Math supplement for advanced 3-year-old (almost 4)?

Early Learning Teaching Your Child Math
1

She will be turning 4 in a few days and is working at around the 2nd grade level in Math, maybe 3rd grade in some areas. We have recently finished Singapore Math Primary 2a, and she flew through almost half of the workbook in one night, working by herself well past her bedtime with a flashlight in her bed (when I thought she was sleeping safe and sound :ohmy: ) We usually do 8-10 pages per day - apparently she found our pace too slow for her liking. The amazing thing was she got 98-99% of it right! Now, she is impatiently waiting for Primary 2b to arrive. We also do 30-40 mins of Soroban each day, and she has been making steady progress. She can now mentally add and subtract 2- and 3-digit numbers in her head - not lightning-speed fast, but she can do it.

So, in total, we spend about 1.5 hours every day on Math, broken up into two sessions, which I think is a little too much book work for her age on a single subject, but she loves it. The problem is, she is now asking for more! So I am looking for good math supplements for an almost 4-year old who can multiply and divide, do fractions, count/combine bills and coins and make change, tell time, etc. Oh, by the way, she has just finished reading Life of Fred Apples and enjoyed it immensely! After I read it with her the first time, I have since found her re-reading it to herself and giggling hysterically over it. I can’t tell you how much it warms my geeky heart to see her enjoying a Math textbook so much! lol

In the past couple of years, we have also finished Rightstart Math A & B, Jones Geniuses Matrix Math, and read through all of the Mathstart books. We have been re-reading levels 2 and 3 of Mathstart and she seems to be getting more out of them and making more and more connections between math and real life each time.

So, for math supplements, I am looking at

  1. Beast Academy 3A -It doesn’t seem like they start lower than that and I am not sure whether it will be too advanced for her.

  2. Hands-on Equations - It seems ridiculous to be thinking of starting algebra with a 4-year-old, but this program has a lot of manipulatives and Doman did start on algebra even younger!

Of course, we will be continuing with Singapore Math, Soroban, and LoF. So, does anybody have any experience with any of the above programs? Can they be adapted to her age level? Will it be too overwhelming for her? Any other better recommendations? She is really taking off in Math, but I don’t want to burn her out but don’t want to hold her back/bore her either.

The rest of her day is spent building Legos (making her own structures and drawing instruction books for her creations), doing puzzles, reading (mostly chapter books now and non-fiction picture books in English and Chinese), playing piano and violin, swimming, and playing with her cousins outdoors.

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Umm well I havnt got experience with those programs but after reading through your comments I actually think you are probably not giving her enough of a challenge. I could be wrong but it seems she is finding everything easy?
I would suggest that you find two programs one for her to zip through at her chosen pace ( Singapore 2b probably) and something else that you can do together that will make her think.
If she is doing 3 digit equations in her head she is ready for more than a grade 2 program. You will need to find her something to get her thinking again. The algebra might be a great option. My kids do algebra, simple ones. 4 isn’t too early for algebra, assuming they have some left brain logic already. Which obviously she does.
Did you find the free download for the Saxon 5/4 and 6/5 that was linked in the other math threads? You will need that 5/4 soon enough. Quite a bit of it she could do now.
I also don’t think 1.5 hours is too much math for a kid who enjoys it. It’s one of the most important subjects after all. :slight_smile: Run with it before she is bored by it! :laugh:
It’s inspiring to read posts like this one. That’s so much for sharing where you are at as well as just asking the questions.

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I would go ahead and start her on algebra. Why not she may be 4 but if she is ready for it then why not? Also have you taught measurement yet and if so are you teaching metric or imperial?

4

Aangeles-
First off, congrats on teaching your adorable little girl! I just watched a few clips from her YouTube channel and loved them. I have a 2.5 year old little girl that really enjoys math, so I am always scouting math programs. Especially great programs that can be adapted to young children :yes:

In case you can’t find the link to those free Saxon downloads, I will repost them here for you. At the very least it will give you additional ideas and resources!

http://www.cascadeheights.org/academics/our-curriculum/fifth-grade

Also, if you are familiar with LofF, and she seems to have really enjoyed Apples!, take a look at their pre-Algebra book with Biology( I bought this for a nephew)and their three-part algebra program…this probably won’t be something she can read herself yet, but the curriculum and tons of companion problems may well excite her…
http://www.stanleyschmidt.com/FredGauss/11catofbooks.html

I also think she would really do well with BEAST!

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Manda -

I think you’ve hit the nail right on the head! She does tend to find a lot of things very easy, and I am always looking for ways to make things challenging enough for her. I just didn’t expect her to find 2nd grade math THAT easy at her age! Thanks for the reminder about the free Saxon math downloads. Do you think Singapore and Saxon math together would be too redundant? The two programs look kinda similar to me, although I admit I had not looked too much into Saxon and don’t have any experience with it. Or should I just go with one or the other? Is Saxon more rigorous than Singapore? I do think I will go ahead and get Hands-On Equations - it does look like such a fun and creative way to introduce algebra.

