Challenges

Stay tuned for new posts in the new year. I have joined twitter but I need to update my account. Sometimes I feel like the more we try to simplify life, the more complicated it becomes.*Sigh*

This idea would be perfect on twitter - We need to start challenging the children earlier to solve problems. I am going to try to give my daughter who is in grade school the chance to solve a problem that takes longer than a day to figure out. When she experiences the joy of figuring it out she will know that any high school question should be a cinch.

Creating a Creative Child Part 2

I got this from a newsletter I receive from Quality Care for Children.


Foster Your Child’s Creativity!

Children are naturally creative. You can help them maintain and expand this creativity into adulthood.

There is a strong correlation between stress and creativity. The more stressed you or your child are the more difficult it is for you to solve problems. When you are relaxed, you can see creative solutions to problems you are facing.

Creativity improves your child’s self-esteem, motivation and achievement. When you encourage your child to think creatively and independently, your child is likely to become interested in discovering things open to new ideas eager to work with others to explore ideas willing to work beyond lesson time at school to pursue an idea or finish an activity As a result, their pace of learning, levels of achievement and self-esteem increase.

When you encourage creativity in your child, you are also helping your child become more resourceful. Resourceful children:

--have the ability to meet challenges in a variety of ways
--learn to trust their instincts and unique abilities
--acquire a positive attitude toward problem solving
--tap into the joys life has to offer

Children need responsive adults willing to nurture and stimulate their creativity. If you encourage your child to be creative, you bestow a gift money cannot buy.

What To Do to Encourage Creativity:

Encourage curiosity and seeking answers. Respond to your child's questions by saying, "I don't know. How could we find the answer?"

Don't stifle and numb creativity with too many manufactured toys. Resist buying your child every accessory marketed with the latest movie. Let your child stretch his or her imagination by finding dress and play props.

Value varying ideas and opinions. Encourage brainstorming by saying: "Well, that sure is one way of looking at it," or "What a GOOD idea, I've never thought of that before.”

Encourage exploration. Make specific, motivating comments, such as: "How interesting; you created a secret passage-way with the blocks."

Stimulate imaginative, independent thought by posing questions. In projects, avoid telling your child exactly what to do. For instance, when you are working together to make a bird feeder say, "I wonder what would hold the cracked corn and sunflower seeds?"

Resist perfectionism. Don't take over your child's project because you can do it better or faster. (Of course, you can!) Respect the learning process that takes place while a project is made.

Encourage humor. Humor helps your child take joy in his or her creative intelligence. Laugh together often.

Facilitate play; do not dictate it. Your child gets a big boost from your getting on the floor to play. During play follow your child's lead.

Play make-believe games. Pretend that you are a monkey. Or pretend to be machines like a lawn mower, popcorn popper or leaf blower!

Provide a safe place where your child can explore a variety of art materials and be messy. Offer recyclables such as paper and cardboard with crayons, chalk, markers, glue, stickers, finger-paint, clay etc.

Make homemade instruments and put on a concert. Be accepting of all compositions.

Make room for movement so your spirited child can show off grace and energy.

Change the endings of well-known stories. "What is another way The Three Little Pigs could end?"

Unfortunately, “creativity killers” are commonplace in our schools and homes.

Hovering over your child: Your child’s risk-taking and creativity will go underground and hide.

Evaluating every activity: Your child will ignore the satisfaction with his or her own accomplishments.

Rewarding every action: The excessive use of prizes deprives your child of the intrinsic pleasure of creative activity.

Competing: Putting your child in a win-lose situation, where only one person can come out on top discourages creativity.

Over-controlling: Constantly telling your child how to do things leaves your child feeling like originality is a mistake and any exploration a waste of time.
Restricting choice: Telling your child which activities to engage in limits curiosity and can diminish creative passion

Pressuring: Huge expectations for your child's performance can instill negative feelings for the subject or activity.

