Just wanted to share our greatest discovery in the realm of Mathematics. Marshmallow Math. My biggest frustration with Homeschool is finding consistently useful and affordable curriculum. This is cheap, flexible, and most importantly… it’s working!

This is how a typical math lesson might run.

Mom grabs a handful of mini-marshmallows, the fruity ones work well for word problems (if you have 3 green, 4 pink, 2 yellow, and 4 orange, how many marhsmallows do you have altogether?). Neils adds the marshmallows up, and decides if the number is even or odd. In the beginning I would always sit through him with it all, but now I might say something like, “great, you’ve got 21 marshmallows. How many different ways can you divide it evenly?” He might guestimate that it doesn’t divide evenly at all, but I have him work with them anyway. He then works it out and writes down the equations: 7 x 3 = 21, 3 x7 = 21, 21/7 = 3, etc. Then he does some subtraction problems (his favorite, of course), 21 – 6, or whatever, then we work with 15. Even or Odd? How many ways can you divide that? Then we might add again or subtract more. The big success for Neils here is that he HATES writing and worksheets, so those methods generally take him about 6 times as long than it would do just do the work itself. I am not exaggerating. With marshmallow math, he doesn’t mind because the marshmallow incentive outweighs the writing pain. And he’s actually writing more. He is learning that 7×3 and 3×7 are the same thing, and the relationship between multiplication and division. Admittedly, it’s no replacement for a good curriculum, but it’s a wonderful supplement.

The only downside: the massive sugar-high that follows! We just plan it for a fun way to end the schoolday, and hopefully when the weather will hold up well enough for him to run outside and play afterwards.