Tami

Just wanted to share with everyone...

A couple days ago, I checked out some library books for my two boys (5.5 and 4). The
kids did not see the books, because I chose them while they were playing elsewhere in the
library. Later that afternoon, I was reading them to the boys. Whenever it was my 4 yo's
turn to chose a book, he would pick one with about 5 or 6 words on a page and we would
read it slowly, pointing to each word (his choice to do this). My 5 yo was getting a little
frustrated with our slow pace. When I turned the page and my 4 yo was getting ready to
point to the words, my 5 yo just read the whole sentence before we could start! At first, I
just assumed he had memorized the book, but then I realized I just checked them out and
he had never seen the book before. I turned to my 5yo and asked "Can you read?" and he
said, "Yeah".

Now, how cool is that?! I KNEW it would be this way with him. He won't just trot out his
knowledge or "perform" for anyone. He'll let you know things in HIS way, in HIS time. He'll
probably be doing high school level sciene experiements under his bed at night, and I'll
never know it!

And what perfect timing! My dh admitted to me after I told him this story that he was
getting ready to have a talk with me about the whole homeschooling/unschooling thing
and that it didn't seem to be working!

Tami

Marieke Willis

--- Tami <Tamicamp@...> wrote:
> And what perfect timing! My dh admitted to me after I told him this
> story that he was
> getting ready to have a talk with me about the whole
> homeschooling/unschooling thing
> and that it didn't seem to be working!

Because he couldn't read yet? Or some other reason?

In The Netherlands, 4 and 5yos go to kindergarten and just do games and
stuff that prepares them for school. Kids don't learn to read until
they're 6yo. I was quite surprised the first time my HB told me that
kids in the USA learn to read at 5yo; I'd never thought about things
before and assumed that "learning to read at 6yo" was just a kind of
universal rule (I know kids that taught themselves to read at 3 or 4yo
and such, but school-wise, I thought 6yo was normal throughout the
world). And, judging by how well Dutch teenagers read vs American
teenagers, I'd say waiting till 6yo didn't hurt a bit!

Just like I didn't start learning English until I was 12yo, and my
English seems to have turned out fine. Personally, I have the
impression that learning foreign languages actually gets easier the
older you are, it just may *seem* harder, and you're more likely to
have a foreign accent.

Thought I'd mention all this for people that are worried that their kid
isn't able to do x yet at age y, even though American kids normally
learn x at age (y-1) or (y-2).

Marieke



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Laura Beaudin

I'm currently teaching in a Montessori School (and counting down the days to
when I can leave work permanently!). SInce being out here, I've taught the
gamut from pre-k to University. I think I love working with the young ones
in this setting since the culture demands that students receive good grades
whether deserved or not ..at least when you are working at this age and with
Montessori, you have the flexibility to teach what the child enjoys.

Anyway, I've found that in terms of math, the eastern hemisphere seems to be
more advanced than North America and perhaps Europe. It seems that in term
of mathematical operations (simple addition and subtraction) children are
limited to numbers 0-10 or 20 in pre-k and 0-30 in kindergarten. In grade
one, the focus becomes 0-100 and then 100 and above in grade two. In the
international schools and Asian national schools, children are expected to
be able to be fluent with numbers 0-100..this is before they enter grade
one. Has anyone seen this trend at all in the US or Canada?

