Thursday 29 January 2015

Home School - Cooking and Maths!


I was recently asked this question about my Home School work: "Your topics looks great fun, but how do you tackle a boring subject like Maths?"

I always think as a teacher, as well as a parent, that it is crucial to engage in your child's interests at every opportunity; it incorporates something that they will find fun with the laying across subjects.

If you've followed some of my previous posts you would know that William loves his baking and cooking.

William's Grandad, on his mother's side, is a Chef.

When he was a baby we thought it would be amusing to have a photo shoot where we had him dressed as a chef.



What we didn't know at the time was that William would show a flare in this area.

Subsequently; William is now the head Chef in our household (And an incredibly good one too!!)



This week as part of his Home School I decided to layer his Numeracy topic of measurements with his love of cooking.

Thanks to Amy and her beautiful post on Beef Stew. We stole her theme, and most of her recipe, and attempted to make our own version.



When we attempted to prepare the vegetables I took advantage and layered Numeracy into it. Each piece was spoken about as a 'Whole', then as a 'Half' and then as a 'Quarter'.

This, not only covering Numeracy targets and vocabulary, worked perfectly to make larger chunky pieces for the Stew.



Once all our pieces were added, William chose which stock mix he wanted; carefully examining all the ingredients to come to his conclusion.


We also took advantage here of the stock cube and examined the qualities of a Cube.

William then measured by weight the Beef that we wanted to use. Again, we took advantage of Numeracy layers and discussed larger and small terms as well as measurements in grams.

We then gently cooked the beef; Sealing the edges in the pan.

*** I would advise absolute Adult Supervision ***

William then added everything to the slow cooker and waited.



Not once did William question if we were doing Numeracy; All he knew was that he was doing a topic that he enjoyed, whilst having a conversation, with his Dad.

I on the other hand covered some basic points of Numeracy; These points are now understood and when we do refer to these in a 'schooled' environment I can refer back to this activity as an example.

Not only a great activity for children we also layered educational themes and provided a yummy dinner for us as a Family. Schooled or not, this is something that could secure your child's learning

So what do you think? Could you do this at home?





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44 comments:

Amy Treasure said...

Oh wow this is so amazing! Thank you for the mention :) William looks so gorgeous in his chef's outfit. I love that you turned this into a maths activity you are so creative. Such lucky boys :)

Martyn Kitney said...

Thanks Amy! No problem, we loved doing it and eating it. I'll pop over and copy more of your recipes as it was lovely!
Ha he does....got him it for Christmas...He takes it so seriously!
It is the only way some weeks to mix up what we should be learning into something fun. I hate to think he would get bored with 'schooled' methods.

Kim Carberry said...

That stew looks delicious! Well done your little chef.
You are so creative turning it into a maths activity x

Martyn Kitney said...

Thanks Kim! It was delicious. He does such a good job cooking with very little supervision....which is ideal for me.
I think sometimes we believe that learning is meant to be in a 'schooled' environment of sitting at a desk. But there are so many ways to make learning fun and still achieve your learning goals. It was, and still is, one of the reasons I love being a teacher.

Ashley Beolens said...

What a great idea to combine the cooking and maths, must try this with my little lady.

Martyn Kitney said...

You should do Ashley. I love finding ways to use their interest and apply learning. School and learning should be fun. Worst case scenario...you end up entertaining your young one for a bit and cook a nice meal for everyone.

Unknown said...

Great idea Martyn! I'll start working with Sloane on this when she is helping me in the kitchen.

Unknown said...

Good work and looks tasty. Do you think I can come round and you can home school me?!

Martyn Kitney said...

Thanks Gary! You definitely should. And make sure you check Amy's site she has some lovely recipes. Think I'll be stealing and doing this in home school again !

Martyn Kitney said...

Thanks Dave, it was yummy!! I think it worked out well! I had a child entertained for just under 2 hours, taught Maths and he didn't realise and fed the family all with very little work on my part. Was win win!

Home school projects for Dad's?
I'm in.....bring the sprogs and I'll do them too! ;-)

Unknown said...

Great job! Taught your son math and had him make dinner! :) Well done indeed!

Martyn Kitney said...

Thanks mate. Perfect situation. ☺

JOhn Adams said...

Yup, I could so somehting similar at home...but not with beef stew, the kids wouldn't eat it! Good way to teach numeracy there Martyn. #BigFatLinky

Unknown said...

I always forget that you can add learning into every day activities and I wouldn't even question we were doing maths with cookin. Really helps illustrate and you can help whether you are home schooling or helping educate alongside conventional school.

Laura @Life with Baby Kicks

Unknown said...

This is a great idea. I think learning without knowing is brilliant and he made something so yummy. Will give it a go when my little girl is older! xx #mybigfatlinky

Martyn Kitney said...

Thanks for commenting John. Ha well if you can include something that they like then all the better!

Martyn Kitney said...

Thanks for commenting Laura. This is exactly my goal. Home school provides an opportunity to do something different and explore learning in a way that works individually. Will loves his cooking so made sense to layer numeracy into it.

Martyn Kitney said...

Thanks for commenting Sarah. I love learning with out knowing. It was a great activity. And as you said he produced something yummy. Definitely an activity that anyone can do when their children are old enough.

Helena Clarke said...

Looks fabulous! I definitely need to do more cooking with my kids. We do the odd bit of baking and we manage homemade pizzas, but it about time I got them to help me with more adventurous recipes!

