My 4 year old son is always around his 5 year old sister. He wants to do everything she is doing and that means at times, he is learning math and reading right along with her. In kindergarten, there is a surprisingly high amount of homework and activities that my daughter needs to do, so my son is right there observing and learning as well.

My wife ended up buying extra math workbooks so our daughter could get some extra practice, but our son ended up taking them because he wanted to complete them by himself. He apparently loves math and has already done one of the easier workbooks that required tracing numbers and letters while solving some simple puzzles. He took a second workbook and was about halfway through it. It was laying on the counter where we eat and after dinner one night, I was downstairs with him cleaning up while he saw the workbook.

He wanted me to stop what I was doing and help him with the harder math problems. I didn’t mind because if it’s between cleaning or hanging out with the kids, I’d rather do the latter any day (actually not exactly any day since sometimes they are cranky). We sat there and worked through a bunch of pages that required counting, tracing, basic addition/subtraction, large vs. small numbers, and some “algebra” (where he needed to figure out what the blank space in an equation was). I can’t imagine myself doing this as a 4 year old, but my son was here trying his best and getting most of it right. What I was most proud of was when he didn’t get things right, he let me teach him and actually listened. There wasn’t an attitude or him giving up - he just sat there and absorbed what I was saying so he could apply the learning to the problem in front of him.

After going through a chunk of the workbook, it was time to head upstairs to finish up the nightly routine. While my wife wasn’t particularly happy with the slight mess in the kitchen, she was happy that I spent some time with our son walking through those math problems. I’m glad we had that moment and I hope he continues to be a persistent learner.