Laura

On 1/25/07, Marieke Willis <luuknam@...> wrote:
>
> --- Tami <Tamicamp@...> wrote:
> > And what perfect timing! My dh admitted to me after I told him this
> > story that he was
> > getting ready to have a talk with me about the whole
> > homeschooling/unschooling thing
> > and that it didn't seem to be working!
>
> Because he couldn't read yet? Or some other reason?
>
> In The Netherlands, 4 and 5yos go to kindergarten and just do games and
> stuff that prepares them for school. Kids don't learn to read until
> they're 6yo. I was quite surprised the first time my HB told me that
> kids in the USA learn to read at 5yo; I'd never thought about things
> before and assumed that "learning to read at 6yo" was just a kind of
> universal rule (I know kids that taught themselves to read at 3 or 4yo
> and such, but school-wise, I thought 6yo was normal throughout the
> world). And, judging by how well Dutch teenagers read vs American
> teenagers, I'd say waiting till 6yo didn't hurt a bit!
>
> Just like I didn't start learning English until I was 12yo, and my
> English seems to have turned out fine. Personally, I have the
> impression that learning foreign languages actually gets easier the
> older you are, it just may *seem* harder, and you're more likely to
> have a foreign accent.
>
> Thought I'd mention all this for people that are worried that their kid
> isn't able to do x yet at age y, even though American kids normally
> learn x at age (y-1) or (y-2).
>
> Marieke
>
>
>
>
> ____________________________________________________________________________________
> TV dinner still cooling?
> Check out "Tonight's Picks" on Yahoo! TV.
> http://tv.yahoo.com/
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Marieke Willis

--- Laura Beaudin <laura.beaudin@...> wrote:
> I'm currently teaching in a Montessori School (and counting down the
> days to
> when I can leave work permanently!). SInce being out here, I've
> taught the
> gamut from pre-k to University. I think I love working with the young
> ones
> in this setting since the culture demands that students receive good
> grades
> whether deserved or not ..at least when you are working at this age
> and with
> Montessori, you have the flexibility to teach what the child enjoys.
>
> Anyway, I've found that in terms of math, the eastern hemisphere
> seems to be
> more advanced than North America and perhaps Europe. It seems that in
> term
> of mathematical operations (simple addition and subtraction) children
> are
> limited to numbers 0-10 or 20 in pre-k and 0-30 in kindergarten. In
> grade
> one, the focus becomes 0-100 and then 100 and above in grade two. In
> the
> international schools and Asian national schools, children are
> expected to
> be able to be fluent with numbers 0-100..this is before they enter
> grade
> one. Has anyone seen this trend at all in the US or Canada?

I don't know about the US or Canada, but I do know that in NL we
weren't supposed to do any addition or subtraction until first grade
(6yo). In kindergarten we did do counting stuff and such, but no
addition/subtraction. In first grade, we started out with numbers under
ten, then under twenty, and then under a hundred, so that at the end of
first grade we were (I guess) at the same level as American kids. Then,
in second grade we started doing multiplication as well at some point
(I'm not sure whether at the beginning of second grade or half-way
through the year). In 7th grade we started algebra, in 9th grade
trigonometry and such, and half-way through 10th grade calculus,
although we split secondary school up in different streams depending on
kids academic abilities, so if you weren't so smart, you wouldn't get
much beyond algebra and basic trig, stat & geometry (and graduate after
10th grade, rather than 12th). I also had what pretty much was the
equivalent of college statistics in highschool, I think mainly in 11th
grade, but I'm not sure. That and geometry, which I disliked because of
all the proofs we had to do. A major difference between what I had and
the American system though is that the only subject that I ever had was
"Math", whereas here they split it up in the subareas. I didn't even
know what 'calculus' meant until I came to the US, even though I'd had
it for 3.5 years in highschool (I had to do 11th grade twice due to
illness). Oh, and the one thing we did NOT cover that is covered in
American schools is imaginary numbers.

Marieke



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Rue Kream

>>In the international schools and Asian national schools, children are
expected to be able to be fluent with numbers 0-100..this is before they
enter grade one. Has anyone seen this trend at all in the US or Canada?

**Dagny went to kindergarten at a Boston (MA, USA) public school. It was a
charter school with kids whose first language was English and kids whose
first language was Spanish. Their math curriculum was standard Boston
public, though, and the kids were drilled daily in numbers up to 100. It's
one of the things she hated about school. ~Rue




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Laura Beaudin

You know, since I've been studying up on unschooling (my children are still
young at 1 and 2 1/2 for me to worry about it yet), I've been seeing growing
inconsistencies in my own job. Montessori has some of the same philosophies
but the environment is really controlled.

