"Arithmetic Village" -- an alternative to other Waldorf Early Maths

  Math gnomes and math squirrels that are often used in the teaching of early maths in Waldorf curricula.  However, neither of those have really jived with our family.  The squirrels in our Christopherus curriculum left me nonplussed. The math gnomes having their own color association is really smart (as each one matches a temperament), but I didn't want my kiddos associating alongside them since my kiddos are similarly color coded.

  I just recently found Arithmetic Village via a fellow mommy blogger and homeschooler who wrote a review about it here.  It's a cute little set of five books explaining the functions of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.  The illustrations are warm and charming, and the rhyming verse is not only fun to read but also easy for kids to recall. Each character also have traits told through story and rhyme for each basic mathematical process, which is a teaching method that I find very Waldorf compatible.

    I like the idea of getting some counting jewels, too -- like those flat glass marble things in their own colors since my kids are color coded, which makes my life more sane. The idea of decorating our math treasure chests is also a very appealing craft project.  Some beads, or those flat glass marbles/stones, and some wooden chests form the craft store would be just right. With my discount from teacher id, it would be very affordable, too.  We could make our own bags (in the story the bags hold 10 each), or I could get those organza favor bags from the wedding section and be done.

   For those who might find them useful, there are a _ton_ of free downloads, worksheets, activity packs, ideas, and videos to go along with Arithmetic Village, and the lady who came up with it is super nice, and very responsive to questions. There isn't a lot to purchase besides the books, and the supplies you might gather yourself can be purchased affordably -- you might even have some of it already!

   I'm actually rather excited about this! I got the .pdf copies of the book today (but you can get them beautifully printed out & ready to go), and am looking forward to binding/sewing our own (another handwork/craft project), and reading them. It'll be a little while before we really get into it, but I anticipate this one is going to be a real winner! 

   There are several places besides the main webpage where you can check out Arithmetic Village and the resources it offers:
a Pinterest page: http://www.pinterest.com/arithmeticv ,
a facebook page  https://www.facebook.com/TheArithmeticVillage  
on YouTube here
and you can even flip through the books here!: http://issuu.com/arithmeticvillage/docs