It’s been about 2 weeks since I have introduced dots to my son - as you can imagine at this age, he is already starting to loose interest (I had been showing him the dots/images on the LM) … So I started to show him the lessons on powerpoint … but he was still getting annoyed. So then I started putting up a picture of his favorite car after each equation (1 picture/equation).
After that he started watching his dot equations but the whole time he is watching it, I think his mind is “stuck” on his car… So even though he is “looking” at the dots, I wonder if he is learning anything from it or if he is just daydreaming about his car that he just saw? lol
Do you think that showing car pictures like this throughout his lessons will do any harm or will he still learn the math?
I do not have Little Math yet… but I have read that one of the features is being able to use a variety of different icons, including your own pictures, as dots. What about using differnt car icons?
That’s a pretty good question. He is either paying attention to the math portion or totally ignoring the math portion. He sounds exactly like my son who loves cards but dislikes math cards.
My suggestion would have him do the math cards with car icons. My son will sometimes watch little math with the Thomas the Train icons on. You just have to download the icon set that you want. I believe that Little Reader has a Hotwheels number show also that he might enjoy.
I cheat sometimes too. I use sibling rivalry to my advantage. If it’s good enough for little brother, it’s good enough for big brother!
Hi NidaZafar,
My son also not keen in the Maths dots, I had tried using powerpoints but he get bored after one week. Now I had switch back to physical cards. And I don’t flash the cards in a stack, instead I put them on my lap, after I read the equation and I flash the card. He will now look at the cards and I flash less than a second. Sometimes when I change the style of flashing cards my son tend to look at them.
And I had asked the teacher before I start the Maths programme, she said it’s ok to flash a non related pic after the dots session - kind of like as a reward. I am not sure about after every equation through, but personally I would prefer after the session. May be you tell him, mommy have a car picture hiding somewhere within these stack of flash cards, when you sees it shout " stop! " or point at the car. I am quite sure he will keep looking at the cards and he will treat it as a game. And each session change to different car cards so every time the surprise is different.
I am not sure if you are doing other programme as well? For me I do all together, reading, Maths, and pic cards ( not really EK as I don’t have the POI) I will randomly pick up the cards so he won’t know what is coming next. It applies to computer slideshows or physical flash cards.
Regarding the main question as to whether they are really learning, no one will know with 100% certainty. Personally, I feel that so long as they are looking at the screen, then the information is going in. In fact, some would argue that that is a more effective way of getting the information to go in, when you’re looking at something but actually focused on something else - this is actually the right brain method!
See, right brain learning is where you by-pass the logical, critical, analytical left-brain so that the right brain can absorb massive amounts of info without the left-brain getting in the way. This is the reason why the flash method requires rapid flashing, so that you’re not using your left brain to analyze (or count!) the dots, but using the right brain to take in the whole image and perceive the quantity. Similarly, there are other methods that try to disengage the left brain, like flashing patterns (which you focus on) while you listen to a piece of information (which contains the info you’re trying to absorb).
So it could well be that your child focusing on the icons (but visually taking in the entire image) might make this more right brain learning than otherwise!
