Ok, so at B's request, we've started formal math. Yesterday, we dissected numbers. I showed him to dissect 32 into 30 and 2. He dissected a list of numbers like that, e.g. 98 is 90 and 8. We then moved into dissecting higher numbers like 130. When we did numbers in the 100s, however, he wanted to write it as 30 and 10, i.e. dropping one of the zero place holders in the 100. I did a strange drawing on 30 sitting on top of 100 (with strange voices, which the kids cracked up at). Then, he understood that when we take 30, all of the 100 is still there. I feel like he has a basic grasp on place value, which is what I was trying to teach him.

At supper, we went a bit further. I asked how many 10s were in 20. He knew that. So I asked him to dissect 32 in a similar way. He answered, "Three 10s and a 2." I feel that he has a good grasp on this. It seems like it's easier for him to 'dissect' the numbers mentally than it is for him to write it out. He can do it in his mind easier than he can do on paper. I've reserved a "Montessori at home" book at the library and I hope to get some hands-on math games from it.

Today, we went to the big homeschool store. We left with some Singapore Math, Explode the Code and Dover coloring books. Each child got an Explode the Code book, but only B got a math book. I don't think T is ready for written math yet.

When we got home, B blew through some Singapore math pages. I deliberately started him at a lower level so that he *could* blow through it and build his confidence, while checking for any basic gaps.

T worked on his "Explode The Code 1" book. In one set of exercises, T matched consonants with drawings that began with those consonants. As mentioned before, he doesn't know all the consonants but he was easily able to match them with the appropriate drawings. I just had to tell him the sounds of a few consonants. He got all of them correct except for one; some of the drawings are very ambiguous, tbh. He also did a word match; for example, which word matches 'fat', 'hat or 'fat'? The words were all -at words and he easily read them all. I stopped him at this point because I was a bit burned out and I thought he would benefit from having a break anyway.

Earlier this morning, while I was struggling to wake up with my cup of tea, the kids traced a number and letter worksheet, to help them learn the correct way to form those objects. T mostly drew on his. B still forms some of his letters backwards. T actually writes some words backwards sometimes, but I know that's developmentally appropriate. T announced that a 2 was a backwards 5 and that a 6 was an upside-down 9. They are both very enthusiastic about this so far.

In random homeschool news, I taught them some Mandarin the other day. I think it's hard for them as children to distinguish between the 4 tones in Mandarin. I used my hands to indicate which tone was which. One sounds like a command, one sounds like a question, one is constant like singing a note and one sounds like an incredulous question. They learned, "how are you?" "I am very well" and "thank you". When my Chinese class starts, I thought I might try to teach them some Mandarin if they are still interested. We also talked about the characters. I got out a Chinese teacup that has characters on it and we talked about how the characters originated from a pictorial language like hieroglyphics. For example, the pronoun characters all begin with the same character, which originates from a picture of a stick man. B found this interesting, as he has recently been trying out Egyptian hieroglyphics. I keep meaning to find and print out cuniform for him, but I think we would benefit from some history stories to give it context. Although I have mixed feelings about it, I think we're going to get "Story of the World".