Fractions. They’re part of math, so kids will likely have a love or hate relationship with them.
My children take after me, meaning math is not their strong suit. When my oldest came to the fractions part of his math curriculum, it wasn’t just a complete each lesson and move to the next type of teaching.
For the first time in our homeschooling journey, I had to be creative. I had to think outside of the box. I had to put the books away.
I don’t just mean the math books; I mean all of our homeschool curriculum. Lesson plans, cancelled. Schedule, out the window.
Sometimes, our brains can only handle learning one new thing at a time. And that is 100% OK.
I knew that learning fractions was a skill that my son would need throughout his lifetime. So, I knew that meant that everything else needed to be paused to ensure that he not only grasped the concept of fractions, but that he could excel with them.
There were other times on our homeschooling journey that I wasn’t as concerned that my children learn a particular concept. I always considered whether or not it would be essential to their everyday life.
If it was a life skill, then we took as much time as necessary to cover and learn it exceptionally well. Otherwise, we just covered the material unless my children wanted to rabbit-trail off into a subject or topic of interest.
Fractions are a necessary part of life, so I included the study of them in as many aspects of our daily life as possible. From cooking and baking, to arts and crafts, from math games to gardening.
We lived fractions. For 6 months.
No other lessons. No other subjects. Just fractions.
I didn’t create lesson plans. We didn’t have a curriculum. There was no schedule.
We lived life and incorporated fractions into our days. On repeat.
Sometimes we used resources, other times we just talked about fractions as we did things throughout the day.
It is amazing how many learning opportunities present themselves throughout the day when you only have one thing to teach/learn.
This Fraction Manipulative set was an amazing resource. I used it to quiz my son, teach him equal fractions, as well as reduce fractions.
While this shows as out-of-print, I wanted to share in case you happen upon it at a yard sale, on eBay or at a homeschool curriculum sale, I highly recommend you grab this Fractions and Decimals Kit by DK. Inside there are games, activity pages and much more that will make learning fractions a bit more fun.
I originally shared this post about math in the kitchen at Christmastime, but during our 6-month season of fractions, we spent a lot of time cooking and baking. This allowed my son to see that fractions were just another math lesson, but that they are something that is used every single day.
Sometimes, kids think that what they’re learning won’t matter once they’ve finished their education. That’s why I believe it is essential to bring learning to life as much as possible throughout our homeschooling journeys.
At the end of 6 months of studying fractions, my son was a fractions master. We went back to the rest of our homeschooling journey as if we’d never stopped with no issues.
You might be wondering how I knew that those 6 months of studying fractions were worth it, how I was certain that was the right choice.
My daughter is 2 years younger than my son. When she came to the fractions portion of her math curriculum, she didn’t understand them.
Before I could even start discussing them with her, my son came over and looked at me and said, “Mom, I’ve got this. I can teach her.”
And he did. It didn’t take him 6 months to teach her either. And I never had to help either of them again with fractions.
Trust your gut, Momma. You do know what’s best for your kids.
Starting with the correct foundation, children will learn with understanding — and they will ENJOY math!
With Math Mammoth, students will be set up for success in algebra and in real life!
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Please note that this is a sponsored post, but all opinions are my own. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.
