I have been getting quite a few questions on how to do Miquon Math. We are in the Yellow Book J Section.  We started Yellow in January – so you can see that he does not work in it every day. 

Today – J19 J20 introduction to the Long Division Symbol. The symbol separating the dividend from the divsor in a long division, or sometimes called a division bracket.

Gather your rods and track.

Jon says you need a pencil with Frogs on it.

9)45

Now, we don’t go into divisor, dividend, quotient at this time. It doesn’t hurt for the teacher/parent to use these words in our conversation about the problem, but it is not a point of the lesson to learn them today.

Using the track – figure out how many of the 9’s it takes to fill up to 45.  It takes 5.  First a guess, then figure it out with the Rods.  Jon had most of the guesses right.

Both boys in the Math time like to say – “I cheated, cause 10 of the 5’s is 50 so I knew that 9 of the 5’s is 45.”.  “Cheat away little friend”, I say.

Some of the questions are off the track – in J20 we were working with more than 10.  How many times does 9 go into 108?  They both quickly figured out the 10 set, so they went with 10+2 = 12 for 90+18 = 108.

This isn’t the time to say, 9 goes in to 10 how many times, with 1 left over, drop down the 8, nine goes into 18 how many times, put up the two  – long division style.

Miquon is still more of a puzzle game. Legos? Roblox? Puzzles? Its about having questions – and figuring out HOW to solve the the questions, more than HOW QUICKLY you can shout out an answer. 

The more they know that there is more than one way to figure out how many 9’s is in 108, the more understanding they have of what 108 actually is made of. 12 is simple. Its the easy answer.  But HOW did they get to that answer is the important part of the task.

My son Nathan is in Saxon 7/6 now, and worked on a multiplication skill sheet.  They were both doing the same math -  but one had already gained the understanding of the process, and is working on the Quick Answer  – while one is learning the process – and the answer is not actually the only goal.

The pages work through these puzzles as a vehicle to learn process – observation – remembering what we have learned before – and – as is natural to a boy wanting to throw the ball for his dog – he will figure out ways to “cheat” find a faster way – and I try not to smile too wide in front of him.  Cheat Away My Friend. 🙂

Jon’s answer to – What would you say to a mom and son who hate math? How would you tell them about Cuisenaire Rods?

“They are helpful – They are fun and Easy. How many times 8 goes into 40. The rods help me with this. 5 of them. If I didn’t have the rods, I’d have to use my fingers, and have more memory work, and figure out each one with my fingers and mind.  The rods help you memorize the school work.

We have searched garage sales, used curriculum sales, and online used deals to collect sets of Rods. We have several types, several colors, but they are all 1 cm cubes per unit.  We like the click together type for the younger adding years, and having massive amounts with a 100 cm track for the older years. I have enjoyed having a very detailed fractions set which has percentage/fraction/decimal on each piece.  ie 1/4 25% .25 on a quarter wedge of a circle.

“

It is hard to explain in detail how to do each page – as each child should be free to figure out a process for himself.  Some guidance or tips from the teacher – but mostly in the part of asking the questions in different ways, different angles.

I’ll keep posting how we progress with examples of Yellow Book, and I’ll get better with the detailed “what we do”. :)  Feel free to ask any questions of any page. 🙂