Ia got homework from nursery today, and they have been doing calculations on paper using the plus sign and numerals only. I was rather surprised about this. Do the children have enough understanding of the underlying process of addition to introduce the plus sign? I asked Ia about it, and she didn't know what it meant. I wouldn't expect her to, I prefer to delay the introduction of formal notation until loads of practical adding has been done. Otherwise I think they just end up memorising the calculations without understanding the process. Anyway, maybe I'll mention it to them.
As my friend was picking Ia up and receiving the homework sheets she overheard another mother remarking, on receipt of her child's worksheet, "Does she recognise the numbers?". My friend was shocked, the mother is asking this about her own child? I suppose for us home educators the idea of not knowing this about our child is like not knowing about our child's food preferences or favourite toy.
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