3 TO 4 YEARS OLD: OUR PROGRAM

As Joey turned three, he was well on his way to mastering 1st grade math with the help of  Syngapore Math, the Learning Palette, and 'Meet the Common Core Math Standards Learning Center' (Lakeshore Learning), not to mention the Mathstart book series (also good for reading!). For addition and subtraction, he was getting really good at counting in his head (as opposed to having to count on his fingers), and we used the 'addition and subtraction machines'  (Lakeshore Learning). He also started writing out additions and subtractions, at first without any carrying over. For this purpose, we got the 'Beat the Clock! Addition/Subtraction Facts to 18 Practice Board' (Lakeshore Learning). One day, we decided to teach him to carry over, and it was 'no problem', he just got it. At that point, I felt like we could move on to 2nd grade material, but first look at this video we took of Joey doing some additions. 

For second grade, we basically got all the same material as for 1st grade, but for 2nd grade (duh). That includes the 'Building Thinking Skills' series from The Critical Thinking Co.  In addition, we got the 2-3rd grade Folder Game Library from Lakeshore Learning, including: 'Place Value';'Numbers and Operations'; 'Geometry', 'Time & Measurement', and 'Money'. 

In anticipation of doing multiplications and divisions, we got the 'multiplication machine' and the 'division machine', just like we did for additions and subtraction, as well as the 'Beat The Clock' practice boards for multiplications and divisions. We also got the 'Learn-To-Multiply Magnetic Center' and 'Building Fractions Activity Center'. All from Lakeshore Learning. We will not rely on manipulables near as much this year as we did before, but one manipulable which we have found indispensable this year so far are the Learning Resources Folding Geometric Shapes: they are 3D shapes which open up and you can take out and look at the nets (the 3D shape flattened up)... this is important to figure out the number and shapes of the faces that make out the 3D shapes, an important 2nd grade skill. In the past, we would focus on manipulables exclusively at first, then only slowly moved to more conceptual ways of teaching the material. This year, the manipulables have more of a support role, and I anticipate that this will be the last year we will use them. It will also free up some time to focus on more structured learning of French (which he speaks and reads fluently) and Hebrew (just knows the letters and a few words). I will create a separate post to deal with learning languages. Another resource I am finding very useful is a math worksheet generator to make up additions and subtractions (and multiplications and divisions too) with a certain number of digits, borrowing or not, carrying or not, etc.  

I will have a separate post on teaching simple operations (from pre-emergent skills to conceptual understanding to solving simple then more complex operations with regrouping, borrowing, etc), but I want to mention two wonderful tools once your child has memorized the simple operations (only strive to do this if they completely understand the concepts because otherwise it will be a waste). The first tool for additions/subtractions is Math Slam...I usually shy away from electronic toys, due to their hypnotic tendencies and also because I don't like a lot of noise, but in small doses, it is a wonderful and engaging way to practice without doing worksheets. The second is the FlashMaster: Handheld computer for mastering math operations, which helps practice all basic operations, at different levels, and allows you to move the question mark around (so the question is not always X*Y=?, but can be X*?=Y), which is a good introduction for algebra. The Flashmaster is also great for restaurants because it is quiet. More details on my 'Best Stuff' page. 

I felt that this transition into 2nd grade material would also warrant moving from practicing reading and basic comprehension to material which was more focused toward language arts and more advanced text comprehension (see my blog page on gifted resources, which talks about the advantage of early reading). So to start, we got 'Reading Informational Text Common Core Standards Learning Center', 'Reading Literature Common Core Standards Learning Center', and 'Writing Common Core Standards Learning Center' (all from Lakeshore Learning). We have not used this material yet (but will start next week), so I will review it in the next few weeks. Also, to prepare for KD screening (which will be a year early for Joey), I got 'Let’s Talk! Conversation Starters' (by the way, so far, these have extremely helpful!) and 'What Should You Do? A Game of Consequences'. I expect that during the screening, Joey's tendency to go off on a tangent (talking about something he read that interests him, for instance, but may have nothing to do with what is going on at the time) may be misinterpreted, so we have to give him a bit of coaching in the art of regular conversation. We will see how that goes..!

