A is for Arithmetic

A- A is for Arithmetic.

Basic math. I'm a math geek, but in my mom years I've become a huge alternative math education advocate. I subscribe to the ideas put out by those wacky Math Circle folks and truly believe that all kids can adore math, if they see it as play and building and not as drudgery.

I work with third grade kids once a week to give them enrichment (these are the kids who are well done with the curriculum) and we are having a blast. Origami, challenges, puzzles, Suduko and just exposing them to all kinds of ideas (means, geometry, algebra). It is a math circus in there and we are free from assessments and rules. It is heaven.

Here's the connection with writing. One thing I tell the kids again and again is that not only is it OK to fail, but I hope they do fail. Perfectionism has derailed many a promising mathematician (especially girls). So I try to find things that challenge them, so that they can understand what it is to pick themselves up, rethink a problem and try again. To anyone who has tried to write something and failed (ahem, speaking for myself, I've been there a lot), that is GREAT. It is from failure we learn and can rethink, making something new, and potential wonderful (potential disastrous too - but that is life). Write on, and revel in that failure!