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We're letting Norah collect our empty cans and take them to the store for the spare change. Of course, one of us will go with her to the store and supervise her doing it.

As she adds each can to the bag, she multiplies by fives. "Five twelve times is... sixty cents. I've got sixty cents worth of cans in that bag. Right, Mom?"

She also has to learn the value of the coins the cashier gives her. "This is a nickle, right? It's worth five. But why is it bigger than the dime worth ten? A dime is worth ten right?"

And, as she puts all the money she earned into her piggy bank with all the money already in there, she adds. "I had two dollars and twenty seven cents... plus the three dollars and five cents I just earned. So that's..."

It's been a very easy, very natural way for her to earn some extra money and learn to use math in a way that is meaningful to her without using a workbook.

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