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Russian School of Mathematics

Discussion in 'Schoolgoers & Teens' started by butterflyice, Mar 21, 2015.

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  1. Mar 24, 2015 #11
    butterflyice

    butterflyice Local Champion Staff Member Platinum IL'ite

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    Thanks for the practical suggestion Laks09! Never occured to me. Its a great idea. WIll ask around and try to get question papers.

    THis program is pretty new to the are, not many people are aware of it. THe centre is a pretty far drive. Recently another parent has been trying to get the centre to an area closer home if 6 people signed up. Hence the appeal of the program :)

    I don't teach much math in the formal sense. DS has no time or energy to sit through worksheets after school. He would rather be running around with other boys or play with legos or read. I let him be. Sometimes a doubt creeps up if I am doing enough for him as the school math doesnt do a good job of reinforcement.

    Like you said elementary math is pretty straightforward. But then again I need some sort of a reference to teach. I am unable to explain in alternative methods if he doesnt get it.I can think of diffferent ways to explain how the body works or how the economy works but math I need help.

    Is chinese math teaching math with an abacus? Apparently there is Japanese math too :) I am waiting for Finland/Sweden math given media's obsession with their education system :)
     
    butterflyice, Mar 24, 2015
    butterflyice, Mar 24, 2015
    #11
  2. Mar 24, 2015 #12
    butterflyice

    butterflyice Local Champion Staff Member Platinum IL'ite

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    The person I spoke to over the phone did have an accent. I was actually happy that a Russian is going to teach my child math !!!

    How do you find out which center is best? There are not many people I know that are doing the course.
     
    butterflyice, Mar 24, 2015
    butterflyice, Mar 24, 2015
    #12
  3. Mar 24, 2015 #13
    Laks09

    Laks09 Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    As long as he is ok in school I wouldn't worry about additional academics. Regarding practical maths/science, I thought schools did a good job. At least, the ones that my DD is attending seems to be focusing on practical rather than theoretical knowledge.
    Im not a fan of Chinese math. They give so much of home work. Doing worksheet over worksheet is so boring. I can't do it. So I don't expect my kids to do it.

    If you intend to teach him the whys of mathematics make sure that's what the class is offering. There were those fun classes in India that DD attended in summer. Those were the practical ones. @hrastro is taking a similar class for older kids. Maybe she can give you some tips. I just use Dr Google. Never ceases to give me practical and diagramatic examples of things I'm looking to teach. I'm impressed with her teachers in my DD's school and the district curriculum in general. They are doing a great job of making it practical and fun. Isn't he getting workbooks and printouts from school explaining the whys?

    Swedish/Finnish system is good because of their approach to education in general. They are known for their services. I wanted to move for the services that my son would get! I'm not sure it's a different way of teaching maths, it's just a better system is what I thought. I maybe wrong.

    If he is a Lego guy, I would try to incorporate that into his elementary math learning. It will be fun for him and it will make it a desirable activity. Lego building is good for analytical thinking skills. I'm trying to get my son to try blocks. No luck so far!
     
    Laks09, Mar 24, 2015
    Laks09, Mar 24, 2015
    #13
  4. Mar 25, 2015 #14
    hrastro

    hrastro Platinum IL'ite

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    Hi @butterflyice
    How old is your kid?
     
    hrastro, Mar 25, 2015
    hrastro, Mar 25, 2015
    #14
  5. Mar 25, 2015 #15
    butterflyice

    butterflyice Local Champion Staff Member Platinum IL'ite

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    Thanks for replying hrastro! One is 7 and the other 4. I am looking at the program for the 7 year old but the 4 year old is used to following him around and "copying" all that he does. :)
     
    butterflyice, Mar 25, 2015
    butterflyice, Mar 25, 2015
    #15
  6. Mar 25, 2015 #16
    jskls

    jskls IL Hall of Fame

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    You just need to visit the center talk to them and teachers (if they let you) and see if you and your child will be comfortable with their accent. If your elder one is just 7 then you could wait for couple more years...
     
    jskls, Mar 25, 2015
    jskls, Mar 25, 2015
    #16
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  7. Mar 25, 2015 #17
    hrastro

    hrastro Platinum IL'ite

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    The maximum you can teach a 7-8 year old in Maths is
    Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, Fractions and Multiplication tables and factors and multiples

    Do you really want to drive them miles to another location, pay through your nose and do worksheets for these topics? If yes, then you find value in it, there's nothing wrong ! I dont know about Russian or Singapore !

