High-level Math for Little Tykes

Our education system is failing our most vulnerable students. This book addresses the core reason children have difficulty with math, which is they don't learn the language of math in the critical time to learn language.

It's not a new idea that children benefit by an early start in many endeavors. But only recently have researchers in brain development identified the age in which the human brain shuts down to certain new information, such as new language sounds or patterns.

Math is often taught as a task oriented activity. In preschool, children add with pebbles. In elementary school, children fill out rote worksheets. Children are doing all of this busywork just when their brains are in high gear for learning language, including the language of math.

Some children hear mathematical terminology at the dinner table, or in everyday conversations, in their first years of life. Others my first encounter math terminology and concepts much later when their brains actively blocking out new language patterns.

The algorithms of school math are not nearly as complex as the algorithms of the English language. There are not as many irregularities, for one thing. Many very smart people (including mathematicians), who speak English as a second language, don't get their verbs straight, even after decades of studying and speaking English.

Yet children, who have successfully figured out the algorithms of their native languages, think they are too dumb for the relatively simple algorithms of elementary-school math.

By shifting emphasis for the very youngest children from task-oriented math to an exploration of mathematical language and ideas, parents and educators can increase math competency by enabling children to learn the language and concepts of math as part of their mother tongue.

I suggest a framework for parents and leaders in the community to provide early math education to their children and the children of their communities. This framework is guided by research and established methods that work with young children's curiosity and natural propensity to learn.