I was at a math technology conference in Fall 2008, attended by professors, teachers, school administrators and tech coordinators.  Everyone was interested in what new software and hardware could be useful in their classrooms.  I was in a small slice of math geek paradise!

We were sitting down to lunch.  I already knew Dr. Richard Delaware (University of Missouri at Kansas City) and Carolyn Anderson (Park University, Parkville, Missouri).  Dr. Delaware was one of my husband Joe’s professors while he pursued his Masters in Statistics.  Carolyn Anderson is an Associate Professor and has referred students to us for years.  Both are excited about our kid’s calculus program and think kids ought to learn hard subjects.

We introduced ourselves to those we didn’t know and vice versa.  After I said who I was and what I did, “I’m the owner of Mathhead Tutoring.  I’m a math and calculus tutor and I teach calculus to kids 7-years-old and up”, the unnamed professor bellowed, “Why would anyone want to teach calculus to a 7-year-old!?!?!  I want Johnny to be able to do ’2+2 is 4. 4+4 is 8′!”.  (Cue record scratch).  Profs. Delaware, Anderson and I turned to look at him.  Everything stopped for exactly 2.3 seconds.  We couldn’t understand why he would be angry about someone else teaching calculus to kids.

After I saw the looks on Profs. Delaware and Anderson’s faces I got so tickled.  I tried not to laugh.  I imagined how my young students would react if he said that to them.  They would probably shrug their shoulders and go back to what they were doing.

I teach calculus to kids because I can, because they are smart enough to learn it, because it gives them confidence and alleviates their fears about math.  They love learning what the “big kids” are learning. The calculus gets them excited and they say to me,  ”Miss Lori, teach me THIS!!”  In the process they get to do lots of fractions and decimals.  They get to practice arithmetic without realizing it’s arithmetic and always come back for more.  What’s bad about that?  Nothing.  The kids and I are having a blast.  I know he’ll never have as much fun at his job as I do!  I won’t stop as long as I can see the looks of delight on their faces when they discover something new. ]]> http://mathheadinc.com/blog/2009/04/02/why-would-anyone-want-to-teach-calculus-to-a-7-year-old/feed/ 8 http://mathheadinc.com/blog/2009/03/30/mathheadinc-the-blog/ http://mathheadinc.com/blog/2009/03/30/mathheadinc-the-blog/#comments Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:13:23 +0000 lorimathhead http://mathheadinc.com/blog/?p=94 Welcome! It’s finally here! This is the first post of MathHead Inc, the more casual side of MathHead Tutoring.  We get a kick bragging about our students and sharing all things related to math.  We’ll try to make it fun and interesting, two words not usually associated with math, algebra, geometry and least of all calculus.  You may not love math after reading this blog but hopefully you won’t cringe everytime someone mentions the word.  Maybe you’ll start to see the world differently, as a mathematical place full of beautiful patterns.  There should be just enough information that we lead you to the thrill of discovering things on your own.

Here’s something to think about to get you started.  Have you ever thought about flowers being mathematical?  Have you noticed the clockwise and counter-clockwise spirals at the center of many of them?  Try counting the spirals in each direction.  Keep a notebook.  What patterns do you see? Count several of the same kind of flowers, like sunflowers and daisies.  Feel free to use the photo in this post until you grow your own.  The numbers you see will be related to this series of numbers:  1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, 987…  Send us your discoveries.

Now, just have fun!