Math Literacy: Birth to Beyond

Raise your hand if you have “Math Trauma”. You may not even know you have it. Math trauma is anxiety , or avoidance, around using math skills in regular life, teaching math to children, or being asked to perform mathematical tasks in the workplace and avoiding these tasks or delegating to colleagues due to fear of failure.

Math trauma can be caused by being embarrassed at school after being called out and not knowing the correct answer or not knowing how to solve the problem. Traditional school, and well meaning homeschooling parents, can cause math trauma by creating pressure to perform through flash cards, timed tests, or frequent drills. In fact, when a child fails to perform frequently, they may accept the belief that they’re just not a “math person” as if math is something we’re either born with- or not.

My name is Chelsea and I struggle with Math Trauma. (group responds in unison, “Hello Chelsea”) I feel seen.

Children learn through stories and play.

When I taught public school K-3, I did what every Math Neophyte does- I avoided it entirely! I waited for my colleagues to send me books, slideshows, lesson plans and worksheets to give to the students. Rather than solve the problems myself, I used the teacher’s guide in the back of the book to grade student work. I genuinely believed I was not capable of doing math.

But, in founding an elementary school called “Epoch” in Bozeman, Montana a few years back and being gifted the opportunity to teach the children however I wanted, and using Waldorf pedagogy, not only did I succeed in teaching math, but nearly all of my students were outperforming same aged peers when they left my program!

Birth-4y: Einstein tell us that babies are born with more neurons in the brain than there are stars in the galaxy. It is the parent’s job to excite these neurons through rich, sensory experiences to bridge the gaps and strengthen neural pathways, thus readying the brain for more abstract concepts later in life. How do we do this?

• Music: music together classes, listening to music with complex instrumentation and harmonization (Jazz, classical, African, Reggae, tribal, piano, violin, opera), singing

• Language: reading poetry and rhyming books to baby, talking to your baby/toddler often, foreign language exposure, singing seasonal songs, attending community plays

• Play: watercoloring, free play, hiking, dancing, swimming, building with blocks, ball play, jumping, swinging, play-doh or clay modeling, coloring

• 
  

SCHOOL AGE: The K-5 curriculum can be taught in its entirety around the age of 8-10 in around forty-fifty hours of instruction time and math literacy achieved. It is a fallacy that kids will "fall behind" if math curriculums are not followed by grade level. This should help relieve some pressure from the homeschooling mother attempting to teach each grade skill as a part of daily rhythm. Much of math is learned almost by osmosis through daily life. A young child can learn math through…

• Counting together or finger play songs (Ten Little Indians, 5 Little Speckled Frogs), playing an instrument

• Cooking and baking together

• Gardening (measuring, planning, documenting growth)

• Shopping with parents, lemonade stands, allowance/savings

• Cross-stitching, sewing, knitting, crochet

• Keeping a calendar

• Using a watch/clock, estimating time for daily activities

  
  

In Waldorf, “Quality of Numbers” comes first. For example, what is 1 and why is 1 important? There is one sun, one of YOU, one horn on a unicorn, one piece of bread left, etc. One can mean scarcity as much as it can be priceless and abundant such as one rainbow or one Uno card left. Zero can mean nothing, but six zeroes means quite a large amount. When children understand the value of numbers and how math applies to their daily lives, they begin to express interest in learning more and are more often deeply engaged with the material!

It’s best when all four math operations are taught at once through stories and acting out the concepts with manipulative, or real life tools. For example, Prince Plus may gather two stones and then three stones for a total of five stones. He is gifted seven more for a total of twelve. Princess Divide comes to gather the large group of twelve stones with the intention of sharing them equally among four friends. You can see how this plays out. Each operation has a name, a color and a role to perform for King Equal. “King Equal is aways fair, he sees the same everywhere”.

• Pinterest: “Waldorf math” chalkboard art imagery

• Drawing pictures of math stories and writing out equations

• Singapore Math workbooks

• Exploring with Tanagrams, Geometry, form drawing, symmetry in art

• Making Math Meaningful by Jamie York

• Ten point star multiplication wheels (Waldorf stores)

• Multiplication Songs (Waldorf CD available through Etsy)

• Hopscotch, jump rope, pattern play (Active Arithmetic)

  
  

In sum, math is not to be skipped! Math is crucial for brain development, confidence and creating a sense of mastery, but math does not need to be stressful and it should not be rushed. Math is a skill that CAN be learned and should be given ample time to develop.

Teaching math the way it’s done in traditional schools is not only inefficient, and stressful, it’s also counterproductive. Children can learn math quickly when we allow time for the brain to develop FIRST before pushing abstract concepts so take your time. Do NOT force math or you might unwittingly cause math trauma! (insert dramatic music here). Good luck!