Math-U-See

I mentioned in a journal post a week or so ago that we'd ordered, and received, the books and blocks of the Math-U-See curriculum. At the time I mentioned it in relation to my fear of a strict curriculum and an inability to find a way to use it that was loose and open. In retrospect I laugh, and I also chide myself for not knowing better. It's not like anyone was saying to me "hey, you bought it, now you must read and follow the directions." And it's not like I don't have a mind of my own. And when the the pages upon pages of study, test, and review seemed a little daunting at first I just let Calvin do as he would with them and put it out of my mind until I was more comfortable.

We picked the blocks back up this week because while we were exploring the middle ages I wanted him to have a better grasp of the time difference, and he also seemed interested in this. If this is to be a review I will first say that, just as I suspected, the books are both unnecessary and a little dry for my taste. That being said, Calvin seems to enjoy having the practice work sheets to play around with and if I just let him do what he likes with them they get at least a little use so they aren't a total waste.

The blocks, though, are exactly the manipulative I was looking for. They provide a very visible, tangible element to conceptual learning—ten units make a ten, ten tens make a hundred, and you can be absolutely sure of this not because someone said so, but because you can see them, feel them, count them, compare them, and snap them together. Calvin took to the concept quickly and smoothly, and he really enjoyed the exercise as well. The blocks are relatively nice. I love their weight and feel and, though I'm usually a bigger fan of wood than plastic, I like how well these blocks snap together, which is something wood blocks wouldn't really do.

My only real disappointment is that we paid good money for the storage boxes which we were assured had been made especially for these specific sets of blocks, and all of them fit in nicely, albeit with a few gaps in some of the partitioned squares, except for two of the tens. Really? You're selling custom made wood boxes, at $40 for the pair, and you couldn't even custom make them to hold all of the blocks in your double set??? Even I can look at the boxes and see where a partition could have been shifted in one direction just enough to make room for those two tens, and these blocks are not my livelihood. It may be a little thing but I think I'm going to harp on this one for a while, and the company will probably get an annoyed letter.

So we'll see how things continue to play out, but for right now the blocks themselves get my A vote, the books get my B vote, and the boxes are an utter failure.

Camp (Education Outdoors game review)

We picked this game up from a local toy store when we were looking for an indoor activity on vacation last summer. It was an impulse purchase. It caught our eye because it claimed to be suitable for a variety of ages, and because it wasn't strictly a luck of the draw game. Besides, I'm fond of trivia and wildlife, so this game seemed to have it all. We have been pleased with the game. Calvin loves playing, and it's something that we can enjoy right along with him.

Camp is a fun trivia game. Participants roll dice and move forward as many squares. The square they land on determines whether they get to answer a trivia question, are sent (forward or backward) to the club house square and read a factoid, or sit and wait for their next turn. Each trivia card has four questions, each from a different difficultly level but all related to the same topic. The game can be played with three people in less than 30 minutes.

The cute game pieces and the board are very well made, and the questions are fun and interesting. Questions from the easiest difficulty level are extremely easy, while questions from the top level are challenging and at times obscure, but not on a par with Trivial Pursuit. Calvin is able to answer questions from the first two levels, and sometimes even the third.

The Amazing Mammoth Hunt

Another new game on our shelf, just as highly recommended as the last. The Amazing Mammoth Hunt is a geography game, challenging players to identify a variety of (mostly) countries on the world map; land on a square and properly identify the location of that square's country in order to collect a token, the goal being to collect the most. In general this is my kind of game, but it was a little too advanced for Calvin (something we expected when we ordered it).

We started talking more about continents this week, along with our focus on Africa and African folk lore. This afternoon I got the game out and played we with alterred rules, focusing on identification of continents instead of countries; I asked Calvin to correctly identify the continent of the country on his square in order to collect the token. A few of the countries he's already familiar with, like the US, Egypt, China, and Russia, so I ask him to identify these entirely on his own. We had a great time playing this afternoon and I think it's a great way to build his exposure to map use (and for added fun I keep a globe on hand for clarification).

Family game night

Milton Bradley would love us. I remember back when they started their "family game night" ad campaign on T.V.

Yesterday Calvin and met, for the first time, with the Ann Arbor Unschooling group for an afternoon of games and fun. It was definitely fun. It also reminded me that games, board games, card games, dance around the room acting like a ninny games, have long been an ingredient of the family institution. At least for some. When we got home I dug around the in the basement, but the majority of our games (except perhaps for Twister) are mainly for the college age crowd and up (I'm thinking Calvin wouldn't do so hot with Trivial Pursuit, which we own five editions of). So today I dug around in my childhood basement, the basement of parents' home, but most of those games were just a tad too old also (Connect Four was a hit at the gathering, but more as a construct/deconstruct activity, not a game). So, as sad as it is, we resorted to buying new. In the future we'll watch yard sales and resale shops, but I just didn't want to miss the moment in this case.

Hi-Ho Cherry-O. Remember the 80s? Or even the 70s? It goes back even further than that, and has continued to change with the times. It's not the same game, and I'm struggling with a real feeling of remorse, having found a number of old ones, even the 1960s true original, on ebay.

This is the game I remember, or at least something close to it

The new game is a tad more colorful. It also comes with an optional variation for cooperative play, which is a great idea for family game night, but I'm pretty sure we could have come up with it on our own.

I think it's just nostalgia that is disappointing me. Who cares what color the cherries are? It's the same plastic (I think), and the same cardboard (really, it didn't get flimsier!), and probably the same amount fun. My real comfort lies in the hour of pure joy we enjoyed as a family; Friday night, picnic on the floor in the sitting room, family game play—I think we have a new tradition.

Did you know family game night came with its own ninja?