Having Fun with Fractions.

I think I mentioned that we've put aside the Singapore Math for just a bit. Catherine did well with it but we pushed through concept after concept and once we got to the end of several units on operations with fractions and mixed numbers she was a little confuddled on what to do with what.

Out came Key to Fractions and boy, has Catherine been enjoying it. Yes, she likes Singapore Math but she never breezed through it on her own in the way she does with Key to Fractions. All those worries I've had about independent math work just seem to disapear and Catherine zooms through a half dozen pages on her own with a big grin on her face.

I think this is because she's experiencing the joy of ease. That happy feeling you get after you've put a lot of hard work into practicing a skill, especially one that was tremendously frustrating to begin with, and then reach the point where you realize you've got it. I get this a lot in the choir I sing in. Our director has a wonderful confidence that we can always meet his expectations and that belief has often meant that I've been rewarded with finding something easy that was previously frustrating and hard enough to bring me to the point of tears. I've watched this with Catherine and her violin. And now I get to see it in her math work.