Our lovely cousin picks cherries and has been trying to sell them through word of mouth, the internet and with a “stall”. He talked about contracting out the standing around to sell them. I think Helena heard the ka-ching of the money rolling in and was in.

It looked like a big box of cherries, impossibly large… all but 9kgs worth. Helena did the calculations. 15$ per kg, 5 for the farmer, 5 for the picker (our cousin) and 5$ for H. She worked out how much she had to spend to buy the cherries then how much she would earn, of course she spent it all in her head before even seeing the cherries. We did some role plays where I was the customer so we worked out how many grams for different prices. There was a bit of “I can’t” at this point.. We wrote it all down. She spent the evening before perfecting her signage, fusing over the stand. She went into the Bakery and asked a very nice stranger if she could have her stand out side their shop – unfortunately they didn’t ring back and were even shut the on the day due to someone being a close contact (Covid is getting closer)… and in the morning it was drizzling so not quite the best start. I printed out Helena’s very own Covid QR tracer code and H dressed in red and green, like a cherry.

It went well, just as she was sure it would. I was delighted that one person asked for 5 dollars worth of cherries as this made H understand the value of doing the maths she had rebelled against that morning. Arithmetic for her is practical hands on stuff, still in the realm of reality, or why would you? I could talk all I wanted about maths but it is this hands on useful stuff that gets her using it. H amused herself at the stall by trying to estimate 500 grams of cherries before weighing them.

She is soooo pleased with herself. She is counting her money that she earned herself again, that she brought into the house – well will do when she remembers where she put it. She also wants to sell cherries next week.