Tuesday, July 13, 2010

My Daughter - The Lab Rat


My daughter is at the stage where she's learning the *math facts*. See my previous post.

From my standpoint, it's a little tedious teaching this fundamental aspect of mathematics.

It's not 'torturous' by any stretch but it does take some work, repetitive work.

There are many theories on how to teach the *facts*. I subscribe to none of them in particular but persistent work.

And I am now experimenting with a different approach than I took with my son anyway. I let my daughter use the calculator to do some of the questions like 8+9, 11+7, etc. - the ones she can't easily do on her fingers.

My wife was taken aback that I gave the Princess a calculator.

You watch, it won't matter one bit. We'll circle back to and through the facts so many times they will eventually sink in....so the particular method of introduction will prove wholly unimportant.

Consider that my daughter has to look at the page, see 8+9 on the page, and then type the numbers in by finding them on the calculator. In other words, she's essentially repeating the fact of 8+9=17 in the process - usually aloud.

Also consider that in the context of a boring subject for a 4.08 year old, she was very excited to use the calculator - as your kids will be too!

I'll bet there isn't a single Moronic teacher out there taking this calculator approach.

(On the literacy front, I'm also experimenting with that Starfall.com site. I'm allowing my daughter, now that the kids have their own computer, to linger on the site for hours. We'll see what sinks in and report on it. Anything to lighten my load!)

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