An Easy Start in Arithmetic, Grades K-3

The Three R's

by Ruth Beechick

Easy start for K-3 grades

Genres: Education, Mathematics, Nonfiction

27 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1986

About the author

Dr. Ruth Beechick spent a lifetime teaching and studying how people learn. She taught in Washington state, Alaska, Arizona and in several colleges and seminaries in other states. She also spent thirteen years at a publishing company writing curriculum for churches. In "retirement" she wrote for the homeschool movement. Her degrees are A.B. from Seattle Pacific University, M.A.Ed. and Ed.D. from Arizona State University.

Reviews

[Brian Koser]

Good primer on K-3 math instruction. Mostly not new to me, but helpful if you're just starting math instruction: avoid testing if possible (although you can test to find gaps or build confidence), definitely don't teach to a test, embrace the advantages instead of trying to make homeschooling like institutional schooling, use real life to teach math: games, kitchen, shopping trips, etc.

New to me was the three modes of math thinking:

1. Manipulative
- Physical manipulation, like counting fingers or blocks
- Only mode until age 6 or 7
- Greatest source of math anxiety is an underdeveloped ability at doing manipulative math

2. Mental Image
- Mental manipulation, like counting blocks in your head
- Develops as child uses physical manipulatives
- Eventually it will be too slow to count on their fingers, and they will realize they can do it faster in their head

3. Abstract
- Abstract manipulation, like 2 + 2 without picturing "2" of anything
- Piaget says abstract thinking doesn't develop until age 12
- Delay teaching symbols until child is ready

I've read that claim that children don't develop abstract thinking until 12. Obviously a younger child can solve 2 + 2, but maybe they're doing mental manipulation or memorizing without understanding? But children do all sorts of abstract thinking before 12, like reading or using a calendar or a telling time on a clock. Is that kind of abstract thinking somehow different than abstract math?

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is more a pamphlet than a book, but highly useful for anyone planning math curriculum for the K-3 range, especially if they want to avoid instilling the student with “math anxiety.”

[M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Must have for every homeschooling family.