by Margaret Etherton, co-author of Learning Maths Naturally

"You make me eat millions of noodles, sixteen pieces of meat and twelve celeries."

My son made this mathematical statement at the ripe age of four years! Some of his other remarks were similarly challenging and mathematical:

While his grammar is not perfect and his maths is exaggerated these statements demonstrate a beginning awareness of such concepts as reasoning, shapes, spatial relations, time, the comparison of size, volume ane weight, and ordering of numbers.

In exploring his understanding of the world my son was using the language he has heard from others and beginning to construct his own version of mathematical concepts.

This is important aspect of a child's language development can be recognised, used and encouraged by the home-schooling parent to develop mathematical comprehension.

The more language children are exposed to the better they will be able to understand the Maths used in the world. They need good models of mathematical language to think mathematically and to be able to later do symbolic 'pen and paper' Maths. If you hear your child using mathematical expressions, even if they are nonsensical or ungrammatical, recognise them and reflect back what the child is trying to express.

By encouraging children to use mathematical language in appropriate situations the maths becomes real, relevant and meaningful to them.

Examples of reflective mathematical language:

• "Do you want to measure how long my arm is? What can we use to find out?"
• "The bell goes in five minutes. You're not late yet!"
• "Will the drink fit into this glass or not?"
• "You've grown three centimetres since last time we measured."
• "We put the butter on first, the vegemite goes on second, third comes the sprouts. Now we can eat it!"
• "There are three candles because you are three."
• "It's hot today - 29 degrees Celsius."
• "$159 is way too expensive to spend on a toy!"