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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?

#61

Post by PebblesRox »

mherdeg wrote: post #10

Our 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…

I love the idea of drawing function machines! I've used functions in stories but haven't thought to do drawings. If you have any examples posted anywhere, I'd love to see them!

Re: Ask HN: Teach a 5-year-old math and science over the summer?

#63

Post by marttt »

Maybe Computer Science Unplugged would offer some inspiration? Teaching CS fundamentals without using a computer: https://www.csunplugged.org/en/at-home/

"Classic" version of the book with all the activities, also in PDF form: https://classic.csunplugged.org/books/

I would also recommend Elizabeth G. Hainstock's book "Teaching Montessori in the Home: The School Years" (and the first part, "The Pre-School Years", which is for children aged up to 5). IIRC, these books are from the early 1970s, but I was blown away by the clarity of the instructions, explanations and drawings. The School Years book is, obviously, aimed at somewhat older children, but it offers really interesting exercises and tools for teaching maths: https://www.amazon.com/Teaching-Montessori-Home-School-Years...

Best of luck and have fun!

Re: Ask HN: Teach a 5-year-old math and science over the summer?

#64

Post by otikik »

skeeter2020 wrote: post #52
otikik wrote: post #29

My son is almost 6. He knows the alphabet and can read some words. He knows addition and substraction (with fingers) and how to count to 169. I plan to help him expand in all of those areas during the summer, but naturally (not with homework) He likes puzzles and videogames. We made a couple Pico-8 games together. Lately he has been developing levels in Mario Maker 2. He builds legos. He enjoys going to the countrysi…

>> and how to count to 169 This is weird; counting is a set of repeating patterns, so getting to 99 should take him to 999. Maybe he's memorized the numbers to 169, or he's really a 12-yr-old boy who (without understanding why) likes to say "69!"?

Oh, he gets hooked up on numbers like that all the time. For a long while he thought the biggest number that existed was 54. I'll never know why.

I've got an explanation for 169 though. We're Spanish. 60 ("Sesenta") and 70 ("Setenta") are pronounced very similarly. He can handle it the first time, but when he reaches the first hundred he starts getting tired. There's a point around 169 where the 6 becomes a 7 and the 7 becomes a 6 again, and he loses track of the number he's in.

He'll get there eventually, in the meantime it is fun to watch him try :)

Re: Ask HN: Teach a 5-year-old math and science over the summer?

#66

Post by gdfgjhs »

mattbrewsbytes wrote: post #22

A 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…

Excellent point. Perhaps focus teaching skills that help them no matter what they do in their life like social skills etc.
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