Without any real math instruction prior to 3-4 months ago, and no math exposure beyond simple counting and other games (Punch Buggy, The Ladybug Game, etc.), my five-year-old son is now well on his way to completing third-grade-level math, at least if you go by indications of the IXL website tied to our state standards. He has completed some of the skills up to the fifth-grade level. This is not a brag so much as a sigh of relief for me, at not putting him behind by focusing so much on verbal and problem-solving skills early on.

He continues to improve in his ability to work without fear of failure. (It has been slow going at times for us, but like anything else this is a skill that can be learned.)

I installed some puzzle games on my Android phone recently. One, called "Glow Puzzle", asks you to complete a tour of points connected by paths, traversing each path exactly once. He was excited to try this, but then was chagrined when he didn't get the eighth puzzle on the very first attempt. He wandered around for a while essentially afraid to attempt it, until I gave him a brief pep talk; then he quickly zipped up to number 35, spending no more than about 30-60 seconds on each one, and completing each one on the first try. My wife and I had previously tried these and had each had trouble on a few of them (they are a mixed bag), but not him. Before doing 35 he announced that he was getting bored with it and wanted to take a break, so after doing that one he did. He can also do quite tough "Bubble Blast" levels, which take me a while, with ease. (Edit: Over at a friend's house last night, he was able to do "GalCon" puzzles on the purple level, some in under 20 seconds.)

Last edited by Iucounu; 09/06/10 02:02 AM.
Striving to increase my rate of flow, and fight forum gloopiness. sick