more on that

So, Nurture Shock was enjoyable.  It did make me realize that for that sort of book, I would rather read it in paper than in kindle.  Some of the chapters dragged on and I'd have skipped forward, but with a kindle, it's very hard to ever find your place again because other than the chapter markers, there are no visual cues.  So that was sort of a bummer.  But hey, reading something for free is very nice.  Also, getting a heads up on some things to be careful with my children is also very good.

Today I did some money math with G.  I took out about $1000 and had him figure out how much was in a stack of money.  Then write that out in 100, 10 and 1 places.  Sometimes it was straight forward $100, $10 and $1 bills.  Then I added in some $20s and a $5.  He doesn't have math at school so it's my job to teach it to him.  I felt like this skill is pretty important.  He already knew how to count by 5s, 10s, etc...  He also knew about 100s, 10s and 1s places.  Money also has a very motivating influence because I could tease him that he would go to the store and give them all the money and not know if they gave him the right change.  OK, so I tease my son.

Anyway, we also had to introduce the concept of carrying from the 10 to 100 place.  I need to get more ones so he can practice that to the 10s.  Maybe next time we'll even carry to the 1000.  Big money.  After each problem was written out, I'd organize the money from 100s to 1s and have him count it out for me to see if he'd added the numerals right. 

I also need to get lots of 10s and 1s so we can play bank and have him learn about making change and "borrowing" for subtraction.  I don't really love the term "borrowing" for the act of making 25-19 work out.  Is there another term?  I mean, it's all in the family/numeral right?  So why does the 1s place have to borrow?  Does anyone else still need to do that, I mean anyone but me? 

I also like for the kids to see that Mom and Dad have a lot of money, we just never spend it on 90 pizzas like I said we could, not that we would.  G would like that though.  There is a difference between "Mom and dad don't have the money." and "Mom and dad don't have the money for that."  It's an important distinction.