Hello everyone, sorry for the delay . I was out of town for a few days. In regards Math as I said before I am not the most qualified person to talk or advice as my case is not the typical case and I have done so many changes – hard to tell what exactly helped the most. But I know exactly how you guys are feeling as I am still looking and will always be – for better and more comprehensive methods for my daughter needs.
Answer for the 2 questions posted:
1. How it went when you started and whether you did any modifications to adapt to an older child?
It went fine at the beginning as it was a new activity and I made an extreme effort to make it fun and kept a good attitude about it, but as I introduced so many BITS the pictures and sounds were more interesting than the dots – I could see that she sat for the math lesson but I had the feeling she was not really enjoying it as much as the others. She likes pretend play so I used this to tell her that ie: Cinderella was teaching her today the dots then I got a puppet to say “1 2 ready go!! “ and I will do the session super extra fast and then the puppet will praise her lots and move on with something else she enjoy more.
I noticed that she was not volunteering answers as she does with the bits (that is how I know when to retire bits as she start screaming the names before I can read them, time to retire). It never happened with the dots. So I started showing her the dots with patters ie five dots in line for 5 just as LM presents them (genius) but LM didn’t existed then. This worked very well she started earning confidence so I showed the quantities in rows 3s - 4s - 5s 10s and she started learning very quickly to count by 3s, 4s, 5s, etc.. and also identifying at sight 6,9,12,15 up to 20 or 4, 8 , 12, 16 etc… with no problem.
Then I went to operations with numbers as she knew the numerals already and while doing 3+2 = 5 or 2 + 2 = 4 and so on (many of these simply additions 15 per day) she started getting familiar with small additions and then surprise 2 + __= 4 She loved this “ The X game” so I did these equations while at the same time teaching her geometry, graphs, roman numbers, Cartesian plane, number lines, etc.. math is so much more than dots !! we need to keep it interesting and offer variety all the time; to keep the interest up for MATH
www.criticalthinking.com logic and math books are terrific.
2. How much time I spent doing Doman with her? (I started at 4 years old)
I did 2 sessions per day of dots (3 minutes max).
I did ONE set of pattern dots that presented twice per day (ie. five dots in a row for quantity 5) this took 2 min max -
I did 1 set of bits always of math related topics ie Roman numbers, angles, telling time etc… (2 min) - Doman advice you to do bits 3 times but for math as I wasn’t sure what was going on I did only 2 sets per day.
I added math books when she was 4.5 years old. I typically present to her 5 or 6 books and she picks 2 or 3 she wants to work on and we do 2 or 3 pages per book – this takes us 15 min max. Now days takes longer because we have more complex books but when I started – 15 min max.
Plus it was very important to add math to every day activities, counting apples, I would place them in groups of 2s or 3s always no more ones … etc..
I knew for instant math, quantities need to be processed by the right brain, So I followed very closely the Right Brain training and games and relaxation techniques. I have found that while playing and specially pretend play I can teach her anything and she enjoys it tremendously – this alpha state I learned with Right Brain and I know it has helped with math and other subjects. (Babies live in a permanent alpha state of mind that is one of the reasons why the training at young age works so well).
A bit of History:
When I read the books I was very worry about the 4 year old cut off for math; then I decided immediately to take the seminars. While attending the seminars I was very happy and excited about the possibilities but extremely sad and disappointed at my late discovery of all these methods (4 year old is old in Doman).
At the seminars every day you have a different lectures and after the lectures you have a LIVE presentation from the kids at the IAHP International School ages 1.5 to 12 years old, they just have a class in front of our class in the auditorium and we all get to appreciate the way they think, process information and solve problems of all kinds.
Well one of the girls that Impressed me the most is Molly currently 9 years old. She is fantastic, very good at everything, very smart and funny – kind of the perfect picture. I started inquiring about my favorite kids (Molly and Samuel, who is currently 8 or 9 and speaks 9 languages plus is good at everything else they do, gymnastics, violin, math, Latin, etc… well rounded child).
I found out that Molly started the program at 5 years old – Now my heart is jumping up and down – there is hope !! - then I discover Molly happen to be a DOMAN – like from the Doman family IAHP so … all hope in doubt again ---- it may be genes …. It may be special treatment – special resources or routines or programs that I could not emulate. As I was wondering one of the organizers of the seminar that knew about my concerns introduced me to Molly’s mom who told me her story and in short she is not close to the Doman’s family and wasn’t in any program until age 5, ALSO Molly was ADOPTED !! so no genes involved !!
Molly is the Living proof that kids can do outstanding math even if they start late, They can do great analysis and figure out very advanced math. It is a matter of persistence and steady exposure to the math in creative ways.
It is a matter of raising the expectations we have for what our kids can and will achieve and as I stated before have faith, be respectful of our children wishes and needs and do your best.
I wish they will allow videos of these math classes (older children) to be published – it will help so many parents like me to find encouragement and discipline to continue the program for years.
I hope this helps
Gloria
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