Kimba -

I have taught her measurement - both metric and imperial and in both English and Chinese. But I haven’t taught her how to convert yet. Maybe that should be my next project! :slight_smile:

Keri -

Thanks for the links. I will be taking a closer look at the other books in the LoF series. She DOES love math and science. Actually, now that I think about it - she loves everything that we do, from math/science to languages/history/geography to handwriting/art/music, she even loves practicing violin and piano! I would be hard-pressed to name something that she wasn’t enthusiastic about. And I attribute her passion for learning to all the EL stuff we have been doing since she was a baby. Isn’t EL the greatest! :smiley:

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Aangeles-
Do you have an IPad? If so, there is an IPad app called Math Doodles, by Carstens Studios Inc that she really might enjoy…it definitely incorporated LOTS of mathematical problem solving, but she will be familiar with a good amount of the material, probably enough of a challenge to keep her interested. Even the numerals for several languages are incorporated. It is quite well done and you can adjust the level of difficulty.

7

Yes, she does have Math Doodles on her Ipad. We love it! :slight_smile:

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hi Aangles Did you use a program to teach measurement? If so which one? or if you didnt how did you teach measurement?

9

As an introduction, we read math storybooks about measurement like:

http://www.amazon.com/Pastry-School-Paris-Adventure-Capacity/dp/0805083146

http://www.amazon.com/Super-Sand-Castle-Saturday-MathStart/dp/0064467201/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1341299691&sr=8-2&keywords=mathstart+measurement

http://www.amazon.com/Bigger-Better-Best-MathStart-2/dp/0064462471/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1341299691&sr=8-4&keywords=mathstart+measurement

http://www.amazon.com/Room-Ripley-MathStart-Stuart-Murphy/dp/0064467244/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1341299691&sr=8-5&keywords=mathstart+measurement

By the way, we have nearly all of Cindy Neuschwander’s math storybooks and Ella loves reading and re-reading them. She also has several Kindle math ebooks on her Ipad, but she seems to prefer reading traditional books, at least for now.

Most of the books have suggested extension activities at the back and we do these in the kitchen after reading the books. She loves to help out with cooking and baking and that is another opportunity to incorporate some lessons.

Then, we use the Kumon workbooks for extra practice, which for her is not really extra work, because she thinks doing workbooks is FUN! :rolleyes:

http://www.kumonbooks.com/catalog/catalog_workbooks_geometry.aspx

Hope this helps! :slight_smile:

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Thanks for all those links.

Hve you thaught about writing to Dr Jones and asking him where he thinks Ella should go next. I have written to him a few times and I have found him very helpful?

11

So! I totally missed this pre-assessment worksheet that can be used to determine whether your child is ready for Beast Academy 3a:

http://www.beastacademy.com/store/products/3A/assessments/Pre.pdf

It turns out that Ella got 11 out of the 16 questions right. She answered another two correctly after I re-worded the questions to adapt them to a 4-year-old’s comprehension level.

I guess I will be ordering it after all. It seems to be just the right level of math challenge she needs.

12

OMG that is amazing miss Ella. I know I would need calculator to do those sums!

13

Kimba,

She has an advantage in that she used Anzan (mental math Soroban) to do the sums.

:biggrin:

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Hehe, I am not a bit surprised :biggrin: As I read through your post I was thinking sounds like grade 3 to me :yes: so 3a would be about right. It should be a little bit hard, btw. There is a problem with it always being too easy, eventually they need a bit of a challenge to ensure that when they hit something difficult they know HOW to persist through to the end…and think. about age 4,5 is when to add a challenge IMHO.
Give her the next Singapore to work through also, at her own pace. She might like saxon as well but i would add it in about 6 months time. After you have the 3a sorted out :slight_smile: I can compare the two, I just havnt done it yet :blush: Saxon is well known for producing top math students, but there is no rush into it, it is a text book in every sence.
Also check out the list of each grade on the IXL site, just to be sure you havnt overlooked anything. Each year level has an individual list of expected understandings. it’s a very comprehensive list, you ,may find a new challenge there somewhere. It will also point out areas to work on for a more overall ‘level’ education.
Finally, feel free to ignore all of my advice :yes: :yes: :yes: because you are doing just fine without my imput! :biggrin: lol

15

Thanks for your vote of confidence, Mandab! :smiley: There are just too many programs out there and it would be impossible to try every one out to see if it would fit your child, so it is always good to hear someone else’s opinion and advice. :slight_smile:

Would love to read your comparison of Singapore vs Saxon (when you get around to it) because I think we will eventually have to choose one or the other. At her age, I am limiting “school” to no more than 4 hours a day, and doing more math would mean less time to do all the other things that she also wants to learn. We are currently also doing:

Handwriting without Tears
All about Spelling
Chinese language arts and history
Story of the World
Beginning Geography
Science
Art Atelier
Little Musician, Soft Mozart, Suzuki violin
French, Spanish, dabbling in Latin
Right brain activities
Swimming, Wushu (martial arts)

