Let’s face it. Fractions are just boring. After several weeks of going over and over (and over) four quarters to a whole, two halves to a whole, blah blah blah, I finally felt our 10-year-old daughter had a good grasp. Since she loves to cook I let her have a shot at mac-n-cheese for lunch. When she was finished she dejectedly showed me her “mac soup.” As it turns out, when the recipe called for ¼ of a cup of milk, she confidently filled four ½ cups with milk and poured it in. I have to admit I felt pretty frustrated. She seemed to understand the concept on paper. What was the problem?
After reading “Building Strong Arithmetic Thinking” by Dr. Ruth Beechick, the light really came on. We have been so conditioned to believe that book studies are best. I had spent so much time going over fractions on paper. If I had spent the same amount of time actually cooking with her, showing her, how much faster could she grasp the concept and retain the information?

This booklet is a must read for parents who are struggling with the “I gottas.” We get so bogged down with how much ground we feel we need to cover in a math text for our young learners. This booklet made me realize all over again that real life experience (not my superior teaching methods or materials) is what makes all the difference to the life of a child.