What are math families anyway? There is a child that I have seen a few times this summer that I wish I could see 4 or 5 times a week. He struggles with the concept of math families. Some of the parents also do not understand this. Once the terms are explained they understand them. Often the person doing the teaching forgets that the terms they are using have not been explained to the one learning.
This child learns when he can relate the concept to a story. That is why I decided to tell him that Math Families do not allow adoption. He looked puzzled so I asked him if I could come live with him. He looked at me but did not answer. Then I asked him if I was part of his family. He slowly said no in a questioning voice. I laughed and told him that I was not part of his family so I needed to live at my own house. I also told him that sometimes in people's lives they can adopt other people. Math families do not allow this as math families have only so many members and cannot have anymore and still be correct.
I used the addition family of 2 plus 3 equals 5. This means that 3 plus 2 also equals 5 because they are in the same family or use the same numbers to be correct. Then we used the math balance toy to check if the facts were correct. Then we used 5 minus 3 equals 2 and 5 minus 2 equals 3. We also did these with the balance toy. I asked him if any other numbers are correct in this math family. We tried other numbers on the balance toy and they would not balance.
This is the type of child that I enjoy tutoring because he is so smart and wants to learn. He will learn and then fly. Of course then he will quit coming.
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