Yes, math is best understood when one can see how it applies to your everyday life.

So, Billy’s math every so often has a series of addition problems with the answer given, but one of the addends missing. Today, they all equalled 9. Three plus what equals nine? Five plus what equals nine? Zero plus what equals nine? He has had a tough time figuring these out. I use Base Ten blocks so he can visualize it, but it really didn’t click for him.

Today, though, there was a picture of a birthday cake with nine candles on it. So I said, “Let’s suppose it’s your ninth birthday. Your mom puts six candles on the cake before she has to go and change your brother’s stinky diaper. How many candles do you need to put on your cake so it’s ready?” Amazingly, it took mere seconds for him to reply: “Three!”

Again, I said, “Let’s suppose it’s your ninth birthday. Your mom puts two candles on the cake before she has to go and break up a fight between your two sisters in the living room. How many candles do you need to put on the cake then?”

“Seven!”

“Good job! Now, you do one.”

“OK. Let’s supposes it’s my ninth birthday. My mom puts five candles on my cake before she has to go and clean up a mess that Jenny made. How many candles do I need to put on the cake? Hmmm…four! OK…It’s my ninth birthday. My mom puts three candles on my cake when…”

He got them all right.