"Daddy, can you give me a math problem?" became a very common question around our house, and I was often surprised that she could figure out the answers in her head. One night, I gave her the problem 8 + 9, not really knowing if she could do problems whose answers were higher than 12-ish. She answered "17" so quickly that it shocked me!
"How did you know that?" I asked.
"Well," she responded. "I know that 7 + 7 = 14, and 8 is one more than 7, and 9 is two more than 7, so you take 14 and you add 1 and 2, and you get 17."
I was blown away!
Over the next few weeks and months, we continued to play "Math Games," and the numbers and problems got increasingly complex. Then we started doing algebra, though we call them "Fish Problems." They would go something like this: "If you want to buy 3 fish at the store, and they each cost $3, how much would they cost all together?" or "You have $15, and each fish costs $5. How many can you buy?"
She LOVES doing this, which is what earned her the nickname "Abacus." Imagine our delight, then, when me moved here to Utah and found an actual abacus at Grammy and Grampa's house!
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| From 2008, Summer and Fall |
After a few lessons on how to actually use a real abacus, our Math Games turned into Math Games on Steroids. She'll do dozens of problems in a row, asking for one after another. See her in action in the video below, working on 28 + 28 + 28. (Enjoy the cameo by J.)
She's now moved on to more complex problems -- 28 + 28 + 28 is so 30 minutes ago. At this very moment, she's working on 367 + 219 + 604 -- some pretty daunting numbers. But then, she isn't a six-year-old kid anymore; she's SEVEN now!
Go, Abacus!
MOJ
that is awesome! good for her!
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