from Hacker News

Math from Three to Seven: The Story of a Mathematical Circle for Preschoolers [pdf]

by kercker on 5/8/18, 3:25 AM with 20 comments

• by batter on 5/8/18, 3:00 PM

  From my own experience (i have 5 year old) what works for us:

  - ikea whiteboard - good if you have intention to work in pairs. starting from '-', '+' gradually increasing numbers and complexity. Mine likes drawing and erasing

  - games - tic tac toe (different strategies), checkers just starting, playing cards (counting numbers, bigger lesser numbers), Battleship paper game

  - diy kits - like on ali express 'diy kids science kits'. They're pretty low quality but gives general idea of some physics

  What doesn't work for us:

  - apps - boring for kid in a long run / questionable impact on eyesight / he's getting used to games rather then apps

  - toys - like that: https://www.amazon.com/Learning-Resources-Robot-Activity-Pie... doesn't work in long run

  I'd love to hear what else is inspiring kids to learn.

• by dlahoda on 5/8/18, 6:19 AM

  Russian-Belarussian original of the book

  http://www.mcnmo.ru/free-books/zvonkine/zvonkine.pdf

  https://www.ozon.ru/context/detail/id/140340909/

  Any similar books I can buy to guide teaching math my toddler-kid-etc?

• by wjnc on 5/8/18, 8:43 AM

  Does anyone have tips on how to go about once you've been a few years in math games with your children (5 and 3)? The thing is that school curriculum math quickly gets boring for my 5 yr old. Not to strange since playwise we've even hit upon things like exponents and logarithms (fishes and babies do the trick). School definitely picks up and offers some additional exercises, but still.

• by nxc18 on 5/8/18, 4:23 AM

  This seemed interesting. For anyone else who was wondering, the separate girls and boys math circles was due to circumstance not an idea that girls shouldn't learn math with boys or in the same environment. This is addressed in the first page of the girls chapter. I know I had a strong initial impression from the TOC, but it is worth holding judgment.

  I didn't read the whole thing unfortunately, but I do agree with much of the material at the very beginning - make math interesting and challenging, and spur creative thinking rather than trying to force kids through a curriculum.

• by Spearchucker on 5/8/18, 5:57 PM

  Holy moly what's this obsession with teaching pre-schoolers school stuff? When do kids just play anymore? I swear in another year or so a startup will start up that teaches unborn babies calculus while they're still in the womb.

  The insanity is saddening. Happily my son who is 6 is oblivious to math but brilliant at Lego, incredible at drawing, and astoundingly proficient at laughing. When he eats ice cream he uses his whole face. Love it, love him, and I wish sometimes he never has to grow up.

• by fluffyllemon on 5/8/18, 7:05 AM

  Ah! I had read this years ago and was recently trying to find it again, but had no luck. I find teaching children mathematics to be quite interesting, and I'm very delighted that this has crossed paths with me again.

• by yread on 5/8/18, 10:35 AM

  I've posted this yesterday

  https://www.h-mat.cz/en/hejny-method

  and a paper describing it in detail

  http://www.cupress.cuni.cz/ink2_stat/dload.jsp?prezMat=10406...

  It's somewhat related constructivist (or constructionist?) method of teaching mathematics that's actually used in some schools.

  Would be interesting to hear people's thoughts on that

• by yiyus on 5/8/18, 9:03 AM

  Although not directly related with the book, I would like to recommend, as an introduction to basic arithmetic, the youtube videos NJ Wilderberg.

  He has very weird and non-standard ideas that you should not take too seriously, specially if you get into his videos on more advanced stuff, but his way of teaching basic arithmetic is certainly inspiring.