    I teach Vedic maths, but discourage kids below 5th class - I feel it is not necessary!

    On how to teach them maths (You mentioned you teach Science etc, so giving some ideas!)

    Do you have a pack of playing cards? Is he interested in lego toys? Or is he collecting some pokemon cards OR Uno cards? Or maybe several coins of the same denomination? Different coins ?

    Or just buy lots of colored candies or chocolates ;-)

    Your younger one can also learn these concepts !!!

    Give them these items and let them do addition, subtraction, multiplication and division - let them exchange, play games and learn these concepts.

    I'll give an example - Give them 12 items (cards/coins/legos)
    Tell them to DIVIDE it between the two of them - how many did each get? Now add a spiderman/ironman toy - divide between the 3 of them - how many did each get now?
    add a teddy bear and now divide by 4, then 5 - hey now there is 2 remaining - that's called the reminder and then among 6 persons!

    Teach them - when they divided between 2 persons, each got 6 and when they divided between 6 persons, each got 2 - then show them the 2 table and 6 table - oh here is 12 in both the tables :)

    Keep changing the number of items and the type of item for variety - here are 15 lego toys, now if I want two such sets, what will be the total number? What if I want 3?

    Keep increasing the numbers - you can easily work with hundreds with cards and lego toys or even combinations !!!

    Make them do the sum stepwise as the teacher taught them - let them first do it with the items and then let them do the exact same sum on a notebook using the steps - they'll be thrilled to get the correct answer (because they can now check the answer)

    They will slowly get the relationship between multiplication and division and reminder and quotient and dividend and divisor!!

    If you found this interesting, let me know, I'm working on some ideas for games for factors, multiples, area, perimeter, LCM, HCF, profit and loss, simple interest - all these concepts - till 6th and 7th std kids !

    Did you have any other concepts in mind?

    I would suggest one mind trick - remembering many unrelated items in a sequence - you could make a game out of it! Cut out different pictures of any objects - upto 50 - and display any random number of the pictures in some random order - after staring at the sequence for 1 minute, the child should tell all the pieces in the right order (I bet your younger one will be very good at this)

    E.g My son (6th std) was studying about Village Panchayats and their functions -
    they build roads, they build medical facilities, provide electricity, record birth and death, provide schools, provide sanitation, drinking water

    So I told him to imagine - a teacher (schools) is walking on the road (provide roads), and gets a shock at the electric pole (electricity), someone takes him to the hospital (medical facility) and there a baby is born and someone else dies (record of birth and death), this man wakes up and asks for water and then goes to toilet (water and sanitation)

    With this story, he doesnt forget any of the functions of the Panchayat :)
     
    hrastro, Mar 25, 2015
    hrastro, Mar 25, 2015
    #17
    5 people like this.
  8. Mar 25, 2015 #18
    hrastro

    hrastro Platinum IL'ite

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    I feel all these classes teach the HOW, never the WHY

    And when they come to school - they read a question, look for numbers and keywords and just APPLY a technique/formula - they dont SOLVE the problem

    Sorry @butterflyice for the disgression - this is a pet peeve of mine - the way maths is taught is just technique, methods and steps - when they are supposed to learn problem solving skills !

    For instance, most kids (and parents and teachers) read a HCF/LCM sum and look for the keywords (least/biggest) and announce that they are supposed to find the LCM/HCF and copy the numbers in the question and proceed to come up with a number as the answer !!
    They dont even read the complete question, let alone UNDERSTAND the problem statement !

    So, in higher classes, without addressing the basics, they get exponentially lesser capable of solving problems!
     
    hrastro, Mar 25, 2015
    hrastro, Mar 25, 2015
    #18
    3 people like this.
  9. Mar 25, 2015 #19
    hrastro

    hrastro Platinum IL'ite

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    @butterflyice
    Just saw that you had requested the title to be changed to "Maths for Gifted Child" - does that mean that your kids are gifted? What is the score? Can you share ?

    What is the purpose of this class from your perspective ? What do you want your kids to learn from this (or any other) class ?
     
    hrastro, Mar 25, 2015
    hrastro, Mar 25, 2015
    #19
  10. Mar 25, 2015 #20
    Shanvy

    Shanvy IL Hall of Fame

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    Shanvy, Mar 25, 2015
    Shanvy, Mar 25, 2015
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