Those look like they would be great for my 2 year old. It’s hard to do math with her because my four year old wants to do it for her.
I saw your video on the Crewton Ramone facebook page and added you. I thought it would be better to give my skype information over that when everyone if ready.
I’ve been watching this thread for a while. I’d love to join you on Skype 
My kids prefer SchoolHouse Rock and Times to Remember. They have shorter text than the rest and for them, as non-native English speakers, these songs are very attractive and easier to remember. They’re singing them daily to me :)) We started looking at Peter Weatherall videos on youtube too. Funny thing is that the youngest is looking at a book we have in Romanian about colors and he’s singing Times to Remember songs 
Unlike Sonya, who knows firsthand different math methods parents talk here on BK forum or elsewhere, I only read about them in some posts. My experience is with the beginning Montessori lessons only. I’ve watched amazing Ella and other kids doing very good at math. Yet my kids are different, at least one of them that I’m particularly interested for his homeschooling. After reading studies and books on Montessori Method I understand better Mortensen Math and agree with its practicality. What’s more, they use the senses and it’s so attractive that they completely forget about computer and iPad.
The question that I had to ask after reading about more than one method and watching other was: WHAT do I want my kids to do with math? WHY do I want math for them? The answer became clear mainly after watching some of Crewton Ramone’s videos. I want them to understand math. I didn’t understand it myself in my studies, even though it’s been one of my favorite subjects (apart from foreign languages). I had great teachers all the time. And I got lost on the way when algebra and trigonometry proved to be too much for me. I loved statistics in college - that’s the moment I realized I need math in life and I’d better do something to fill the gaps I’ve had over time. Have to say it’s the first time I’m relieved that I can really fill these gaps and pretty fast too.
Attached you see my handmade manipulatives. They are made of cardstock. Which means are not good for stacking. And kids stop pretty soon when they discover they can’t be stacked. I need the plastic manipulatives. Not just for the kids, but for myself! Thank God I have great friends in USA :inlove:
Today we had the 3rd lesson and the last one I cut very fast 9 circles made of the same colored cardstock as the blocks. And we put them next to the blocks, in order. The little one, 2 years and 8 months, has a thing for the orange block (2) and recognizes few others too. They were in love from the first lesson. As I said, I need to help them stack. If I made them from cardboard they’d had been much more useful. I don’t have the time to make them again. We’ll play with what we have for a while.
Have to admit, in the first lesson I told them ‘NO’ three times 
This is a habit I’m working on. Crewton Ramone has tons, really tons of sample lesson, advice in each lesson, and he has A LOT OF PATIENCE and HUMOUR. I don’t have his patience and humour, really I don’t. He’s set to making kids have fun while playing math.
Ever since Sonya told me about Crewton Ramone House of Math I’ve been watching videos, looking at how fast kids understand and how happy they are when they are playing. And he is right: that’s what kids do all day, PLAY.
I have a special needs kid, one that uses more perception than logic. He touches manipulatives, looks at them, sees the color, the length etc. and that’s how he is learning. Show him first and foremost the abstract and he’d rather learn a foreign language than that! I like this method - from concrete to abstract, from using your senses to working with symbols only. I suspect this is what works most with special needs kids. Crewton Ramone had succes with such kids and I’m not surprised cause he has the tools and is a great teacher.
Yes, I’m caught in this cause I believe it can work for my kids . And I have a tight budget so I want to invest only in what I know would really work for my kids and for quite a long time. I’d also prefer a single method and or curriculum, not more.
When my husband (who is currently in China) was very impressed with the boys’ first lesson, he said: “You raised them in a healthy environment, they are curious to learn.” He had to trust me for the last 6 years so my heart melted and I am so happy he told me that. Their education has been mostly on my shoulders all this time (he’s been busy with work and studies, we barely see him… next year we have him back for good, yay!) and I’ve done my best to do what we both wanted. If he likes what I’ve been doing and how they develop it means I’m really on the right track. And his feedback is the main thing I need to move on. :inlove:
Those blocks are impressive!
I still say no too by accident. It’s so hard to stop when I’m so used to saying it to them all day long
Luckily my kids haven’t cared and my 4 year old likes to pretend he has an audience of kids correcting him “Nooo too big!”. He says no to himself way more than I do and he thinks it’s funny.
FLKL,
We are waiting for Andrea to get her blocks and then I really do want to start skype math. I don’t think you have the right sonya in skype. I will PM you with my credentials.
