Member-only story
Never give your child her first lesson in fractions from a book. It is far too confusing! Instead, bake a cake.
You accomplish a couple of things by teaching fractions this way. Let’s call your daughter “Sal” for simplicity’s sake.
You see, it’s easy for Sal to grasp the concept of “less than the whole” while happily measuring the ingredients to a cake she will soon eat and, second, the happy feeling about the delicious cake she will soon eat transfers into a positive association with fractions.
You are also spared the moans and groans of a child who feels frustrated because she’s struggling to imagine the “pie” in her mind, which will make teaching fractions less frustrating for you too.
Furthermore, learning in a happily excited state and involving multiple senses such as seeing, smelling, and touching is like pouring information directly into the child’s brain rather than fighting to get it in there.
One of the surest ways to recognize real education is by the fact that it doesn’t cost very much, doesn’t depend on expensive toys or gadgets. The experiences that produce it and the self-awareness that propels it are nearly free.
— John Taylor Gatto