The Arab world is so obsessed with memorizing and getting top grades that if
an Arab were homeschooled, it would be a "cultural trajedy" lol...it took a
while but I'm proud that my Egyptian husband has been convinced of
homeschooling...now I just have to convince himm of the unschooling concept.
I'm self-taugh in English which is a good start (I was sent to French
school). Anyhow, if you think the West has forgotten how to learn, the Arab
world is worse. They have everything commited to memory for the exam and
conveniently forget it afterward. At least the public schools in Canada
taught me some things--although not much.

Is anyone on this list in Alberta? I want to know how they deal with the
school boards when unschooling is used as the main curriculum.

Laura

On 1/27/07, Rue Kream <skreams@...> wrote:
>
> >>In the international schools and Asian national schools, children are
> expected to be able to be fluent with numbers 0-100..this is before they
> enter grade one. Has anyone seen this trend at all in the US or Canada?
>
> **Dagny went to kindergarten at a Boston (MA, USA) public school. It was a
> charter school with kids whose first language was English and kids whose
> first language was Spanish. Their math curriculum was standard Boston
> public, though, and the kids were drilled daily in numbers up to
> 100. It's
> one of the things she hated about school. ~Rue
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Laura Beaudin

Imaginary numbers?

I remember starting multiplication in grade three (graduated HS in 95).
Never got to Calculus though in Quebec, we get up to grade 11, not 12.
ALgebra was started in grade 8.

I know that in the International schools, multiplications are started in
Grade 1. In Montessori, if the kid gets that far (which is rare in a
second-language setting, he might get into skip-counting and multiplication.
I think that out if the 80 preschoolers in our school, one or two have
gotten that far this year.

I hated ath as a kid and still hate it.

Laura

On 1/27/07, Marieke Willis <luuknam@...> wrote:
>
> --- Laura Beaudin <laura.beaudin@...> wrote:
> > I'm currently teaching in a Montessori School (and counting down the
> > days to
> > when I can leave work permanently!). SInce being out here, I've
> > taught the
> > gamut from pre-k to University. I think I love working with the young
> > ones
> > in this setting since the culture demands that students receive good
> > grades
> > whether deserved or not ..at least when you are working at this age
> > and with
> > Montessori, you have the flexibility to teach what the child enjoys.
> >
> > Anyway, I've found that in terms of math, the eastern hemisphere
> > seems to be
> > more advanced than North America and perhaps Europe. It seems that in
> > term
> > of mathematical operations (simple addition and subtraction) children
> > are
> > limited to numbers 0-10 or 20 in pre-k and 0-30 in kindergarten. In
> > grade
> > one, the focus becomes 0-100 and then 100 and above in grade two. In
> > the
> > international schools and Asian national schools, children are
> > expected to
> > be able to be fluent with numbers 0-100..this is before they enter
> > grade
> > one. Has anyone seen this trend at all in the US or Canada?
>
> I don't know about the US or Canada, but I do know that in NL we
> weren't supposed to do any addition or subtraction until first grade
> (6yo). In kindergarten we did do counting stuff and such, but no
> addition/subtraction. In first grade, we started out with numbers under
> ten, then under twenty, and then under a hundred, so that at the end of
> first grade we were (I guess) at the same level as American kids. Then,
> in second grade we started doing multiplication as well at some point
> (I'm not sure whether at the beginning of second grade or half-way
> through the year). In 7th grade we started algebra, in 9th grade
> trigonometry and such, and half-way through 10th grade calculus,
> although we split secondary school up in different streams depending on
> kids academic abilities, so if you weren't so smart, you wouldn't get
> much beyond algebra and basic trig, stat & geometry (and graduate after
> 10th grade, rather than 12th). I also had what pretty much was the
> equivalent of college statistics in highschool, I think mainly in 11th
> grade, but I'm not sure. That and geometry, which I disliked because of
> all the proofs we had to do. A major difference between what I had and
> the American system though is that the only subject that I ever had was
> "Math", whereas here they split it up in the subareas. I didn't even
> know what 'calculus' meant until I came to the US, even though I'd had
> it for 3.5 years in highschool (I had to do 11th grade twice due to
> illness). Oh, and the one thing we did NOT cover that is covered in
> American schools is imaginary numbers.
>
> Marieke
>
>
>
>
> ____________________________________________________________________________________
> Looking for earth-friendly autos?
> Browse Top Cars by "Green Rating" at Yahoo! Autos' Green Center.
> http://autos.yahoo.com/green_center/
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

