Is it just me, or is it a little bizarre to give a 5 year old a head start on math and science? Why not just have fun with the kid?
Math and science is fun?
Ask HN: Teach a 5-year-old math and science over the summer?
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Re: Ask HN: Teach a 5-year-old math and science over the summer?
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
Even questions like should I buy the expensive car battery or the cheap one is an investment.
true, but you were talking about investing in the financial sense before. Having good money sense should definitely be taught in school, but few will benefit from an education in investing.
Got it. When talking about the basics I don’t think of the two as distinct.
It’s like you don’t need to understand business very deeply to understand the longer you’re talking to a salesman the more you’re getting hosed in the transaction. Rather that should be obvious from the underlying economics that allow businesses to function.
So sure just about every 401k is going to have a handy calculator designed to convince you to hand them more money every month. But, that’s not the basics that’s a sales tactic.
Re: Ask HN: Teach a 5-year-old math and science over the summer?
#43Our 4yo loves doing "experiments": (1) We put on safety glasses (2) We wear latex gloves (3) We write down what we're about to do, what we think is going to happen, and what actually happens There's a whole genre of "home kitchen experiments for kids" books that we checked out from the library and read through and tried to pick a few. Several are ambitious because they need some unusual reagents we didn't have in the…
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Re: Ask HN: Teach a 5-year-old math and science over the summer?
#44I mostly just asked my now-six-year-old math questions at dinner, while driving around, and at other convenient times for me. Give them a treat of some kind when they get a few right. She's now in first grade and she can do multiplication, division, fractions, squares/square roots, and so on.
The treats mean that she will sometimes come up and say "Can I do math questions?" (because she wants to watch TV or get some other treat). I'll give her a series of random questions, and if she gets them right, she gets to watch TV.
On the science side of things, there are lots of fun project kits you can get. I found that they are a lot of work, but also worthwhile. I should probably do more of them.
You should also look into snap circuits electronics kids. The kids go absolutely nuts for those.
P.S. once they have the fundamentals, age-appropriate comic books are insanely good for teaching reading.
Re: Ask HN: Teach a 5-year-old math and science over the summer?
#45A counterpoint: if you get your child far enough ahead, a teacher may not have time/resources to give extra content in kindergarten. This could be because the level other kids are at in that particular class, resources at the school, etc. One result of this could be your child may be bored and could get into trouble and could result in them not enjoying school. I don't know your kid so obviously that is one path, the…
> a teacher may not have time/resources to give extra content in kindergarten
A few weeks ago, I spoke with the principal at one of the most popular[0] public elementary schools in San Francisco. She told me:
- she's only had a student skip a grade once ever
- no matter how far ahead a child is, a kindergarten teacher will not teach any first grade content
[0] as measured by ratio of applicants to spots
Re: Ask HN: Teach a 5-year-old math and science over the summer?
#46Is it just me, or is it a little bizarre to give a 5 year old a head start on math and science? Why not just have fun with the kid?
Nah, these types of posts always give off that “tiger mom” energy. Let your kid enjoy their time off, ya know, let them be a kid…
There may be some projection in your comment, a 5 year old kid doesn't have the "let me enjoy my time off" attitude yet, thats something they'll get once they're older. At this age they are usually naturally curious about pretty much anything.
Re: Ask HN: Teach a 5-year-old math and science over the summer?
#47> will be starting kindergarten in the fall get a head start learning math and science
Let me guess, this is your first kid?
Re: Ask HN: Teach a 5-year-old math and science over the summer?
#48A counterpoint: if you get your child far enough ahead, a teacher may not have time/resources to give extra content in kindergarten. This could be because the level other kids are at in that particular class, resources at the school, etc. One result of this could be your child may be bored and could get into trouble and could result in them not enjoying school. I don't know your kid so obviously that is one path, the…
> a teacher may not have time/resources to give extra content in kindergarten A few weeks ago, I spoke with the principal at one of the most popular[0] public elementary schools in San Francisco. She told me: - she's only had a student skip a grade once ever - no matter how far ahead a child is, a kindergarten teacher will not teach any first grade content [0] as measured by ratio of applicants to spots
The corollary holds true as well: schools are loathe to hold anyone back, even when the teacher & parents want to because of developmental delays or even a really late birthday. This is criminal.
Re: Ask HN: Teach a 5-year-old math and science over the summer?
#49My take is that the biggest focus, if you want to give them a head start, should be on reading . The most fundamental skill any elementary school child can learn is how to read. Every single thing they learn in school will at least benefit from a strong reading ability, and this goes for math and science as well. The biggest place where young students fall down in math, is story problems, not the arithmetic itself. B…
I agree, and at this stage let them read whatever they want. It's a huge bonus for the kid, independent progression, life-long and fun.
Re: Ask HN: Teach a 5-year-old math and science over the summer?
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nah, these types of posts always give off that “tiger mom” energy. Let your kid enjoy their time off, ya know, let them be a kid…
There is a real difference between giving your kids the tools to succeed and forcing them down a narrow path. IMO, everyone should know the basics of a wide range of things from cooking to statistics. It’s just a question of diminishing returns. Failing to understand the basics of say investing is really costly even if all they do is dump 90% of their money into a low cost S&P 500 fund and forget about it that’s vast…
> IMO, everyone should know the basics of a wide range of things from cooking to statistics.
maybe, but the person here is 5 years old, and probably shouldn't be doing statistics nor cooking.
>> teach your kids the basics of reading and math let’s them coast for years.
Why would this be considered a good outcome?