And, of course, reading reading reading, which I don’t even count as “school” anymore because she does it for fun. So, given her obvious passion for and precocious ability in math, should I just let her do as much of it as she wants and cut back on the oher stuff, or should I continue to pace her so she doesn’t burn herself out? As you can probably see from our “curriculum,” my goal is to have a really well-rounded child and she really does enjoy all the subjects that we do, so it would be hard for me to make a choice. :unsure:

16

Looks to me as though you put her in a Ferrari math-wise (Anzan) and are now wondering why she’s zipping so quickly through more normal curriculum. Two and Three digit addition & subtraction are things I didn’t get to until 4th grade! 3rd grade I did times tables.
It looks like the advice ITT has been good - to up the challenge.

17

I shall look through both programs and let you know. I have been meaning to do it anyway. I was leaning to Saxon as it seems to be the one everyone says has the most success for preparing for university based math. I liked that it’s very independent of me, for my 8 year old, lol
I would let her do as much math as she wants to. I can’t see her burning out. Plus it’s a subject like reading the more you do the better you get, even if the practice is easy. you will know when to pull her back. If she loses interest, just take it away for a week or two, then offer it again.
As to the other activities :slight_smile:
I didn’t know she was doing Suzuki! How Is that going? What do you think of it all? It’s not an option for us but I was thinking of teaching my daughter flute using their methods.
If you want to dump something from the list to make more room, Dump handwriting and spelling. ( hear the pin drop as every one reading says oh she’s crazy! lol ) spelling she really doesn’t need as she learnt to read using whole words methods. That means she will be very good at knowing WHEN a word she has written is spelt wrong. Test her out on this. Type a page of words, with each word having three spelling choices and get her to circle the correct one! Over time she will naturally learn to spell it properly, and make attempts to get the phonics right. She does so much reading she is learning to spell as she reads anyway. The only reason to keep doing it is if her reading and thus spelling is getting mixed up due to her multi language reading abilities. ( eg English and Spanish spellings)
Handwriting…well I would only do that if my kids didn’t form good letters, in the right direction, once she can draw all the letters legibly in the right direction then just let her practice by writing notes to friends and shopping list for you. In about 6 months time the time you spend with hand writing will be much more efficient. So if you need to find time, shelve this one temporarily. Handwriting is aquired quicker with a bit more age. In the overall picture these two things can come later with no loss of skill acquisition. :yes:
It is interesting what you have listed as “school work”. I assume you mean structured time as opposed to free play time? In my house art, music, martial arts and science are considered play activities lol My kids see them differently. ( our science is very hands on and usually messy, crafty, or just plain fun!) These are the activities they would do anyway, with or without me suggesting it.
Art Atlier? What is this? I am looking for some art extention ideas. Particularly drawing skills…
Thanks for the math books you mentioned, they look great! The library only has 1 but i put it on order, hoping the kids like it. Do you know if you can buy them As a full set? The dragon of pi is the one we can get now.

18

Happy birthday Ella! More blessings to you!

Do you have the Singapore 3A already? We have the books+workbooks. I’ll send it tru e-mail as a birthday present :slight_smile:

We have started with it and found it to have just enough challenge. For sure she’ll fly through it (again). It’s amazing she can work through workbooks alone at her age! That’s a rare gift! :smiley:

How about some math game software? I’ve been looking for a good quality game software as Cammie likes to play, play, play all day. Even at soroban lessons, there have to be some kind of a game or story involved. If there isn’t, she’ll invent and incorporate silly stories into our lessons. Sometimes, I get carried away with the stories and barely get through the lesson itself!

19

Beast Academy is fantastic. Something to look out for: only 3A and 3B are released, 3C should be out sometime this summer, and 3D before the end of the year. From what I understand the levels are going to be released every 4 months (which means only 3 of the 4 levels per calendar year), but they are trying to remedy the bottlenecks causing that schedule. Depending on her pace that might not be fast enough for you.

We like MEP (Mathematics Enrichment Programme). Lots of atypical problems, mental math, and other goodies. And it’s free, I like free.

20

I think you are doing a great job Aangles. My daughter and your daughter are opposites while my dd does not like maths she loves Spelling and espeicially readin comprehension and writing. She is also becoming a precocious reader because I sent her to her room for being naughty and I called her to come out and face me after she ‘served her time’ and she refused to come out because she was reading. I think if she is loving maths why not just roll wit it for the time being and then step up with the writing and the spelling later.

My dd is flying through all about spelling and doing reading comp questions from www.readingtheory.org. I figure f she loves it so much why not. I do however, need to find her math niche to get her going on maths.

I am doing little music but had to stop soft mozart because she just refused to follow any instructions.

I think Ella will grow into a fine young lady with a real talent for math and still be well rounded in other areas becuse you will make sure she wont let it all go for maths.