plaidpanties666

I can't really speak to what's being taught wrt 'math' in schools,
but I'd recommend *How Children Fail* by John Holt if the subject
interests you. Its out of print, but libraries still have it. He was
teaching math at the time, so most of his stories and examples are
on that topic.

Some of the discoveries/conclusions he comes to are things I've
observed with younger children who are learning math orgainically -
mainly that the sequential learning model used by most schools has
little to do with the way children actually learn about numbers and
relationships. Young children can conceptualize division/fractions
long before subtraction, for example.

Just talking about numbers with my 5yr old, I'm often astonished at
how many different "concepts" she'll be considering simultaneously.
One of her games is to tell me numbers and have me write them down,
or vice-versa and I'll see her counting variously by ones, tens and
hundreds, playing with the idea of place-value, and comparing
numbers to time and money notation - all within just a few minutes.
It really lets me see how contrived is so much math-teaching -
especially when she suddenly segues into making puns. I'm not
entirely sure *how* that relates - something to do with patterns I
suppose - but its a pretty common connection for her.

---Meredith (Mo 5, Ray 13)

Marieke Willis

--- Laura Beaudin <laura.beaudin@...> wrote:
> Imaginary numbers?

Also known as complex numbers. Basically, the square root of negative
one is called "i", and you can do calculations with it. Not very
applicable to most people's daily lives, hence the value of teaching it
to every highschool student, as is done in the US, is disputable.

http://www.math.toronto.edu/mathnet/answers/relevance.html

Marieke



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Debra Rossing

I love the idea of imaginary numbers - somebody had lots of time on
his/her hands and a great imagination to come up with this one.

Deb

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Laura Beaudin

I took one look at teh explanation and decided that it required too much
thinking (smirk)..never was a mathematical person.

Debra Rossing wrote:
> I love the idea of imaginary numbers - somebody had lots of time on
> his/her hands and a great imagination to come up with this one.
>
> Deb
>
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> www.mastercam.com
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>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
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wuweimama

http://mathforum.org/dr.math/faq/faq.imag.num.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imaginary_number

http://www.wtamu.edu/academic/anns/mps/math/mathlab/col_algebra/col_alg_tut12_complexnum.htm

I found this fascinating. I don't know if I ever learned this stuff;
but it sure requires one's imagination to try to understand it. LOL

I liked this one titled "unlearning" regarding "Spacetime Algebra"
http://www.mrao.cam.ac.uk/~clifford/introduction/intro/node4.html#SECTION00022000000000000000

Pat

Debra Rossing

>I took one look at teh explanation and decided that it required too
much thinking (smirk)..never was a mathematical person.

LOL - I really like numbers (even imaginary ones). I think that's part
of the "puzzle" if you will - I had lots of teachers who delighted in
numbers, not "math", the kind who did what the text required then showed
us the patterns and shortcuts and such. DH also likes playing with
numbers and patterns, despite failing a semester of high school 'math'
and all. Would you believe that we'd actually lie awake in bed at night
in the dark discussing square roots and imaginary numbers and area
calculations and all that kind of stuff, just for the fun of it. It was
just a tangent from a conversation and would wind it's merry way along
until we fell asleep.

Deb

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