What are you doing with your 2 year olds for math?

[evachong]

My girl is 25 months as well... I always give her hand on math activities and the flash card where using the shichida method. But sometimes... I combined all methods... and first thing to remind that .. if your child is not happy and moody ... please stop teaching... That is no point teaching math to her on her bad mood... ...

This is really true...oh!

In my blog ,http://littlemommy2012.blogspot.com, I have describing more... how my math teaching is... if possible please visit and i welcome most idea... from everybody... thanks...
 

[Mandabplus3]

This math focus must be catching! The more we do the more my boy wants to do. The more he does the more the girls are interested. 
Today I had all three kids at the table for 40 minutes!!!! Doing equations and what not.
My son 4 was drawing balloons in groups, then writing the numbers in an addition or subtraction sum ( he copies the numbers from a 1-10 list I put in front of him, sometimes he knows them sometimes he looks) I write the + or - and =  the purpose of the activity was as much to get him writing numbers and pencil control as to get him adding and subtracting. He had a great time and successfully did many additions and subtractions up to 10 independently. I am encouraging him to both count on ( if it is 3 balloons in one group to start counting at 4,5,6 not 1,2,3,4,5,6.) and/or not count but visually group.
My 6 year old was doing number line addition and subtraction, colour by number ( after doing the math to get the number to colour) and abacus math. She has a colorful arty math book to work through, primarily because I realized just how little time they actually spend doing math at school. She is lucky to do 6 examples of any one skill they teach, and her school is high in math!
My oldest 8 did rounding to the nearest dollar, greater than and less than with decimal places and  times table practice on IXL via iPad. She also did a lesson in Saxon 5/4 which she is still finding really easy. I am considering skipping ahead but am hesitant as we are aiming for mastery with this one. Any opinions? It's probably something I could use with my younger daughter with me sitting next to her. I suppose I should flick through and see how much harder it gets and how soon.
This is the third day they have ALL wanted to do some math. They are all doing between 3 and 5 pages of calculations each time. I must say I am surprised how much they re enjoying it. They love working together at math and love the variety I am offering them too.

[Kerileanne99]

Ooooh, Mandabplus3! Can we come

Sounds like fantastic progress...so much for so for the fact that they are having so much fun! And how great is it that you can have them all together, at various ages, having fun whilst learning at the same time.
This is the very essence of home-based learning for me. Your kids can now associate learning math with fun and family time...very compelling compared to sitting at a desk in a classroom drilling on worksheets

You have also done a great job of explaining why we have such a variety of different programs and manipulatives. Thanks for that, as many people have asked me if that is necessary.  No, of course not! But for very young kids, being able to demonstrate a particular concept say, with tally sticks, an abacus, blocks, beans, whatever you have on hand definitely helps with understanding an attention stretching...not to mention it familiarizes her with methods from more than one program. It is that versatility, (like having three kids at work with different tasks-don't you find yourself 'borrowing' items from one child's lesson as you are inspired to demonstrate to another child how the new items also enhance the lesson they are doing )
  It is not so much program hopping, we tend to choose one program as our focus and simply use others to enhance and supplement...it just becomes a game, all the more fun for it!

Recently, Alex asked me why we call our Friday evenings Friday Family Night (board games, cards, popcorn, piles of cushions on the living room floor!) when we play math games every day- she apparently equates the
two...hurray!

Can't wait to hear more of your 'family math' success!

[nee1]

Hi Manda,

Congratulations on your progress!
 
I do not know your daughter's ability level, but my tentative advice on Saxon Math 54 would be to let her go through the entire book since mastery is what you're aiming for. If she's finding the earlier sums too easy, you could start at the more challenging ones, and let her go on from there.

And once that is all done, you could move to Saxon 65, and then Saxon 76, in that order. I feel that a solid mastery of Saxon 54 will ease mastery of the subsequent books. If I remember Robert Levy right, his son completed the four Saxon books preceding Saxon Algebra 1 in just over a year (I think those must have been Saxon 54, Saxon 65, Saxon 76, and Saxon 87). Here is his review: http://www.amazon.com/review/REDQUKUP25PSG. 

While you may not be aiming for such results, I feel that mastery in the earlier books will accelerate the rate of mastery in the later books. If she’s too advanced for Saxon 54, then maybe move her straight to Saxon 65.

