Math Made Me Seasick

I’m seasick, and I may end up with bruises all over my shins from being crashed into, but math went much better yesterday. It was the math that made me seasick. Well. Sort of.

A while back I was quizzing Teddy on addition flashcards. It wasn’t supposed to be anything tedious – just a quick review of facts he already knew. But he kept getting distracted by little brother. And kept rolling around on the floor, and looking anywhere BUT the flashcard I was holding up. 

I reminded him to sit still and pay attention. But that only seemed to make things worse. 

He sat with his eyes bugged out, staring with all his might at the flashcard, but it was clearly a case of all the lights being on but no one home. He could NOT give me the correct answer. He couldn’t even give me an incorrect answer. It was like he was either frozen in place, or rolling around like a maniac on the floor. Either way, no math facts were being reviewed.

I was exasperated. 

I sent little brother to his room, told Teddy to sit up (again) and PLEASE TRY TO COOPERATE FOR PITY SAKES. 

He tried. He really did.

With little brother out of the room, he was able to begin to focus. 

And then I started noticing something intriguing. 

He was sitting cross-legged on the floor now, eyes glued to the cards, but he was spouting out the correct answers almost as fast as I could turn the cards. As long as… he was drumming out a rhythmic pattern on his knees.

I experimented. I asked him to try to sit quietly without moving, and see if he could still give me the correct answers.

He could not.

I told him if drumming out a rhythm on his knees helped, to go ahead and drum. 

He did. And instantly the correct answers started coming more quickly again.

And here’s the thing…

I’m grateful:

• For a hubby who works very hard long hours so we can survive on one income
• For the ability to homeschool
• For options for neurodiverse kiddos

I started experimenting with math and motion for Teddy.

We tried Therabands on the dining room chairs. They definitely helped, but not perfectly.

We tried using dominoes as manipulatives. That idea didn’t work so well. There wasn’t enough action.

We tried alternating jumping jacks with brain work (math, specifically). Some days this worked. Some days it didn’t. 

Yesterday was a hard day for focus, so I decided to get crazy. I told him to go grab the exercise ball, and bounce as much as he wanted to – as long as it was working to help him focus on math. 

IT WORKED. 

As long as he was bouncing – HARD – he was rattling off correct answers to the flashcards. 

Math Made Me Seasick

Yes, it made me seasick. Yes, it was hard for ME to focus. Yes, he kept crashing into me. But no, I didn’t care. He was doing math. He was correctly answering the equations. And he was happy.

If bouncing like a maniac on an exercise ball means better concentration and the ability to do math in his head, bring it on. Even if I am seasick now.

Additional help

If you’ve got a kiddo who needs motion for math, here are a few more ideas to get your creative juices flowing.

• A write-on/wipe-off board above stairs – where your student can run up and down a few stairs in between writing answers on the board.
• Using a write-on/wipe-off board to write HUGE numbers – to use gross motor skills instead of fine motor skills
• Having them jump rope while doing math, or do a burpee in between math equations
• Use a wobble board for them to balance on – sitting, standing, cross-legged, kneeling

For Moms

Being a mom is exhausting. Being a mom of neurodivergent children is even more exhausting. If you need some ideas for self care in the middle of caring for everyone else, start here.