Math whiz

A month ago I blogged about Todd teaching Pistachio how to add using his beads. He's continued to practice his addition since then.

We use flashcards that have an addition problem on one side, and a subtraction problem on the other. Last week, as we were doing the addition exercises, Todd turned the card over and noticed the subtraction problem. He wanted to know what the minus sign was. So, I decided it was time to start teaching him subtraction!

We started off with some simply ones. 4-1. 5-3. 6-2. He quickly caught on, and our nightly study sessions now included subtraction as well as addition.

He is always eager to do his arithmetic, mostly, I suspect, because he simply enjoys playing with the beads. Whatever-- as long as he's getting some learning in with the fun, why not? Beats having to struggle to get him to sit still and learn!

I started to wonder, though, if he truly grasped the concept of arithmetic or if it was just some bead-sliding game to him.

So today, I got out his box of mini tangram puzzle pieces, and got out the flashcards. I set him in my lap, and gave him the first assignment: an addition problem. He dutifully got out the requisite number of pieces and worked out the sum. Then I gave him a subtraction problem. He hemmed and hawed for a bit until I explained that subtracting means "take away". He got it after a few moments and was able to work out the rest of his arithmetic problems with the puzzle pieces... and nary a bead in sight!

Next up: using his fingers! :-D