Make some time this week to explore a creative project with your child and just have fun!

For more information, see: 20 Ways to Encourage Children's Resourcefulness and Creativity by Karen Stephens and Creativity Killers: Discouraging Creativity in Children by Leslie Owen Wilson

Dreams Part I

I have been remembering some of my childhood dreams. I just need to reminisce. When I was younger, Chinese and Korean children would go to Saturday school. Why can't African Americans have Saturday school too? What do you think?

Families are the First Teachers

I just finished reading the chapter Families, the First Teachers of Claudia Zaslavsky's book "Fear of Math." The main point that I agree with very much is, do not let your children know you have any apprehension of math! Now maybe if you have a story about overcoming math fears that is great. Or you admit there is a lot you don't know but you want to learn it along with the child, okay too. But please, please, please don't say things like 'I never did well in math kid you're on your own.' If you can calculate fractions and percentages when you are at the store this is great. If you are good at art and drawing geometrical figures, great! How about doing simple math in your head, even better! Zaslavsky attributes her math know-how to working in her parents' clothing store. She loved to manage the store by herself. These types of things give children the confidence they need to succeed.

Side note: We went to see the movie, "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" this past weekend. It is very different from the book and I have a spoiler here. So if you have not seen the movie you may not want to read this part. A young scientist whose town and father do not understand him tries to create inventions. One invention turns water into food, hence the movie title. The machine, that is placed in the sky, goes haywire. The scientist saves the 'killcode' to a flashdrive and flies up to save the world. But he loses the flashdrive. He calls his father and asks his dad to go to his lab that his dad has never entered, get on his computer, and email the code to his cell phone. Of course his dad is dumbfounded. How many of us would be dumbfounded or know someone who would be? Of course the world would not be about to end if we didn't do anything.

Magic Squares for Kids

I'm in love with magic squares. I wish I had done more of these as a child. I worked with my 6 year old daughter on an example problem from Claudia Zaslavsky's book 'Math Games & Activities from Around the World.' This problem involves two imaginary young boys in West Africa. One boy, Ahmed, is challenged by another boy to play. His game board is a square divided up into nine boxes. He has 45 pieces to play. He can place 1-9 pieces in each box but can not play a number more than once. Each row and column must add up to 15.

Have your child finish it.

Sudoku for Kids

My 6-year old daughter can do a Sudoku puzzle! I was so proud. Okay, it was one with shapes and not numbers. Okay, it was only a 4x4. But she did it!

Anyway while she was working on it she asked if I was just preparing her for something they would learn in school. But this is actually more than school. I told her it is a brain exercise. Just like we must exercise to keep our body in shape, we also must exercise to keep our brains in shape. Toddlers will be working out their brains with floor puzzles. School-aged children can start working on easy Sudoku puzzles and crossword puzzles, even riddles. Just do an internet search for 'sudoku for kids' and you will find some for all levels. Puzzle on!

Is Your Child Ready?

I recently read an article that contained the usually statistics on African American children. On average AA children are taught differently than Caucasion, they also score lower on tests. The language used at home may not necessarily be words that you may see on the SAT, etc., etc.

One way that we really can prepare our children is to make sure our children are computer savvy. Teachers and Parents: You may not be comfortable with using the computer but your children will be and need to be. And it shouldn't just be for fun. The computer is a tool and it can be used or abused. Technology is morphing rapidly at a rate that most can not understand. Let's not be left behind yet again.

Younger Children - Should know how to use a mouse and type a few words in MS Word.
Mid-Age Children - Should know how to type at a steady speed and know a little bit of computer programming. The majority of their research should still come from books. They are still at a vulnerable age where they have no basis for the information they receive. If they receive false information they will not know how to verify it.
Older Children - Should be computer novices and even know how to fix computer problems(this will save them a lot of money in the future). They should also know how to research using the internet and know how to verify the information.

Remember, computers are very important in the math world. Keep it up and have fun!