Homeschoolers frequently talk about using "kitchen math" as the foundation for teaching math and helping their kids to easily understand abstract mathematical concepts. I am beginning to see this in action! With all of our baking lately, it's easy to see how the reinforcement about measurements and fractions is helping M to become naturally more interested and adept in these areas.
For instance, we've been baking homemade french toast a lot lately and the recipe calls for cutting whole wheat English muffins into quarters. M has been watching me cut the muffins and then I let her play with one of them so that she sees how they fit together and what 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 looks like.
Well, yesterday at the playground, she and some other kids her age were making "apple pie" in the sandbox. When the pie came out of the oven, M said, "Ok now we have to cut it into quarters!" And she proceeded to cut two intersecting lines into the bucket to create quarters and then scoop them out for each kid!
So, I'm definitely seeing how kitchen math really works! And here's a good website with links for various kitchen math activities for homeschoolers.
