Experience the Division.

Here we see a very simple problem of 14/2. We put the blocks on the white board and counted the sides...they can see and feel/touch that there really are 2 sevens in 14.

What we are doing is counting how many 7's are contained in 14: there are 2 of them...we counted to 14 one at a time, two at a time and lastly seven at a time. I am quite pleased that the 4 year old can count by 2's and 3's...

A few days ago in the store I gave him a simple real life problem.

If it costs two dollars a week to put a business card on the bulletin board at the health food store, how much will it cost for 4 weeks.

First response, "I dunno that's hard!"
"Stop!" I said. "Let's think about it. Hold up 4 fingers. How many?"
Laugh. "Four...!"
"Okay now each one of your fingers has a two on it..."
He nods vigorously. "Two, four, six...eight! It's eight!"
"Excellent!"
"How old is that kid?"
"I'm four!!"

He didn't have the blocks he had had his imagination. People alwaysraise objections like what happens "when they don't have the blocks?"...or "they can't take the blocks to school..." Yes they most certainly can...in their minds.

People are thinking he's a little genius. Now, if everybody thinks he's smart, and they treat him like he's smart what are the chances that he will live up to their expectations? If he believes he's smart and can do math now, it will take a lot to shake that belief later.

The younger child simply emulates his brother. It will be even easier for him. He's counting right along with us. How great is his understanding now? Probably not 100%, but a year from now his understanding will be much greater than the average child because he has been exposed to and is comfortable in a math rich environment. A basic tenet: put the child in a language rich environment and they learn that language.

Hawaiian immersion schools prove that. The children learn Hawaiian because they are in a environment that is language rich--all they hear is Hawaiian, they see Hawaiian words, they see the words related the world around them. Math is "just another" language ...




Here we see 9. 3x3, 9/3...
How many three's in 9?
9 can be square...and math being the thinking game it is...fuel of carrots and peanut butter keeps the brain running healthily.