[Mandabplus3]

I was just reading throughout his thread again and realized we missed something VERY important. I am not sure i will do a very good job explaining this but I shall try.
The reason I use multiple math  programs and manipulatives is to encourage my kids to THINK about the math they're doing. When you first teach kids math they can be very good at 3+6= 9 they can memeorise it, easily when taught young. The manipulatives help to show them so they understand it. Using different manipulatives and different programs makes them THINK about it. They have to think on a deeper level to show you 3+6=9 on an abacus, on tally sticks, by drawing balloons AND by counting cherrios.
We are teaching them to think when we ask questions like " We saw 3 ducks this morning and 6 this afternoon, how many ducks did we see today?" Marshmellow math is full of these type of thinking questions. It's developing a math brain, as well as showing the use for math in life.
It's really quite easy to get them thinking when the problems are so basic. But is isn't long before you your self will need to start thinking to stay ahead of them. A page of math drills is fine and it does have a purpose but I think it's important to make the point that we need to get them thinking in a mathematical way too.
As a personal example, when i was looking into Saxon for my eldest and mentioned it was so far too easy, I realized it wouldn't have been too easy just 6 months ago. That means my daughter has progressed 2 years in math in 6 months! To say I was shocked would be an understatement!  So I was of course wondering why? Last year she had a teacher who didn't understand her and basically failed her. So we spent some time since then working through IXL, and other math problems to assess and determine if she really did fail. I discovered she would often give up without trying to think it through. So I spent 6 weeks teaching her how to think through problems, how to break them down and solve them bit by bit. It was after this that she started grade 3 this year with a teacher who understands her ( and me!  ) She is flying through math now. Her teacher has said she keeps trying when others have given up, and is often surprised by how far through graded tests she can get correct answers. ( they start easy and get harder, google a grade 3 Naplan test for an example, she can do them all now personally I think they are too easy and set a ceiling too low.    ) I also notice a difference in how she solves every day problems at home.
So I hope I explained it clearly enough. The word problems are a great way to make them think and easy to implement in your day. The manipulative encourage understanding, and the drills make them faster and more confident.
Kerrilenne, the abacus is their most popular tool, followed my some erasable textas/ markers in bright colours, coloured glass pebbles and then coloured paddle pop sticks. Occasionally we will use Jelly beans for really challenging problems. They get to eat a jelly bean for good thinking   I tend to choose what they need to know then pick the program to teach it for the younger kids, I guess my teacher training helps with that. Natalya has Saxon to work through in order and IXL to work with in her year level both are mastery based, I decided the mastery is important at the middle years level for success later on.
Nee1 I think at the speed she is doing Saxon I may just let her continue, getting both 5/4 and 6/5 done this year probably won't be too much of an ask, but I assume she will slow down as it gets harder. Even if she takes 18 months she is still going to be ahead as she is only half way through grade 3 now. I remember reading somewhere to do every problem and don't skip any. I think it's the message to the student at the front of the book!  she loves the pre algebra in it, and I don't want to skip any of that. I havnt seen her do any of that in school.

[Kerileanne99]

Mandabplus3-
Absolutely agree with you on how and why to use multiple manipulatives/descriptions/programs...whether it is something you buy or have on hand!
As for the memorization, this is why I ultimately decided to start at the very beginning of the RS program! I was concerned that she was just beginning to memorize all of her addition and subtraction facts as she became more and more proficient...even though I felt like she could already do much of the material in RS-A, I ultimately decided it would be far better to slow down and ensure mastery, that NOTHING is missed
Using a variety of methods, games, manipulatives allows me to check and verify complete understanding of why and how, not that she is just memorizing.
I still allow her to play with equations and even addition/subtraction flashcards...she just also shows me how to arrive at the answer using tally sticks, the abacus, blocks, her hands, bears, bears, or a number line...or anything else.  JellyBeans sound great for the older kids as well

We also started keeping a 'math journal' of the things she learns each week-then add it to a larger binder...since she is so young, we take a picture of  a new concept, skill, or write out a new vocabulary word...the pictures really help to personalize the lessons for her and to remind her of what she learned...it it kept on a low table with a small box of counting bears, tally sticks, tiles, abacus, whatever she is keen on at the moment.
It is common for me to discover her there with the binder in front of her, replicating her lessons and supplementing our lesson!
Another perk is that she shows Daddy when he gets home, and 'teaches' him as well...in addition, he quickly can discover exactly what we are working on and incorporates the new concepts/vocabulary into his play with her as well. It seems to be working well for all of us, and I discovered that Daddy loves taking a more active role in her EL experience. He just never knew exactly what we worked on during the day and didn't want to 'mess up' anything we were doing
Now it has become a much more family-oriented focus and has given daddy the incentive and confidence to not only help, but to offer further ideas and another perspective!

Alex also loves vocabulary words, and Mandabplus3 suggested that I have her write the words out to practice her writing skills. This is brilliant and working wonderfully-so much so that she now has her own 'Fancy Nancy' style vocabullary book, and we (of course!) are teaching her to keep a scientific notebook to record her physical discovery of the world...although it was hard to explain to her that maybe we should not actually tape bugs and worms into the book  

[Mandabplus3]

Oh i don't know...worms would make great tally sticks         

[Wolfwind]

Oh, Kerileanne99 and Mandabplus3, you two are giving me such a case of early learning envy!  My daughter's reading is coming along great, but math...  She is less interested and I haven't come up with a way to present it that she likes.  (And being 8.5 months pregnant in the middle of a heat wave isn't helping).  But you are inspiring me to try again!  I got Marshmallow Math, so maybe we'll pick a concept a week and work on it.  Any math is better than none, right?  But anyway, thanks again for giving me the impetus I need to work on math some more!

