Math...

For the past five weeks I have been taking an online Vedic maths course taught by a nice Scottish gentleman. In case you're not familiar with Vedic maths, it's an ancient Indian mathematic system that uses 16 word formulas ("sutras") that naturally compliment the way our own brains work. It's a system that is very logical, simple, flexible and even creative. It helps make what are typically arduous math problems, quite simple and fast to solve.  A.J. and I first discovered Vedic maths almost a year ago and were immediately intrigued, especially in light of the fact we have a 10 year old who gets easily discouraged with math.  In December we saw that an online class was being offered at the start of the new year and decided to bite the bullet. I took a big gulp not even fully certain I wanted to commit myself - math has never been my favorite subject (I escaped math in college, except for statistics, by CLEP-ing out of math). But this is something I really wanted to devote myself to in an effort to open my kidlet's eyes to seeing math and numbers in an entirely new way. I have to tell you, I really enjoyed this course a lot. I had light bulb moments many times throughout the class - and frequently was left wondering why we in America continue to use the traditional math system? Beginning this week I'll be taking a break from our math textbook we've been using to teach Alex the basics of the Vedic maths (I even have a teacher's manual for his age/grade level!). This is yet another benefit to being a homeschool family: testing alternative methods of teaching/learning a subject, and having the time to do it. :)