Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school What to do with a mathematics gifted preschooler?

Thanks NotsoGifted, yup, i will put him to preschool in the coming fall (actually in two weeks :P), just want to find some resource on what I can do and what I will face in the future.

My maths background is good, so i think i can teach him till at least high school level, but the problem is i am not good at teaching and not familiar with the school system here in U.S.

Now I am going to homeschool his maths, he keep pushing me and i feel bad to said "can u wait until u are older to learn it?" though i did sometimes say that....

I have tried Dreambox today, wow, it is a well design maths game i compare to what i have tried before, at least i like to play with it. However, my son doesn't enjoy it. The beginning is so boring that it keep asking to place the dots on a bar, and it repeat so many times. (Although i think the concept is good for learning bar chat, counting and simple additions). Finally I have finished those task for him, and he enjoy playing with the simple additions games. It seems that it doesn't let u to choose what area to learn and play with...

What sort of curriculum will the preschool provide? DD8 went to a Montessori preschool for about 2 years and I felt like the Montessori math curriculum really provided her an excellent foundation for later mathematics. Otherwise, we didn't really "do" anything intentional for math, but we did follow her lead and discuss math as it came up related to other things.

For example, when she wanted a watch when she was about 3 1/2, I told her she could have one only after she learned to tell time on an analog clock--so then for a few weeks we studied clocks and time until she had it mastered (including counting by 5, the concept of "quarters", and so on) and had her very own watch. (Ironically, her interest in learning to tell time was longer-lasting than her interest in actually wearing the watch once she got it.)

She also liked games like dot-to-dot puzzles (which are also fun when done backwards), or pattern-matching games of various kinds, or sometimes workbooks because she liked them. We also did not do much computer math with her until she hit elementary.

Oh, and coins and money, too. That is an easy one to do, as long as you make sure to pay for things with cash sometimes, not just use a debit card.

My son also had a facility for math that really showed up around 3-4 years old. We worked with objects, like poker chips. Once it was clear that he was having no trouble counting them out, I began grouping them up to teach skip counting and basic multiplication.

DS (now seven) abstracted quickly from objects to equations, so I challenged him by doing addends (e.g. 5+ ?= 9).

We worked on strategies for mentally adding/subtracting larger numbers. We worked on number writing and recognition.

A lot of math can be learned from basic games- around 5 1/2 we began playing Yahtzee. I had him keep his own score, talked in basic terms about probability. I used to toss some coins on the table and have DS count up the money. I would provide strategies for counting quickly and accurately. Like others, we learned about time (starting with digital, then moving to the regular clock), days of the week, how to read a calendar, etc.

There are some fun math games on the iPad. At first I was skeptical about electronics playing much of a role, but once DS had down the basic concepts, the iPAD was a great tool for practice. Currently, DS likes Math Ninja, Mayan Multiplication, Thinkfun solitaire chess, and Pizza Math.

We read some excellent books-- my favorite series is Sir Cumference. I still have them on our shelf.

The most important "thing" (I think) when it comes to math, is to ensure that your child has a solid grounding in how numbers work. For instance, why is 1/2 and 3/6 the same value. Applied problems (I used to make them up on the fly) can help. (e.g. you have 5 kids and 15 jellybeans, how many jellybeans can each kid have if they are split evenly). We used to do problems like this on car rides- DS was dividing well before I taught him the mechanics.

You didn't ask this, but I'll say it anyway- my child had some difficulties because he entered school with math (and to some extent reading) skills that were two three years beyond most of his peers. Math was especially excruciating because he had mastered the K math expectations well before he started K. There are a lot of other threads about this kind of situation, but get ready.

I live in Northern California as well (Sonoma County). I am a former teacher and I have many friends still in the system. They cannot think of a way to get our DS in early and I have read the CA education code several ways over and I can't find a way either.
If your DC is born Sept. through Dec., they can attend Pre-K and then skip K. You can enroll your child the day they turn 5 in to K and if that's halfway through the year and the school feels that they can go ahead to 1st, that's another way. At this time, I feel strongly that our DS would benefit from early admission. He is exceptionally tall, looks and acts like he's 2 years older. He in a mid-to-late 1st grade level already, almost entirely on his own accord, I'm sure we will be facing all of those future fears-grade skipping, pull out to higher grade reading groups, etc. Why not just allow him to start early, reducing some of the issues?
I haven't given up on the idea. I'm still working on it, like if some new hip public charter school would let him early, then he could just go to our public school in the 1st grade after early entry K. Or if a principal might consider early entry if we tested him, that could be an option.
He's already disappointed by preschool, it's heartbreaking. If there is any way I can help start his elementary years on a good foot by early entry, then I'm going try.
I didn't read other comments, but if you are wondering if your child is gifted, just think of how many families track mathematical milestones? You only do that if your mind is blown and you intuitively know it's not in the normal range of development. I never know what kind of day it will be with our DS. I have a huge box of homeschool type of materials and I just ask him which ones he wants that day, one day it's math, the next reading, etc. Every day is a new adventure. I used to spend time making projects and games for whatever his current thing was, but I couldn't keep up. I'd spend an hour making a sight words game and the next morning he wanted to do math and then the next week he somehow already knew the sight words so what's the point of creating curriculum?

@Portia
Wow, clearly was a bad educational team! So frustrating. Sounds like you experienced exactly what I did when I was a Special Education Teacher! I will be livid if this happens to us, I don't know if I could hold it together and keep a straight face with that going on!!!

Aufilia, Thanks for sharing, dot-to-dot is one of my son's favor too, and he is interested in temperature and weight right now ^^

Cammon, Thanks for sharing too, my son always ask himself some questions like 5+ ?= 9 (actually this is his favorite questions) and answer by himself too, but when i ask him what is 9-5, it takes much longer time for him to get the answer, so strange :P

GGG, first of all, hope the earthquake doesn't affect you too much. Wow, you did a lot for teaching your son, hope he can have grade skipping early, will you consider letting him to go to private school and skip grade there, and then transfer him back to public school? (I don't know is it possible to do that)
Do u know what will the public school do if my DS is advanced in one subject only? Most likely he will not skip grade and I don prefer it for him. Thanks. I live in Fremont.

Thanks all of you, after 2 weeks of attending preschool, his teachers keep telling me how bright he is, "he is so bright,. he already write to 200!" (actually he can write more than that and do more than that, somehow i am scared that his teacher will think that i am a tiger mom if they find that he can do additions...) but he is the only one still have tears on his eyes when i leave him...

Do you know how to play chess? My son learned at age 3 (late 3). It is a wonderful game because you can always find someone to play with you (online) and age and language are not much of a barrier. There are many other fun games you can play with a nonreading child who is math- and spatial-oriented. Try Shut the Box, Uno, Yahtzee, Farkle, Set, Sleeping Queens, Rush Hour/Rush Hour Jr, and Math Dice. Games have gotten wonderful.

Wow, thanks for introducing so many games to me~~ I don't know how to play chess, may be i can learn with my son :P
Thanks ^^

You probably know someone who knows. Ask around! There is a beginner's version called No Stress Chess, also (I have not used this one but people seem to like it).

Be forewarned--my son started beating me at age 4!!