[Mandabplus3]

8.5 months pregnant! ooh sooo close now! Now i have early learning envy! My youngest is 4 remember! Nothing early about that 
Realistically there are no expectations for you to teach anything at 8.5 months pregnant. So one concept from Marshmellow math would be just wonderful each week. You could probably get through half the book while your baby is in that " all they do is sleep" faze 
Also since the reading is coming along well, pop in a few early math concept books. I remember reading lots of stories about counting dinosaurs and ladybugs with my kids. There is a suprrising amount of math concepts in kids picture books. Just be aware and take advantage of them as they pop up.
Good luck for a easy birth 

[Kerileanne99]

Right, so today we discovered a new way to encourage a somewhat recalcitrant toddler AND do some math!

I am sure anyone who has experienced toddlerhood will understand my utter exasperation and frustration with the ongoing battle of.."Alex, can you please come here?...okay, let's put some clothes on, how fast can you run to mommy, and every creative (and not so creative, but hugely repetitive variation!). Now picture a creative and clever toddler who has realized that a mommy in a wheelchair is not very likely to simply give up the game and scoop her up....Aaaaagghhh!
So today I was trying to get her dressed and ready for bed, and had tried several polite requests to come, a couple of playful 'games'...finally she gets just out of ams reach of me and stops...
When I reached for her she quickly scooted away giggling.

Then, she looks right at me and gives me the loudest, most exaggerated sigh. Then repeated it just to make sure I understood and had not somehow mistaken it as her needing air.  I have no earthly idea where she could have picked that up
On the other hand I taught her a new vocab word: exasperation

Okay, so back to the math!  I finally asked her to count how many steps it would take to get to me. (he, he!) it worked, but quickly evolved into counting how many steps it takes to get to the kitchen, the bedroom, how many to find daddy, how many spins can she make before she gets dizzy (so my personal favorite!), how many bites it takes her to eat her least favorite vegetables  dinner....and On, and On... Oh, counting backwards, forwards, skip counting, counting by fives and tens (when running)!

Anyway, just a thought for a fun way to add in a bit of math practice. And maybe coax the kiddos to do something they aren't anxious to do...tomorrow I think I will give her a stopwatch to get her to see how fast she can do things when mommy needs a little less meandering

[Kerileanne99]

I have gotten a couple of emails asking what we are doing with other math concepts, so just thought I would post a couple of the more helpful things we have discovered.
We supplement a lot with the EarlyBird Math set, both A and B, but not really so much to do an actual worksheet.  Alex just doesn't have the patience for that, but we go topic to topic. I will show her the pages in the books, brightly colored and actually quite toddler friendly. She may or may not choose to 'work' on one, with the help of a plastic sheet protector and dry erase crayons so they can be reused.

But I have made her a box with a small measuring tape (the vinyl type for sewing), measuring cups and spoons for volume, a child' balance, that sort of thing, and we usually just explore the concepts.

If you are starting at the beginning and have an IPad, there are two fantastic GrasshopperApps that explore concepts.  I really think these gave her background for discussions.  On is the Concepts app, which explores things like: touch the girl facing left/right, touch the boy in the middle, find the object that is different, which one is above/below the Line, that sort of thing!
The second is a comparative Adjectives app: which object is bigger, find the thinnest tree, which child is the tallest, which thing is flattest, that sort of thing.

These concepts and the associated vocabulary helped us tremendously when we do math, even know.  Many parents have told me that they have trouble actually getting to the meat of a lesson because they have to spend too much time explaining the language and the toddler becomes impatient and just wants to play! I see this with Alex all the time, and there have been times when we need to stop a lesson so I can spend some time incorporating a concept into the day.

Give them a look if you can.  They are either free, or at the most, ..$99!

[Mandabplus3]

They are free or at the most $99     
  I have them so I know you meant .99c  they are pretty good apps. Great pictures too. We have quite a few of them. If you can get yourself on grasshopper apps E mailing list you get free offers every time they release a new one.

[Kerileanne99]

Thanks Manda! Oh, that pesky decimal place...

[Mandabplus3]

Yes what are you teaching your 2 year old in math!         

[Wolfwind]

Thanks for the reassurance Mandab!  I am amazed at all the math picture books at our library.  Math Start, and others.  I think they're so cool!  My daughter doesn't always agree, but we can read them once at least, and a few she's liked over and over.  And she loves counting, so we'll try counting steps and things.  That'll be fun.

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