Martyn Kitney said...

Thanks for commenting. Cooking and baking is always fun with the kids. We try to do as much as we can. William is really good too which makes it more enjoyable for me too lol
Check Amy's site she has some fantastic recipes!

Unknown said...

What a great idea to incorporate maths. That stew also looked delicious. He can come and cook for me whenever he likes!! :-)

Martyn Kitney said...

Thanks for commenting Sophie. Always try to layer subjects as often as I can it just happens to be good to include bits he enjoys. It was delicious. I should hire him out. Lol everyone always comments how good he is and I honestly do nothing but supervise. Next TV chef in the making ;-)

Unknown said...

couldn't agree more Martyn, don't you think its a shame that the school curriculum is so jam packed that we can't be equally as creative in the classroom. A great post as always.

Martyn Kitney said...

Thanks Al. It's difficult. Worked as a primary school teacher and would curse governing bodies, councils and ofsted because there was so much to fit in that our hands were tied to do what we wanted; to actually teach!
Although I worked for the dreaded of stead for a couple of years so knew it from their point of view and it was shocking to see so many schools not reaching potential of what is needed.
Nowadays though, through home school, I've fallen back into teaching. Finding fun ways to interact and be creative. For me at least the sole reason I became a teacher. I don't envy you guys having to do it regularly. After now I couldn't go back!!

Unknown said...

A great way to make learning fun!

Looks like you've got a great cook there, can't wait to see him on master chef.

Martyn Kitney said...

Thanks for commenting. I love finding fun ways to make Learning fun.
Lol I wouldn't be surprised if he did go on it!

Unknown said...

Really great way to bring in the learning stuff. They are probably unaware they are even chatting and learning maths! Brilliant idea. Wish we did this when I was at school!

Martyn Kitney said...

Thanks for commenting Alice. Definitely agree if they just see the fun then they don't worry about the math stuff but at the same time he did take in. Ha school would have been awesome if it was like this. I'm incredibly jealous of his education.

Unknown said...

Love this post and the thinking behind it, great advice for any parent!

Martyn Kitney said...

Thanks for commenting! And thanks I love a bit of creativity within learning. Something all parents, whatever the schooled set up is, can do.

kevin @ doubletroubledaddy said...

Martyn, This is awesome! I hope that when my boys get older that they enjoy spending time in the kitchen, just like their father! I made their baby-food from scratch, and have been very instrumental in making sure they try all sorts of new foods. I think it's part of the reason they have such a love of all foods for only being 2.

Martyn Kitney said...

Thanks Kevin! It wasn't one of choice. I always liked cooking and baking but in comparison to his grandad it was rubbish. When my youngest was in hospital and I had William I struggled to think about what to do with him. So made him my kitchen helper. He fell in love with it since.
Hats off to you!! That is a great way for them to experience a range of food! Hope they start helping you out and getting involved!

Anonymous said...

The only way I can get my eldest lad to read anything except the prescribed reading from school is if its sports related. I'll ask him to read an article to me, pretending I am busy doing something else.

Martyn Kitney said...

It is really difficult to engage kids at times. If you're able to get him reading during sport stuff then that's great. Being busy would be good too!

Loz said...

This is amazing...learning maths in a practical, fun way alongside other life skills (and getting a tasty stew to enjoy too) I find this really inspiring and it will definitely impact on how we teach and interact with Ted :)

Martyn Kitney said...

Thanks for commenting Loz! I love to find ways to make topics fun. I'm pleased that it has inspired you feel free to check out our other home school posts of it helps. Most of all William had fun and yes we did get a tasty stew from it!

Lisa (mummascribbles) said...

What lucky boys you have and that is so great that William is a fab chef at such a young age! I'll look out for him! It's definitely a great way to slip in some maths...so much fun learning on the job! #bigfatlinky

Martyn Kitney said...

Thanks for commenting Lisa. You should do. The moment he's old enough I wouldn't be surprised if he entered something like junior master chef. He's so creative and good at this. It was an obvious choice to slip a bit of maths in....I'm always looking for ways to incorporate boring subjects into fun ones.

Unknown said...

Love the baby chef photo lol. I've done cooking with my kids but integrating it with maths never even occurred to me. I think it's great he loves cooking too. Your boys are very lucky Martyn :)

Martyn Kitney said...

Thanks for commenting Tommy. Haha I know he was a cutie. I'm always funding ways to engage with him over more than one topic if I can. This just made sense especially with a subject he finds boring.
And the fact he loves it and is good at it is the main thing. I like to think they are.

Emma x said...

We do absolutely loads of cooking, both of my boys enjoy the process of cooking and I know they are learning maths through measuring, science through the changing states of ingredients and so on, people really underrate it as a learning tool. Thanks for linking up to #homeedwed

Sarah - let them be small said...

My son is 2.5 and when we made some angel delight last week we talked about the quantity of milk etc - I agree working with what they enjoy and are engaged in is the best way to be :-)
#homeedwed

Martyn Kitney said...

I think you're right! People completely miss it as a learning tool. We do loads here. William has his own feature on the blog. It all goes hand in hand with his home ed nicely.

Martyn Kitney said...

Thanks Sarah. I agree. Work with what they love and aim it at age appropriate level and build upon it.

Ps I really want angel delight now ;)