February, Leap Years and Calendars

My son needed a distraction, it was one of those days.  He was staring at his calendar rather than his work. Being February he noticed it didn't have 30 or 31 days.  Perfect timing for a topic change.  

We decided to study the calendar.  Now in the past we have covered the basics like all kids learn: the days of the week, the months of the year, the seasons etc. So today we looked at the Mathematics side of the calendar, being the numbers in a month, year etc.

Step one: teaching the rhyme. You ALL know the one I am talking about. The one taught to us over and over again in class all those years ago.  I thought I'd teach it to my son. Bad move. My son has Aspergers amongst other things and his issues with this rhyme was that not only did it not rhyme, it wasn't easy, it wasn't a song, and he didn't get why you'd bother learning it when all you needed to learn was the theory behind it and not the rhyme itself.

So like all good mothers and teachers, when step one doesn't go to plan, you use Step two.  Step two = Google. Yes it does, admit it.

Google gave us loads of information and lead us to talking about Leap Years.  My son was very disappointed to learn that this year is not one of them.  

But Google also lead us to Step three.  Step three = You Tube.  



We found this great instructional video, full of information, perfect for kids! I just had to share because I love it.  So if you need a topic for the end of February, this is a great one.