Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Math for ages 3-4

BB Dad:

A couple of more simple teaching aids: there is a good site someone on a forum showed me recently for manipulatives (search for eai education.com), also check out the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives online (though we tend to limit our use of the computer and work in four dimensions as much as possible).

Also, the website Enchanted Learning, for a $20 annual subscription, lets you print out individual pages of problems at all different levels and topics. I'm just getting into this with my DS6 and finding it to be a rich resource (though it does not offer you a teaching system, as, say, Singapore math does).

My son is not as precocious as some described here, but I try to do as much as possible with him in chats and dialog, talking about the world around us, using fingers, and going to paper and pencil only after he has the idea. Keeping a light touch and feeding his interest are key. DS6 drives the pace.

Apropos songs, try looking for the School-house Rock dvd. I'm ambivalent about some of the content, but my son loves the math songs, and they helped him master his multiplication tables within a week or two (something I still haven't managed).

The social issues are hard; as someone said earlier, this is why we're here. I've also been chastised by my mother for 'pushing' my DS. As a result, partly, we put math on the back burner for a whole year, and now realize that this was counter-productive, to say the least. The best advice I've seen, and I've received it from several sources, is to listen closely to your child, and to trust your own heart and instincts.