SO much has happened in the world of my little Bear in the last 12 or so months. To begin with, he lost 4 teeth (and had another one extracted)! He got a laptop AND an iPod Touch. He discovered the Super Mario Bros (sigh). He learned to read. He pottered along with picture books for about 8 months or so and then he discovered Tashi. He read the Big big BIG Book of Tashi in less than a week and went on to discover the joys of Roald Dahl and The Twits. He is now reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets after very proudly finishing the first book all on his own. He reads to himself, to me and to his toy dog Thomas/Toby/Fang.
Very recently he started showing some enthusiasm for maths. It took me by surprise at first, but I decided to see if he could grasp a few concepts that would stretch him a bit. He got multiplication straight away and absolutely LOVED double digit addition. He's taken to getting enthusiastic for what we call "late night maths". We have a few workbooks around the place and I bought him a times tables chart and a spinner to play with and he was thrilled! Finally, I discovered the Khan Academy and wow! he is hooked. Personally I'm very impressed with the site myself, the concept of a free, self paced learning environment is pretty appealing. The founder, Salman Khan, has made 1600+ short videos for maths and science instruction. Bear has been enthralled for three days and has learned so much. He even taught me a method of subtracting double digit numbers that was new to me. I've never seen the kid so excited or focussed.
Bear is doing a 3 day circus workshop in a few weeks and will hopefully start lessons next term (he finished up his art class early this year). He is looking forward to learning some new tricks :)
I'm sure I've forgotten something... I'll just have to update when I remember!
Very recently he started showing some enthusiasm for maths. It took me by surprise at first, but I decided to see if he could grasp a few concepts that would stretch him a bit. He got multiplication straight away and absolutely LOVED double digit addition. He's taken to getting enthusiastic for what we call "late night maths". We have a few workbooks around the place and I bought him a times tables chart and a spinner to play with and he was thrilled! Finally, I discovered the Khan Academy and wow! he is hooked. Personally I'm very impressed with the site myself, the concept of a free, self paced learning environment is pretty appealing. The founder, Salman Khan, has made 1600+ short videos for maths and science instruction. Bear has been enthralled for three days and has learned so much. He even taught me a method of subtracting double digit numbers that was new to me. I've never seen the kid so excited or focussed.
Bear is doing a 3 day circus workshop in a few weeks and will hopefully start lessons next term (he finished up his art class early this year). He is looking forward to learning some new tricks :)
I'm sure I've forgotten something... I'll just have to update when I remember!
No comments:
Post a Comment