Impromptu Mathematics

Lena had 10 seconds to sit down and buckle her seat belt.  Maggie decided to help keep time.  She counted to 10 and that was so easy, she decided to keep on counting.  She counted while we drove home, while she tidied her room, while she took her bath, while she brushed her teeth.  She counted all the way to 489.  (She wrote the number down and plans to continue the count in the morning.)

Mommy had to remind her a few times where she was and what comes after what.  We counted by ones, tens, and hundreds.   We used bath crayons to split the number 253 into 200, 50, and 3 so that Maggie could understand how the numbers she counted were written.

I won't say it was easy to keep up with her counting while driving, bathing, and putting the girls to bed.  And I won't say that patience comes easily when you have to remind your 6-year-old again that 80 comes after 79.  But when your child is excited about math, you go with it for as long as it lasts.