Thanks, everyone! I'm glad you enjoyed the video. I thought she was really cute too, but then again, I'm her mom.
I started Doman dot cards with her when she was 14 months old. We got to the 50s in quantity and addition/subtraction equations but, since she is in daycare while I am working, it was always a struggle trying to remember to flash 3x a day with at least 15 minute breaks in between. She never wanted to sit still for the dot cards. In retrospect, I think I started too late and I went too slow. So finally, I broke down and got Little Math and we've been doing that on and off since then. We have not been as consistent as I would like because I bring her with me whenever I have to travel and so we have had gaps of a few weeks to several months here and there.
When she was 26 months, we started JG Matrix Math and Earlybird Singapore Math. Matrix Math focuses mainly on learning math facts and mastering addition and subtraction. Singapore Math starts off with concepts like comparing, contrasting, sorting, patterning, etc. I supplemented JG Math with a lot of my own manipulatives. She loves jumping and counting on the hopscotch mat in her daycare but I couldn't find one that went all the way to 20 so I made my own using cardstock and taped the numbers down on the floor and we used it to practice counting to 20 forwards and backwards. I made several sets of number flashcards by copying the JG flashcards without the dot matrix and laminating them. She used these to practice placing the dots using reusable dot stickers, dot magnets, or erasable whiteboard markers. Once she learned to count 1-20 forwards and backwards in English, she asked me to teach her how to count in Chinese, then Japanese, then French, and so on. I had to look up counting videos on youtube to learn how to count in our non-native languages so I could teach her:
http://www.youtube.com/user/kourin2688#g/search. Then I would practice counting with her everytime she washed her hands - I had taught her earlier how to wash her hands properly by scrubbing all her fingers twice (sorry, it's the surgeon in me
) and so we would count to 20 each time while scrubbing. Once she mastered counting in one language, I moved on to the next and it was amazing how fast she picked them up. I used a hundred numbers board to show her the pattern that the numbers make and she picked up the pattern and figured out how to count from 20 onwards by herself.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=hundred+board. She loves puzzles so I made these number puzzles that Marta shared on her blog which reinforced her concept of counting in the correct order to 100.
http://earlylearning-eaton.blogspot.com/2010/12/free-puzzles.html. The counting bugs I mentioned was this kit
http://www.amazon.com/Learning-Resources-Tackle-Patterning-Sequencing/dp/B000296LOI/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1295900999&sr=8-7 - the included "activity book" actually only included patterning and sequencing activities but I also used the bugs to teach her skip counting. For example, I would give her 30 bugs to count and then tell her - look you can count faster and arrive at the same number by counting by 2s (or 5s or 10s). I also used her abacus to teach her skip counting:
http://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-Classic-Wooden-Abacus/dp/B00005BVRQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1295905837&sr=8-1Here are some of the counting videos I used for reinforcement:
<![CDATA[<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/2PUVVXZLIrY&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/2PUVVXZLIrY&rel=1</a>]]>, DadDude!)
<![CDATA[<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/tCnWGwn46tQ&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/tCnWGwn46tQ&rel=1</a>]]>
<![CDATA[<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/ykAhScPdFNg&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/ykAhScPdFNg&rel=1</a>]]>
<![CDATA[<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Y0m3SxaQVI8&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/Y0m3SxaQVI8&rel=1</a>]]>
<![CDATA[<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/L26jwqF9Zro&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/L26jwqF9Zro&rel=1</a>]]> We also have the Peter Weatherall math videos (as well as the science ones):
http://www.kidsinglish.com/newspeak/science-and-math-dvds-multibuy.htm and Musical Math from Teacher Heidi:
http://www.heidisongs.com/Math/Musical_Math.htmlNow that she has a solid grasp of numbers up to 100, I am planning to start teaching her the soroban and mental math. I just have to decide whether to teach her the Chinese version or the Japanese one. I learned how to use the Chinese abacus in school but it seems like there are more resources available for the Japanese soroban here in the US. We will continue with JG Math (Thanks, Mom2Bee, for your great ideas and suggestions!) and, maybe, move up to Math 3 soon. As for Singapore Math, I have not decided whether to get the next level or not because, towards the end of the workbook, she was starting to get bored with it. I think she finds the progression too slow and the activities too repetitive. She liked it well enough in the beginning. As for her schedule, we try to do some math for about 10-15 minutes everyday, but it really depends on her mood and I just go with the flow.
By the way, Ru'a, here is the link for the JG website:
http://www.jonesgeniuses.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=65. You may want to read some of the reviews on JG Math here:
http://forum.brillkids.com/teaching-your-child-math/jones-geniuses-matrix-math-review/http://forum.brillkids.com/product-discussions-and-reviews/our-view-jones-geniuses-vs-touchmath/http://forum.brillkids.com/general-discussion-b5/jones-geniuses-math-and-reading-programs-are-you-interested/Hope this helps!
Digg
