Printable | Preschool Homeschool | Mathematical Concepts

Mental Checklist for the Preschool Homeschool – Mathematical Concepts


Like many ELA teachers, Maths was never my strong point in high school. Don’t get me wrong, I took advanced maths and I passed easily, I just had to actually study and get my Dad’s help to achieve it. And I only got a C+ on my final exam. My problem was that I couldn’t see any use for the mathematics that I was studying, and it’s not that I simply didn’t care, I just couldn’t wrap my brain around some of the trigonometry and calculus concepts… they just wouldn’t stick! And probability and statistics didn’t come that easily either. I could do enough to get basic genetic probabilities for my biology studies, but anything beyond that was beyond me!

My keenest memories of mathematics are generally more about my quirky teacher (who resembled Moses, simply substitute the ten commandments for a maths textbook, and the flowing robe for khaki shirt and pants…same outfit every day.) He always told me I was destined to be a Maths Teacher (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA) but then, he had taught my father, and my father should have been an accountant. I think he wasn’t, because his father (my grandfather) WAS an accountant.

My maths teacher’s favourite classroom advice was, “When in trouble, when in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout.” His favourite examination advice was, “When in trouble, when in doubt, plot points.” Sage advice indeed. Truthfully, he was a wise, intelligent, and dear man, who was well loved by all his students, and his quirks are remembered far more easily than his brilliance both as a mathematician and as a teacher.

But I digress.

I know that beyond teaching my children to count to twenty (which they do very well, and very loudly at the supermarket) I have somewhat neglected mathematical concepts in my instruction. When I started looking up how to teach preschoolers, I naturally leant more towards the reading and nature side of life... I am, after all, an English and Biology teacher.

I had to laugh when I saw that one Pinner had pinned my Motor Skills checklist onto a board entitled ‘The Language of Wolves’. A bit of research told me that wolves are those parents/teachers/administrators who are objective obsessed, and demand that every learning experience be tied to a demonstrable, measurable objective. If the Pinner had bothered to read the post, she would have realized that is not my intent at all.

Like my other lists, this is more for ME than a list of objectives for my children to master. Am I giving them opportunities to develop these skills? Am I encouraging them in their sorting and measuring (which they love do to), or am I downplaying the importance of these types of play in favour of others. I do not plan our ‘schooling’ around these lists. I barely plan our schooling at all. I let them play and discover, and find teachable moments in what they are doing and what they are interested in. I might focus on a particular letter, or a particular bible story, or nursery rhyme, or other integrating device (learned that term in 1st year of university back in 1992!) but beyond that, I try to let nature take its course and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit (our greatest educator) and my children. A checklist of this nature is simply there for me to glance over every once in a while and ask myself if I have provided my kids the opportunity to develop these skills or learn these concepts. And if not, I find ways to do so, mostly through play, stories, or art and craft.

You can download a pdf copy of this checklist here.


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