My overall plan involves using the MEP (Mathematics Enhancement Program) for the first years of math, and "Life of Fred" for the later years. This is my goal, however math is a subject that needs to be catered to the needs of the student. On my Math Overview page, I list some free and inexpensive alternatives, enhancement activities, and basics on figuring out where to start if your student is not a year 1 student. For the later years, you may wish to change the order of topics if needed for other subjects (for instance, you may need Trig earlier for physics.)
Year 0
I do not advocate specific instruction on math for children in Year 0 (preschool ages) except for day to day life and regular play. However, many math concepts can be introduced lightly in life. Simple counting of real life objects. (With young children of age 2 or 3, start with the concept of 1, 2, and more than 2 - with real things. Don't proceed to higher numbers until this is sure.) The older child can do estimation of numbers with you using small items like seads. Other things I have done...
- provide puzzles of the right difficulty.
- Lego's and other building blocks provide math skills and engineering skills (just let them play)
- mosaic boards / peg boards.... light brites. (adds practice with fine motor skills too)
- Practice "Left" and "Right" through games
- Maze workbooks are fun
- The occasional Dot-to-Dot can be fun (but can be overdone too)
- Opportunities to play with playing cards
- matching numbers
- sort by colour
- sort by number
- sort by suit
- sort numerically by suit
- War - introduces Greater than and Less than
- Opportunities to play board games with adult/older kids (counting squares, dice numbers)
- Dominoes - matching, adding....
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5
Year 6
Year 7
Year 8
Year 9 - 12
Select appropriate "Life of Fred" books to match the goals of the student, and to match Graduation requirements where you live. If your student is going into a math intensive field, they should plan to do ALL of these.
No comments:
Post a Comment