Phoenix (pictured) had a great Horse Boy Learning playdate yesterday. Below his Mom describes in her own words their experience…
“I’m lying in bed a little freaked out right now. We went out to Horse Boy again tonight. Phoenix did great and went right to the horse and rode two times, which is way more than last time. The people were really focusing on numbers and counting and addition as he rode around. I don’t know if they did that on purpose, or if they were just making conversation by counting toys and people as they walked… but just small numbers up to 5 or so. I didn’t think much of it, but tonight as Phoenix was going to sleep, I heard him whispering to himself “9&1, 9&1, 9&1 is 10… 16. 16 is 9 & 7″ I’ve never even heard him count past 10, much less add anything at all. I can’t wrap my head around how crazy this is… he’s 3. Maybe it’s late and I’m making a bigger deal out of this than it is. I’m still freaked out by it though.”
FYI everything we do at our playdates is on purpose. The girls were using a technique that we have developed called ‘drop it, do it, confirm it’ where by we present the kids with information in a fun, no pressure way (often by turning it into a game) and allowing them to be as involved as they want. We have been using this technique with Rowan for years and have found that if we do this he will always take the information on board and show us (confirm) in his own time that he has understood. Doesn’t always happen so quickly as it did with Phoenix but it always happens as long as you don’t put undue pressure on the child by testing them.
