and then BOOM! there is the answer, I am often amazed.  I feel Him telling me, “See, I WILL take care of it. Just TRUST.”

You see, and I know all of you homeschoolers reading this will agree…Sometimes  Many times, we feel like we are not doing enough, not good enough, compare ourselves withe everyone else….Well, at least I do.  Even though when I sit in my quiet place and talk with God, and He assures me I am, it doesn’t take long for me to forget and start doubting myself again.

This week Luke had finished his Math U See program for the year.  In the beginning he really liked Math U See.  However by the past month or two he dreaded it.  I couldn’t place my finger on why.  It does not have lots of fun pictures and color, but it does use the manipulatives and he likes those.  I love Math U See because it teaches the kids the concept behind the math and not just memorizing a bunch of rules on how to get the answer.  Using the manipulatives gives a great visual to the concepts.  However, lately Luke would just NOT be happy about math (is anyone? 🙂

Anyway, when he finished the book, I decided to look for some FUN ways to finish out our year with math.  I found MathStart which looks great…I already put about 10 of the books on hold at the library.  I also looked at Living Math which is great.  I spent way too much time last night after the kids went to bed researching all the different approaches to Living Math and thinking about how I can get Luke excited about math again.  If not excited at least how I can get him to see math as a useful tool for everyday life.  How God created the numbers and how we need to know how math is relevant in our everyday lives.  I don’t want him to just “know” how to solve the problems but to see why he needs to know.

SO then I started thinking obsessing, does he understand everything Grace did at the end of first grade?  Skip counting?  Regrouping in addition?   Money? Charts? Tally marks?  You see, for those who do not know Math U See, Math U see uses the mastery approach.  It focuses on a main concept for a whole book, in order to master the concept before moving on.  Previously we used Horizons math which taught a little about ALOT of different concepts.  Personally, I think that Math U See’s approach makes more sense.  Sure Grace could “do” many different concepts in first grade, but did she know “why?”

So there I sat last night, praying to God about MATH.  Praying overall over all the choices out there…which by the way really overwhelm me sometimes, because they ALL look so GOOD!  I asked God to just help me make good choices and to show me that I was doing an OK job.

This morning while Luke was waiting to use the computer to work on a project, he went and got his wallet and the family bank book where each child has an “account.”  I asked what he was doing and he said, “Mom, I want to figure out how much money I have total in my account if I add it to what is in my wallet.”  OK…next thing I know, he brings me this: