Lately, S has been starting to do some counting mentally. He'll be turning 5 in 1.5 months time and I hadn't done any formal teaching of maths for him and hadn't used any workbooks for him. I tried to avoid too much workbook as I feel that it only encourages children to want to get all correct answers, without much critical thinking. I was that kind of student once and I just memorised answers in order to get high marks in exams. The exams, I felt were just a test of a student's ability to memorise. I don't want my boys to grow up, only wanting to get all correct answers, but without further use of their brains.
I only once taught him to count the bumps on the lego bricks for multiplication. Eg: 4 by 1 = 4 bumps or 4 by 2 brick = 8 bumps. So, it was a surprise when he suddenly started to do some addition and multiplication.
S asked, "Mummy, "Is it 2 and 2, four times is 8?"
His grammar wasn't exactly correct, but I got what he meant.
He suddently discovered multiplication and I hadn't even taught him.
A week later, he asked me, "Is it..."
"4 and 4 is 8"
"8 and 8 is 16"
"10 and 10 is 20"
"3 and 3 and 3 is 9"
He also asked whether 100 more than 10.
Now that he's showing an interest in maths, it is a good time for me to ride on the wave and encourage him further.
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