I'VE ALREADY WRITTEN THIS REPLY PREVIOUSLY ON THIS SAME THREAD - and I think it's worth repeating, regarding math "curriculum" for a 4.5-yo child. I've also added a couple new items at the bottom:
Here are my suggestions about activities (NOT curriculum) for a 4.5-yo:
1. If your child will "respond" better, make any of the following activities be "a school lesson" - I've included math-justifiable topics in parentheses for each of the following. Make it fun and informal.
2. Cooking and baking (fractions; dimensional analysis - volume, quantity, weight): baking in particular is good for "math you can eat" (!!!!!) - it's great to show that 3/4 cup is 3 of the 1/4 cups, or that 3/4 of a cup is 3 of the 4 equal parts of the stick of butter, etc. Temperature also comes into play.
3. Anything with a tape measure (fractions, number sense, mixed numbers): particularly working with wood, and sewing.
4. Skip count songs (number sense; pre-multiplication; FUN-FUN-FUN): go to my website (
www.AlgebraForKids.com) and check out the skip count song CD's there.
5. Lots of enrichment and math games (number sense; counting; addition; sometimes place value; spatial sense for some games): You can also check my website for math games - both computational games as well as problem-solving/spatial games, too.
6. Walks around the block (spatial sense, units of measurement, estimation): count your steps; bring in a directional compass; make maps of the neighborhood on graph paper.
7. With the skip count songs, practice and use this skill in everyday situations - count things in groups - "3, 6, 9, 12, 15 - that's 15 pencils" - "2, 4, 6, 8, 10 - that's 10 vans in the parking lot" - "8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48 - that's 48 chairs in all these rows" - etc.
8. Ask your child, "Which numbers that are on the 4's chorus for skip counting are also on the 6's chorus?"
9. Also ask, "The number 12: which skip count choruses is that number on? [It's on the chorus for the 2's, the 3's, the 4's, not the 5's, the 6's, and the 12's (if there were a 12's song!). How about the number 16? Or the number 18?" etc.
Remember to introduce every activity as "this is a lesson just for you!" - that should help. Have fun. Let kids be kids - but enrich them with fun activities like this.
all the best,
Bob Hazen