Bug, who is about to turn 5, has been learning addition this year. My background is in Montessori, and we emphasize the concepts of the various operations when the children are 4 and 5, so that's what I've been trying to do with Bug. Addition is putting together; subtraction is taking away; multiplication is putting together the same quantity; and division is sharing equally. When children understand these concepts well, they have a great foundation for future mathematics study.
I showed him addition with the Montessori Golden Bead material first. The golden bead material contains thousand cubes, hundred squares, ten bars, and unit beads. This allows the children to have a concrete impression of our base-10 number system. We added some 4-digit quantities this way. I'm not sure it quite clicked for Bug at that point, but it's hard to say, as so much goes on with him internally that I don't know about. It's very different working with this material at home than it is in a classroom, where he would have been watching the older children work with this material.
He's also done some addition on his fingers, and this week I had him do some addition problems using seashells as counters. Both times he did this, I wrote five one-digit problems on a colorful piece of paper and had him answer them. At this point, it was clear to me that he understands the concept of addition.
He has been very enthusiastic. He's a tad too perfectionist about getting his numbers to look just the way he wants them, but I can deal with that. Today, I was so happy because he made worksheets for his brother and his dad (and himself!). His brother and dad were happy to humor him by answering the problems.
Later this week, I hope to show him addition with carrying on the golden bead material. This is not for accuracy, it's just to give them impression of what happens when we carry, and how we can't go over 10 in each place value.
I do not think the Montessori materials are necessary for
teaching children math at home. I have them mainly because they have
such sentimental value for me. They are extremely helpful, but there
are many good ways of showing math to young children. I think the most
important thing is that children have a solid understanding of how the operations work.
He'll eventually move onto another Montessori material, called the Stamp Game, that allows children to work with 4-digit quantities in a concrete way. We'll also be working over the coming months with memorizing his addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts, with a goal of finishing these by the time he finishes second grade. I'm hoping that computer games will prove to be a good tool for him in the memorization process (as they were for me once upon at time), but these did not work for his brother.
Hurray for math! So far, it's been my favorite homeschool subject to facilitate. I supposed that is odd, since I am a former English and Classics major. My children's other parent is a mathematician; perhaps that motivates me.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Time4Learning: A Review
With Bug being homeschooled full time this year, along with his older brother, we've all had a lot of adjusting to do. At first I thought that he would do things alongside his brother, doing something similar but age appropriate. I am finding that it helps to use the computer to keep Bug busy at certain times, and everything goes a lot more smoothly if he can play on the computer. PBSkids was an obvious choice. Looking at Homeschool Reviews, I came upon a program called Time4Learning, which has many, many rave reviews. I guess I'm going to have to be the oddball, because I didn't care for this program.
I should have known that I would not like it. It offers a lot of things like lesson planning and grades, which would be a big time saver for me if I made a lot of lesson plans or grades. I don't, especially not for a 4-year-old. Instead of lesson plans, I tend to provide options to him. I've never understood how homeschoolers can do extensive lesson planning when it's impossible to predict how easy or how hard a concept might be, or how interested a child might be in it, or what else might come up that week. And I never use grades. If I feel they need correction, I will usually ask them to fix it. Sometimes their answer is equally right or even better. I always tell Bee that it's good if he's not understanding everything right away. Otherwise, it would be pointless for him to be doing the work, if he's already mastered it!
The other problem I saw was that, based on most of the concepts taught, Bug really needed to be in their 1st grade program (he knows his numbers to 100 well, and is becoming more proficient up to 1000). However, he didn't quite have the reading skills to do the activities. The lessons seemed boring to me, and there was constant multiple choice quizzing. It observed that each activity consisted of a boring explanation, followed by a boring worksheet type activity, followed by a boring quiz. For insteance, my son knows how to sort, but he had to sit through a lengthy explanation on the sorting process.
Time4Learning is rather expensive, at $20/month/per child. Fortunately, they offer a free trial period of 14 days, and I was able to get my money back. The company seems to have good customer service, refunded my money hours after I had cancelled, and sent me an email asking for feedback. They also offer monetary credit to those who leave reviews, which makes me think that the abundance of rave reviews are possibly not as genuine as they could be.
I think it was mostly a philosophical problem that I had. This is probably a good program for parents who value their children checking off objectives on state standards lists and want more test prep.
In our homeschool, we emphasize critical thinking, logic, following our intellectual passions, asking probing questions, and so on. This program is just not a good fit for us.
I'd rather my 4-year-old occupy himself happily with PBSKids. We'll also be trying CBeebies, published by the BBC. These sites won't help much with my lofty educational objectives for Bug, but they will keep him happy at no cost to me while I read to his brother from our history book, and Bug may learn a little something in the process.
Note to commenters: I've noticed that several negative reviews of Time4Learning have the same people commenting on them, as if they are affiliated with the company in some way. If I suspect you being compensated by the company, then I will not publish your comment if you have not disclosed your affiliation.
I should have known that I would not like it. It offers a lot of things like lesson planning and grades, which would be a big time saver for me if I made a lot of lesson plans or grades. I don't, especially not for a 4-year-old. Instead of lesson plans, I tend to provide options to him. I've never understood how homeschoolers can do extensive lesson planning when it's impossible to predict how easy or how hard a concept might be, or how interested a child might be in it, or what else might come up that week. And I never use grades. If I feel they need correction, I will usually ask them to fix it. Sometimes their answer is equally right or even better. I always tell Bee that it's good if he's not understanding everything right away. Otherwise, it would be pointless for him to be doing the work, if he's already mastered it!
The other problem I saw was that, based on most of the concepts taught, Bug really needed to be in their 1st grade program (he knows his numbers to 100 well, and is becoming more proficient up to 1000). However, he didn't quite have the reading skills to do the activities. The lessons seemed boring to me, and there was constant multiple choice quizzing. It observed that each activity consisted of a boring explanation, followed by a boring worksheet type activity, followed by a boring quiz. For insteance, my son knows how to sort, but he had to sit through a lengthy explanation on the sorting process.
Time4Learning is rather expensive, at $20/month/per child. Fortunately, they offer a free trial period of 14 days, and I was able to get my money back. The company seems to have good customer service, refunded my money hours after I had cancelled, and sent me an email asking for feedback. They also offer monetary credit to those who leave reviews, which makes me think that the abundance of rave reviews are possibly not as genuine as they could be.
I think it was mostly a philosophical problem that I had. This is probably a good program for parents who value their children checking off objectives on state standards lists and want more test prep.
In our homeschool, we emphasize critical thinking, logic, following our intellectual passions, asking probing questions, and so on. This program is just not a good fit for us.
I'd rather my 4-year-old occupy himself happily with PBSKids. We'll also be trying CBeebies, published by the BBC. These sites won't help much with my lofty educational objectives for Bug, but they will keep him happy at no cost to me while I read to his brother from our history book, and Bug may learn a little something in the process.
Note to commenters: I've noticed that several negative reviews of Time4Learning have the same people commenting on them, as if they are affiliated with the company in some way. If I suspect you being compensated by the company, then I will not publish your comment if you have not disclosed your affiliation.
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