Math as a game

Lately we've been playing a lot of Uno, and I've been keeping a running commentary as to how many cards we all have. You have 6 cards and get a Draw Two? 6 + 2 = 8. I've already dealt 5 cards to each of us? Then we each need 2 more, 5 + 2 = 7. When we spell things with the letter blocks, such as Draco Malfoy, I point out that 5 + 6 = 11. I'm not too overtly educational about it (honestly!), it's just that A. wants to know how long everyone's name is.

Another game I loved as a kid was Yahtzee, which is sure to teach you your multiplication tables from 1 x 1 to 4 x 6. There is plenty of addition involved in adding up your full house or your straights, as well, and of course in adding up your total score.

And then there are the commercial games, like 1-2-3 Oy, which I haven't yet played but plan to buy at some point. A. loves a software game we have which teaches basic arithmetic, as well.

I think it's likely that A. will just absorb math while playing, at least until we get to complicated multiplication and long division. People who are skeptical of unschooling often have particular concerns about how math will be learned, but imagine how different it is for a child who knows math mostly through games, instead of mostly through repetitive homework sheets. I actually thought it was fun to try to reduce algebraic equations, back in 8th and 9th grade, though I could never have admitted that to my classmates. I hope that for A. math will also seem like a set of puzzles that are fun to solve.