I haven't said anything about learning science yet. When Joey was younger, we got him a 'Primary Science Set', and now we are using the 'Thames & Kosmos Little Labs: The Human Body' and will continue with this series. What I like about it is that there is very little need for additional material (I am really not the type to mess up my kitchen for 'experiments' or do a lot of crafts). We also got the 'Facinating Facts Human Body Game', a pretend doctor's play kit, Science Vocabulary Readers Set (beware that the kit comes with multiple copies of the same books, so it is expensive for what it is), etc. Otherwise, we got books about scientific topics, whatever Joey is interested in at the time. So for a while, he wanted to know all about good microbes and bad microbes, so we got basic and well illustrated books on microbiology like 'Micro Mania', 'Bacteria: Staph, Strep, Clostridium, and Other Bacteria (Class of Their Own)', and will probably get the rest of the series. We got him a subscription to 'National Geographic Little Kids' and a little specimen collection toy for when we go hiking (to motivate him to keep walking... so he can find other 'specimens'). So unlike for other areas, we are not so structured when it comes to science because compared to math, I feel it is easy because he understands and memorizes things easily. Joey also seems to have a natural affinity for building things and 'motion physics', including 'fluid dynamics'. These are big words to describe his obsession with the Marbulous  (he builds them and tests his designs after each major addition - so quite a scientific process for him) and anything that involves 'following a certain path'... he has been really interested in the heart circulation, for instance, and anything like mazes.... you get the idea.
November 2013 update: Now Joey (a couple of months short of four years old) is really into the elements and the periodic table (I got him this wonderful book:The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe). So Joey decided he was done giving the answers for the multiplication table (this is one of his favorite 'songs' at bedtime) 'the normal way'.  Now he only wants to answer them by using the symbol for the element whose atomic number is the result (he memorized these for fun on his own). I don't even know what some of these are, let alone their names.   

Otherwise, he has been doing Ravensburger- 100 Piece Puzzle pretty much on his own, so we are moving to the 200-piece variety. 

This last spring, we also signed him up for the John Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (JHU-CTY) since he was eligible thanks to his SBV scores. The first math course is for pre-K, but since Joey is accelerated by one year, they let him take the course early. This program is incredibly great... I was really nervous at first because Joey had not spent any time on a computer, so we had him practice for a couple of month using E-Learning for kids, which is a really handy and free resource. This included teaching him how to use the keyboard, and things like drag and drop. It didn't take long for Joey to master these skills (I suspect it wouldn't take any kid very long, nowadays), and we were ready for JHU-CTY and pre-primary mathematics. So far, he is doing wonderful in the course, and we expect to finish early (it is self-paced) and move on to the 1st grade course. I intend to use this program to validate and document his actual skill level and to continue accelerating him, since he can fulfill all his requirements for primary and secondary school, including AP classes, through this program, as long as he qualifies again through the talent search by the time he would normally finish 2nd grade (more details on this post). Next spring (after he turns four), we will tackle some of the language arts courses for young children (the Young Reader series), so I think that focusing on language arts and text comprehension this coming fall, as well as starting to have him type simple sentences on the computer, will prepare him for that. We will also sign him up for 2nd grade math this spring, and it will be a challenge because it will be nose to nose with what we are doing at home, so he won't have the advantage of having mastered the material prior to the course. 

August 2013 update on the John Hopkins program. It turns out that Joey finished the pre-primary math course about three weeks early, so he went into accelerated 1st Grade Math and finished it in three weeks (!). The format is a bit different because the course is borrowed from the Stanford U. gifted program. There aren't regular exams like in the native John Hopkins U. courses, you just go faster or slower depending on how many wrong answers you give and when you reach the next grade in all areas, then you take a final exam. Joey will, in all likelihood, take the 1st grade final this week, and move on to 2nd Grade. I wasn't planning to have him take 2nd grade math until next spring, but I already paid for the next three months, so we might as well continue!

October 2013 update on the John Hopkins program: Joey finished 2nd Grade in one month and is going into 3rd Grade Math. It is hard for me to believe, but it is true.