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Develop Your Child’s Genius
Weekly Newsletter
Contents
Welcome
and Update
The
Beauty of Math - How to Make your Child Love Math
Questions
and Answers
Welcome
and Update
Thanks you, my loyal subscriber, for being patient the last few weeks.
Things have been very busy here, especially with all the new projects I am
working on.
One of my very favorite projects is my new book "Hypnotic
Parenting". Another one is a math program that
will help make math your child's favorite subject! So many good things
are coming.
In relation to the math program I have mentioned above, this week we have
an informative article about teaching math to children so that they will
actually enjoy it, and about math instruction in schools today. I hope you
enjoy it, and I hope it gives you many ideas for math activities with your
own child. Next week, I will have a super interesting article for you
about handwriting, what it shows, and how to apply it to your child.
You can find a new "Question and Answer" corner at the end of
this newsletter.
OK, I hope you'll find this newsletter helpful, and please feel free to send
your comments, feedback or questions to Esther@all-gifted-children.com.
To your success, and your child's
success!
Esther Andrews
http://www.all-gifted-children.com
The
Beauty of Math
I have recently read an article by Paul Lockhart, a mathematician at
Columbia University. The
article resonated with me to the point that I have been inspired to come up
with a math program for elementary school children, that will show children
the beauty of math, and turn them into math enthusiasts. I am now working on
it, together with a few mathematicians from UC Berkeley.
In his lament, Paul Lockhart voiced his opinion that what children study in
school as math, is not really math, it is only the language of math, or the
notation mathematicians use in order to communicate mathematical ideas with
each other.
What children learn in school is dry and boring. Math, he says, is an art.
It is the art of logic. Math involves the art of solving problems, using
creativity and imagination.
In fact, if I had to design a mechanism for the express purpose of destroying
a child’s natural curiosity
and love of pattern-making, I couldn’t possibly do as good a job as is
currently being done— I simply wouldn’t have the imagination to come up
with the kind of senseless, soul crushing ideas that constitute contemporary
mathematics education.
Part of the problem, in Lockhart's opinion, is that nobody except for
mathematicians, actually knows what mathematicians do. However, math allows
more freedom of expression than poetry, it is a pure art, and very
misunderstood.
A mathematician, like a painter or poet, is a maker
of patterns. If his patterns are more permanent than
theirs, it is because they are made with ideas.
Why am I telling you this?
If you want your child to love math, you need to present to him open ended
problems. Problems that let your child use creativity and imagination,
a "thinking out of the box" approach. Let your child see
the beauty of math, and enjoy the creative process.
In schools today, the child learns a concept, and gets the "drill"
in order to practice solving the problem. However, all of us know that
children learn at the speed of light, and after they have solved a problem a
few times, they are ready to go and learn the next concept. Instead, we
force them to sit and do the same type of exercise again and again, until they are
totally bored, or totally frustrated.
Lockhart brings as an example a triangle inside a rectangular box: A
mathematician might think about this triangle, and try to find out how much
of the box this triangle takes up. This problem, he stresses, is not there
because of a practical necessity, it is just something a mathematician would
like to ponder, for his own curiosity. 
This is an example of a question that you can give your child to think
about. And then maybe "brainstorm" with your child, and ask open
ended questions, to stimulate your child's curiosity about the subject, and
maybe even lead him to an invention of his own, the solution of the problem.
It is easy to see that once you cut the above rectangle into 2 pieces, each
half of the triangle occupies half of the rectangle it is in, therefore, the
area of the triangle would be:
A = 1/2 b h where b is the base and h is the height
Once your child has solved this problem, you can show your child the
following triangle, and ask: Is the rule still true for this case too? This
would be a more advanced question.
As you can see, the area of the triangle in the middle would be the big
triangle, that occupies half the rectangle, minus the the little triangle on
the left, and if you write it out, like (a+b)h/2 - ah/2 you will get bh/2,
which verifies our formula 1/2bh.
These 2 questions are an example of a question your child can solve on his
own, with minimal help and direction from the parent. They are also an
example of a question a child can enjoy, thus start being curious about
math, and eventually enjoy and love math.
If your child is at school age, you can look at his math text book, and
easily convert some of the problems in to questions of this type. If your
child is younger, you can devise some simpler problems and work with him
every day, to improve his curiosity and mathematical thinking.
If you are skeptical, believe me, IT WORKS! When my son was about 2
years old, I started showing him, using blocks or pieces of cardboard, how
to add and subtract. Then I showed him how to multiply, by putting the
wooden blocks in 2 groups of 3, and showed him how addition of 2 groups of 3
is multiplication by 2. He caught it immediately, and then showed me the
concept of division! We have kept working on math concepts, and he loved it.
Even today, at 23, he jumps up and down with enthusiasm, when he discovers
something he considers "elegant" in his math research for his PhD
thesis.
I hope this article stimulates your imagination, so that you can help your
child develop his own imagination, creativity and love of math.
Questions and Answers
I have an 8 year
old
daughter. I was wondering if there is a method
for me to help her to become gifted. She is a
very smart girl but lacks confidence and
we enjoy spending time together.
Warm Regards,
Houda
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Dear Houda,
Thanks for your email.
There are so many things you can do with an 8 year
old!
But first of all, you have to improve her
confidence. Confidence is so important.
I have attached an article about confidence that
I have written,
that might be of help..
8 years is a wonderful age, the children at this
age are still very curious,
have healthy creativity, and learn fast.
I believe that the best way to work with a
child, is to find what it most
interesting to them, and attach everything else
to that.
For example, if your daughter likes arts and
crafts, you can
create a beautiful rendition of the US map. Use
her favorite tools,
like maybe water color, or glitter (8 year
olds love glitter, don't they?)
and teach her the history of each state. If she
likes dancing,
you can teach her the dances of many cultures,
and teach
her history while doing that.
Nowadays, with the access to the Internet, the
access to information is easier than ever!
Since she is 8, she goes to school, you can find
out what they
are studying in school, and supplement what they
are studying
by adding lots of information.
Show her how to do research on the Internet and
at the library.
This is so important, to know how to get to
information. You know
that it's the information age. No person can
know it all,
so the important skill is to know how to do
research online
and at the library.
If you can teach her chess, or find someone to
teach her chess
if you can't do it yourself, that will give her
a skill that is
very valuable. Chess teaches children visual
memory, planning,
and self control.
I hope this helps to get you started, and if you
have any questions,
please don't hesitate to write. And please, keep
in touch and
tell me how things are working out for you.
All the best,
Esther
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Please send your
questions to me, so that I can include them here, and open this part of
the newsletter for a discussion.
General Reading
If you like this
newsletter, and would like to check out The Manual Your Child Should Have
Come With - How to Develop Your Child's Genius", click here right
now.
Please feel free to e-mail me with your comments, feedback and success
stories! I
answer all my e-mail personally. e-mail to: esther@all-gifted-children.com
.
To your success!
Esther Andrews
To send feedback, e-mail to: esther@all-gifted-children.com
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