Thu - October 30, 2003

Responding to Questions



Answer questions, show examples, and "play around" with ways to figure out answers together. Grab whatever "manipulatives" are at hand including coins, stones, toothpicks, gumdrops, torn up pieces of paper, cups or silverware, french fries, or anything else.

Know when to stop! If your child has lost interest, but you haven't, let them go and just continue on your own. Model persistence, don't insist on it.

It is okay if the child is "done" before he/she fully understands.
It is okay if a child pretends to understand or even if you think he/she has some misunderstanding.

There is no hurry - the same concept will come up again and the child can add to or modify his/her understanding.

What if you don't know the answer? What if you don't have even a clue about how to approach a question? Say -- "What an interesting question!! I'll need to think about it or maybe find somebody else who understands it better." Then, go look it up on "the Mathman's" website or email me or find someone else to help you think more clearly about it.

Posted at 02:08 PM     Read More  

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