Business Math

Simply Charlotte Mason has a great resource that I discovered just a few weeks ago: Your Business Math Series. The concept is basic.  Use your math skills to run a business - you know, like real life! A Pet, Sport or Bookstore are the options offered and Samuel chose to own bookstore.

This week he is just starting up his business by creating a logo (pictured above) and for the last three days he has been working on the initial inventory, which is really tedious work.  How do you know how many "Trumpet of the Swan" books you will need? Then he has to multiply each order by the quantity and THEN add up the total of his order. Add, multiply, add, multiply, add, multiply. No calculator...well, I did let him use the calculator to double check his answers, which, by the way, were all correct.

Armed with $10,000 (of imaginary money) he will be working on filling orders, preparing ledger entries, calculating sales tax, adjusting inventory amounts, paying bills, advertising, and figuring out profit/loss for each month. Three days a week he will work on Math 5 (Teaching Textbooks) and Timez Attack (for multiplication) and one day will be dedicated to his business Samuel's Books.

Math - Teaching Textbooks

 From the beginning of homeschool (Kindergarten) we had used Singapore Math.  However, once we hit 3rd grade, it was a struggle for me to explain Math to Samuel in a way that he could understand.  VERY frustrating.
After much research I discovered Teaching Textbooks, and a year ago we started Math 3. It comes with a textbook and 4 CD-ROMS with100 plus lessons.  Each lesson begins with a 5 minute lecture, practice questions and problems and then an assignment.  It has been the best Math program for Samuel and the only time we stopped the daily lessons was to spend time memorizing the times tables.

I like that it includes a grade book, bonus rounds to earn extra credit/practice skills and a quiz every 7 lessons.  I highly recommend it if you struggle explaining the abstract.  Even though it is not considered a rigorous math program it is exactly what we need at this moment in time. And why would you want your child to struggle in math?