Flash Card Method
(11 Votes)
Teaching your baby math using the flash card method takes as little as 30 seconds per day. If you want to use hard-copy flash cards, they are not as easy to make as word cards, so you would be wise to invest some money in buying a set. Otherwise, you can stick the dots to cards yourself (you will need the cards for 0 to 100), but prepare to spend considerable time on preparation of materials if you do so.
If the time or money involved in using physical flash cards is off-putting, you might consider using virtual cards, which can be flashed up on the computer. You can make the cards using a program such as PowerPoint, or buy a purpose-built software package. You won't need to make, buy or store any cards, and as an added advantage, you'll also be able to put together equations instantaneously. Rapid flashing is also easier using a computer (no more fumbling!).
Once you have the cards ready, it is easiest to follow the Glenn Doman method. The Makoto Shichida program lasts for 65 days, and if not done as prescribed, is supposed to be restarted from the beginning. Lessons become increasingly long, as new cards are added without the old ones being removed. Details of the program can only be obtained by attending a course at a Shichida school in Japan, Malaysia or Singapore.
The Doman method is less rigorous, and program details are readily available through the How To Teach Your Baby Math book and DVD. You will need to flash 10 cards to your baby, three times per day. As it takes less than one second to flash a card (the faster, the better), the entire day's lessons will take around half a minute!
Each day you will replace two old cards with two new ones. The cards will need to be shuffled before every lesson. Once you have reached somewhere around the 30 or 40 mark, you can begin introducing equations involving addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. At first, you may want to show your baby the dots on both sides of the equation
– e.g. 60 (flash "60" card) + 15 (flash "15" card) = 75 (flash "75" card). Later, it will be sufficient to show just the solution
– i.e. 60 + 15 = 75 (flash "75" card only).
Doman does not prescribe when exactly to move on to successive stages of teaching, so whenever you feel comfortable, you can move on from two-part (e.g. 60 + 15) to three-part (e.g. 60 - 15 - 5), and from three-part to four-part (60 x 15 x 5 x 12) equations, as well as equations involving multiple functions (e.g. 60 + 15 - 5 x 12). You can also feel free to start showing cards with numerical symbols ("1," "9," etc.) instead of dots.
Incredibly, children taught in this way can often perform lengthy equations involving relatively large quantities, such as would require most adults to use a calculator. Being able to perceive quantity is what makes all the difference.
Glenn Doman describes this ability as being akin to "speaking the language" of mathematics. He points out that it is far more complicated to speak a language such as English than it is to solve a mathematical equation – the ability of computers to perform these respective functions proves this. Adults cannot be taught to perceive quantity, but by training your child to retain this natural ability from babyhood, you can give her the gift of speaking the language of math for the rest of her life.