If anyone wants to join us, I am open to take as many as will come.
FLKL
I’ll PM you my id too. In few weeks we can start.
Would love to get on board Skype math. We started with the Primer Math u See workbook. It was going fine but lessons were only about 15 min or less. Learning about Crewton Ramone’s from this post changed everything. We just spent a couple hours with play doh, trains and blocks. We did addends, some skip counting and squares - (5x5) blankets and (2x2) hats for the trains. When one twin saw the play doh blanket on his brother’s train, he wanted to make one too. It was music to my ears. I made tunnels from construction paper to hide the blocks pretending they are trains and they will tell me which one is hiding in the tunnel. We made sheds for their Thomas and friends trains with addends. I was going to put away the play doh but they wanted to play some more so we kept going. When they wanted to feed the trains we made the plates from squared blocks. I have been pleasantly surprised we were incorporating math into imaginative play. To the toddler, he is mostly making props. I am not very organized and work best in an organic way so CR suits us. Maybe the only difference is that I think it is not too early to start with the abstract if the child is ready so I supplement with cards showing numbers eg. 2+3=5 and pictures of the matching blocks under each number.
McPherson,
Welcome on board!
Thanks for the great ideas and sharing! My boys love trains and tunnels!
Andrea
McPherson,
Can you show me pictures of this? I knew there was a way to get math into these little ones. Give good tools and a good idea and this community will take off and run with it.
I don’t think CR thinks you shouldn’t show it to them, but that you don’t need to. Ray’s is more don’t show it to them. The idea of moving from the concrete to the abstract and switching back and forth makes sense to me as my kids are all familiar with numbers already. I am very fond of the whiteboard idea to just write and wipe and you can build with playdough on there too.
I am excited to see what we all come up with as we use this to teach our little ones.
Thanks for sharing!
Just so that others know to what this refers:
I’m planning on buying a large melamine sheet at the hardware store this weekend and then cutting it to match the dimension of Cub’s train table. It will be like a table-top that I can put on and take off. I will then use this with dry erase and we’ll play math… except I can write things right there on the table top!
Will they cut it for you? We have a train table we haven’t moved to the play room yet. I love this idea. Then you can build math towns too…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C03DwVWk6lI
Hi Sonya
I thought the same that since they already know their numbers, it is just another step to link with the concrete. Here is the jpeg. I start with the 3 point lesson (keeping it short) and then I lay out a few of these. Sometimes they would pick them up and place the actual blocks on top of the image. Also, after building for eg. the 5 addends, I would show them an equation on a card and ask them to point to the matching one he has just built. They are learning the teens and tens and we do these with cards as well. I am happy to send the ppt file or jpegs if you can advice on the best way to do this. Also, Skype details? - how do we exchange these?
Here is a link to the video showing how he made the 4x4 ‘blanket’. He looked pleased with it afterwards. The other twin went on to make a 5x5 blanket (not shown). 5 is his favourite number after James the train.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqalrUkwTzA&list=UUW2GZlI64ukTXn1zChHoSmA
how do you get the digital images? That could come in handy
We are waiting for Andrea to get her blocks. Then we will do one mass sharing by PM on this forum. It is better for me if we do it all at once. And it will also depend on who wants to join us.
I like those cards and placing the blocks over the top is great. I watched the video. That is wonderful. What a great way to keep the interest and keep playing. That is what I was after. My kids are older so we are working in the Mortensen tray building addends. But as a change of pace I like this a lot. Basically you are playing “What’s Under the Cup?” with your tunnels. There are a lot of parents on here who do not know how to do this with really little ones. Mine are older right now. The more video you can post in here with your great ideas, the more helpful it will be.
I would also like to join the Skype but I am also waiting for my friend from US to bring my blocks. I haven’t done any activity also with my DD related to Mortensen. Is it possible to join the Skype eventhough I have nothing to share yet?
Welcome!
Yes, you can join us Because the idea is to learn from each other, right? And I also need a couple of weeks to get my blocks We start the Skype meetings only after that
Have a wonderful day!
Andrea
Hi, I would love to join Skype as well. I am waiting on my blocks as well but am loving this thread and posts. Need to revitalize my sons math
Welcome RiamP
I think we, the parents, are going to have at least as much fun as the kids learning math.
very interesting thread. just got introduced to Mortensen math and cr. Is it suitable for older kids?