Algebra With A 6 Year Old Girl.

Playing what's under the cup is a hugely powerful game. In the beginning it teaches simple addition...but as we progress it teaches much more. It is an extremely powerful game although it it deceptively simple. Great for pattern identification and basic algebra concepts that will be important throughout their math careers. The basic concepts are not beyond the grasp of any child so long as you introduce them at the child's level.

Here is a short vid showing the introduction of Hero Zero.


We could have gone either way...to NFGBT1 or to Hero Zero. I usually go to Hero Zero first.

Here is a longer video which is just one of many you will find behind the SAMPLE LESSONS password protected page. You get to watch it here for FREE. If you want to watch a lot more videos like this just get a password. The Trig page alone make the password worth it, and six bucks a month is a no brainer. Be reminded you are watching most of a lesson for which the people in paid $50.00.

This video shows sample lesson with a 6 year old girl doing problem solving it is also on the sample lessons page; problem solving like x + 5 = 13 is EASY.

But also x - 7 = 6 which takes a little more thinking.

And story problems like 20% of my little ponies are blue, I have 70 my little ponies how many are blue?

Introduces 21 is x% of 70 and more...for more on Percentages click on the percentages tab (%) at the house of math or click the link (t)here.


In the picture she shows us a problem she made and we got it right that a 5 was in the cup...my son earned 1 buck. I made 49.00. If you would like me to pimp my son out to you so your kid can play math and stay engaged email me...she usually will play for 20 minutes before she starts asking if we can quit. With my son I had to cut the lesson off after an hour...46 minutes of it is on video unedited..so there are long pauses as they figure out the answers...perfect for your kids to play along in real time...

Algebra and Base Ten Blocks, What's under the cup?

Introduce Algebra right away.

 Just playing with blocks as I have said many times teaches a lot of math. This child likes playing with my boys much more than she likes playing with me alone. Wouldn't you rather play in your sandbox with friends, it's much more fun...

Here we introduce algebra concepts without even trying. We are just playing. The idea here is simple PLAY! You can play with anybody anywhere...all you need is a set of blocks for each participant, and away you go!


At this point with the student they rarely even need to see the symbols and we say 6 plus what is 14...or we can tell a story, we have 14 people but only six cookies how many more cookies do we need? When they do see the symbols the symbols make sense.

Basically it's controlled chaos...but playing math doesn't have to be orderly and silent. I'd argue more learning takes place at this age playing and being rambunctious than sitting with a worksheet in silence...MUCH MORE.



Then here is a quick video with a variation on the theme...which instead of teaching addends and algebra, will teach multiplication and division...



A very simple variation on the theme. Here we can learn addends, multiplication and some algebra too. And we learn how to ask and answer questions mathematically, soon we will relate them to the symbols.

3x = 15 for example, We could skip count the 3's. The sound effects just make it that much more FUN.

These kids are separated by half an ocean and half a continent...video tutoring can give you child an actual head start, or give you as a parent an idea of how easy it is to get started...get a few lessons and then do it on your own...so many parents tell me they don't know how to play math or make it fun because they have absolutely no experience with math being fun. I can show you how and give you a few tips and pointers. Or you could just get a password and you can watch the vids on Rayond's Page and others...there are tons of sample lessons (that page has over 10 hours of video on it) and that's just for starters. The idea is GET STARTED.  Don't be overwhelmed, just take a bite at a time. Here is another bite basically the same thing just a slight bit more emphasis on introducing a 4 year old to problem solving. Rarely too early to start, but often too late.

People are amusing because a few years ago before I got all this together the excuse was, "now that I have blocks there's nothing to show me what to do", or "not enough material to get going with" that excuse has been removed...parent/teacher training is also coming soon. there was a time when the sum total of training was 5 VHS tapes with about 10 hours total of instruction on 5 topics. Very rudimentary. Other than that you had to fly to a training in Idaho...people are actually asking for that kind of live training again. Eventually it could happen. Meantime...