War and Peace

We play lots of War (and Peace) in our house. It's the the card game that's worth 1000 worksheets.

We're currently using it for addition and pre-subtraction. Today, we played War. J added up his cards (we played with three at a time per person), then added up my cards, told me which hand was more, and by how much (stealth subtraction). I gave him the abacus to use when necessary. I do worry that he's not noticing patterns because of his dependence on the abacus, but I'll probably wait a while before requiring him to do it mentally. Now, I simply point out ways he could have done the calculation more quickly.

"Notice you had 9, 7, and 3. You could have added 7 and 3 first, and then 9. Then you wouldn't have needed the abacus."

Time will show whether systematic teaching will be necessary a few months down the road or if games will suffice!