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I recently headed off on a 1 1/2 hour trip to a Cross-Country meet to watch my older boys compete. More accurately, I should say that my three younger children and I headed off. While a nice long drive in solitude can be peaceful and refreshing that same drive, when shared with a 7, 5, and 3 year old, is usually less so. (I'm being kind, here)In all honesty, I can't say I was looking forward to it.

Trying to make the best of a less-than-good situation I began asking my 7 year old if she saw any vertical line segments as we drove along. I followed this up by asking if she saw any horizontal and then oblique segments. Bet you can tell what this weeks' math lesson was on, can't you? As she named the various types of lines she felt inclined to instruct her 5 year old brother on them, also. Soon they were both naming the different types of line segments they saw.

Since this was going so well, I decided to push things a bit. I commented on the road signs and how they were different shapes and colors. We were particularly interested in the yellow caution signs as they'd had a difficult time finding the oblique line segments that make up these signs. I shared how all the yellow diamond signs were warnings or cautions and we spent time looking at and discussing them; falling rocks, curves, deer, tipping trucks?....well, you get the idea. We then discussed that other types of signs were also categorized by color and, often, by shape.

Hmmm....we were on a roll....why not push it a bit further? I proceeded to point out a green mile marker at the side of the road. I told them that the next green marker would tell us we'd gone exactly one mile. They found this bit of information quite impressive and it led to a game of closing their eyes at one marker and estimating how far to the next marker. They would then open their eyes and see how close they'd come to one mile. (Mom would let them know if we'd passed it). When they began to tire of this I pointed out the numbers on the markers and told them that they could keep track of how far we'd gone by watching the numbers. First, they just made sure I was telling the truth by determining what the next number would be and verifying it upon sighting the marker. After a bit, they would note a marker, become distracted with conversation or the view, and later see another marker. Soon I was hearing, "We were at 116 and now we're at 124 so we went eight miles".

All this was done in a leisurely, enjoyable manner and before we knew it, we'd arrived at our destination. We'd managed to have "lessons" on line segments, shapes, categorization, estimation, addition and subtraction without them ever being aware we were doing math. On the way home my daughter commented, "I usually don't like long drives but this was a fun one, today." Just goes to show what a little awareness on Mom's part can accomplish and how pleasantly education can take place. Creative learning at its best!

Oh, about the meet! I will take this opportunity to brag that my oldest placed third out of 76 runners and my second son (only a Freshman) placed 15th!! Yes, I'm more than a bit proud! Too bad my little guys aren't old enough to figure percentages!!

Mile Marker Math
by Dena Wood

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