Great quotes form my kid

Regarding when we used to go to Catholic Church:

I never had any time to play there. I just had to sit and sit and sit and then we walked in the garden and then we went home.

Regarding a sea gull circling over head: (in the most authoritative little voice imaginable:

You see that? That is a White Vulture.

After too much teasing regarding White Vultures (in the same authoritative voice, as if we didn't know):

Actually, that's called a seagull.

Crative math games

Uno
Yatzee
War
Monopoly (using "checkbooks" instead of or in addition to cash)

When we were working on pairs that add to 10 I'd remove all the 10s and picture cards and lay the rest face down. We'd take turns turning over 2 cards. If they added to 10 we'd keep them. If not we'd turn them over.

For place value also remove the 10s and picture cards. Decide how many places you want to deal with - we'd start with 2 or 3 and draw that many dashes on your page. Take turns turning over a card and deciding where to place it . We mainly used to aim to make the largest number so the 8s and 9s would go in the hundreds place. Modellling the thought process aloud in a game situation really helped learning I found. Sometimes we'd try and make the smallest number instead.

Rainbow Maths. Draw an arch and divide in into sections number 2-12. You'll need 1 per player and 2 dice. Roll the dice and add the numbers. Now comes the choice. If you have rolled a 3 and a 4 you may choose to colour the 7 section or any sections that add to 7 - the 3+4 that you rolled or 1+6 etc. The winner is the first person with a beautifully coloured rainbow. Stereotypically my girls loved this and my boys couldn't see what all the fuss was about.

Give and Take is great for money skills - all you need is a pile of coins and a dice. If you roll 1-4 you take that number of coins from the pile. A 5 means miss a turn/take noting and 6 means take 3 from the pile and 3 from your partner. When all the coins have gone or after a set number of turns count to see who is richest.

Also on money give the kids a oupon book or other junk mail and a pile of real or toy money and see what they can buy. We had heaps of fun furnishinga house with money from Life or Monopoly. Much less of a budget constraint than real life!