This morning there was a lull in the minutes before we walked out the door to head to school. With a 9-year-old and 6-year-old, it's rare to have any kind of lull, so I took advantage of it. "Hey guys, how can you make 3?" The 6-year-old lifted his pointer finger and drew the numerical... Continue Reading →
No. Don't teach your baby math. Seriously. But do expose your baby to interesting things that spark her curiosity and allow you to observe her explore. And if you can do that with mathy things, why not? Luckily for me, I have an 18-month-old niece to play with. While her mother was absorbed in a... Continue Reading →
C'mon, you can't help it. You HAVE to say "who do we appreciate?!" It's one of those automatic things that just happens. (I am willing to concede that perhaps this only happens if you've grown up the U.S. and have had some exposure to cheering for a team.) You might roll your eyes at it,... Continue Reading →
I am holding on to the belief that it is possible to take my kids somewhere - out to dinner, on a car trip -- without having to hand over an electronic device to keep them occupied. To that end, I am always on the lookout for little things to have at the ready in... Continue Reading →
My favorite mathy moments are the ones I didn't expect. Several months ago, I decided to make a whiteboard mandala for my kids to color. They had fallen in love with an adhesive one that was stuck to a table at the children's library in town, but I didn't want to pay $100 to buy... Continue Reading →
Bed time has become more difficult for the 6-year-old since school has started. I think it has to do with adjusting to first grade. It's a big transition year, and he's got a lot of concerns that come up just as I'm about to turn out the lights. He's no dummy. He knows how to... Continue Reading →
The 9-year-old took the MCAS (the Massachusetts school standardized tests) for the first time last year as a 3rd grader. The results are in. I didn't show them to him immediately, though, because I wanted to be thoughtful about how I communicated my interpretation of the results and how I hope he will interpret them.... Continue Reading →
We lucked out when the 6-year-old was in a swim lesson with only one other child. Semi-private lesson for the price of a group lesson! Nice. I sat on the pool deck to watch from afar...not so close that I was "present" at the lesson, but not so far that I couldn't hear the instruction... Continue Reading →
Not sure how to get your kids to play math? Here's one way...strategically leave something out for them to discover. We all know that if we require our kids to do something, we will often get push-back. But...if the kid is choosing to engage on his own, the same activity that otherwise was "required" is... Continue Reading →
I grew up playing ping-pong in my family's basement. And in the garage. And, on nice days, in the driveway. My father would roll the table out for picnic and grill parties and challenge anyone willing to take him on. He was good. I could talk about how my eye-hand coordination strengthened from playing often... Continue Reading →
mathy moments 