Math in the Driveway

I can never tell which math lesson is going to be the one to prove difficult. If I was to look through the math book and pick out the lessons that would hold us up, those would be the lessons the girls would fly through with the greatest of ease. It is always the ones I think they will fly through that prove to be the hardest ones for them. I can't figure out why, but I have a very bad track record with that. In following with this pattern, Two came to estimation and rounding to the nearest ten. The sound of our math progress coming to a screeching halt was enough to wake the dead. I'm not sure why this is a difficult concept for her to grasp, but evidently it is. I tried explaining, and watching the DVD, and using the blocks. Nothing was working. In years prior this would have been when I would have started yelling out of frustration and screaming at her. But, I have learned that all I accomplish with that is a total brain freeze on the part of the small and scared one. So, being a much better version of myself I got to wondering what I could do to really illustrate the whole nearest ten thing. Where could I find enough space? There are times when I am glad we live in a subdivision with plenty of paved driveway space. It's not often, but when I need a number line big enough for a small person to stand on I'm very glad. So the two of us went outside in the cold and used that big driveway to grasp a math concept. There was no yelling and no crying, and in the end she was able to understand what I was trying to teach her. It was a good day for our Homeschool, and it gave our driveway a chance to earn it's keep!