When Children Choose Math Books

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My kids asked for math books this week. Seriously!

Earlier in the week, at the library, I asked my son if he was looking for anything in particular. He responded that he wanted all the Sir Cumference books, Bedtime Math books, and any similar math books.

Really?

I mean…OK, sure! I’m not gonna lie. This mamma’s heart did a back flip.

Isn’t it amazing how much learning can happen when we take a step back and let our children learn in the way that works best for them! My kids love books and playing, and science, and climbing trees, and more books, and dress up, and games…followed by….you guessed it, books, ha!

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They tend to dabble in this subject or that for a few days or weeks before moving onto something else of interest. Sometimes I panic and feel like there isn’t enough real learning happening. Can they really glean all they need to know from books? What about math?

This week when my son chose a whole stack of math books from the library, I thought what a fabulous alternative these books are to the more traditional workbooks and textbooks. Granted we don’t typically use traditional…anything…

We dabble folks. Diving down rabbit holes has become our specialty!

We have an eclectic mix of math paraphernalia that my kids adore which includes Smartick Math, Khan Academy, Beast Academy, Games, and Math Geek Mama’s site membership.

Math Geek Mama is an amazing resource for math lessons and games from Kindergarten to High-school that I highly recommend!

Then there are the math books.

Math Books Can Be Surprising

I’ve found kids math books to be surprisingly delightful. They are witty and compelling as well as entertaining! Amazingly, they spark conversations and interesting questions about math in our everyday lives.

My kids love these stories so much that they want to play with a protractor while I’m reading Sir Cumference and the Great Knight of Angleland! Then the children start looking for angles in everything from rooftops to open books on the kitchen table and the mountains out the kitchen window. They yell excitedly when they discover an acute, or obtuse angle.

Later on, they joyfully proclaim that their legs make parallel lines when standing straight and their arms create perpendicular lines when crossed.

Then they ask for another math book…because math books are surprisingly fun!

We are all about keeping math fun!

Favorite Math Books

When my children choose math books, they declare how much they love liters. You’ll find them in the kitchen checking all of the food labels for liters and milliliters, adding and subtracting the volumes…because it’s fun? My son has decided that his aunt has the best job in the world because she works in a pharmacy and is constantly using equations to convert milligrams and pints into milliliters.

Ok, dude.

My daughter loves to make everything Equal Smequal from pieces of candy to cake and brownies…everyone gets an equal amount.

My son is also obsessed with area and perimeter largely because he is planning a massive amount of shelving for his bedroom walls. He has loads of LEGO’s and books he wants to display. Then there is the chicken coop he wants to build for the chicks he is going to be raising this summer. All require a knowledge of area and perimeter!

Our children are learning by reading and rereading books of their choice. These include favorite math books…