ABOUT
Learn What Zone Proxima Math Offers Your Child and You
Watch a five-year-old and her mother during Zone Proxima Math lessons. This child-parent dyad attended one-on-one classes conducted using Zoom.
Mom attended a one-on-one class each week. She downloaded content and prepared class materials (e.g., printing). During her class, Mom learned the week's instruction: pedagogy, curriculum, and materials.
Mom and daughter attended a class together, later in the week. Mom and her Zone Proxima mentor guided the child through
Behavioral expectations.
Review of previous week's materials.
A new challenge.
A journal reflection covering the lesson.
Long-lasting Effects of Zone Proxima Math: Two Years Later
From the Child's Perspective
“I love math.”
“When can I do math with Zone Proxima again?”
“I think if math ever gets hard at school, I know if I practice I can do it.”
“I like math because it is something I can do, and I can figure out math equations. That’s what I like about math.”
From the Mother's Perspective
I am the Head of School for GreenSong Forest School (https://en-gb.facebook.com/NatureForOurClassroom), an entirely outdoor education program that is distinguished by its commitment to 100% outdoor nature immersion, interest-led flow learning, inquiry-based teaching style, and an emphasis on authentic play. Therefore, when I selected educational experiences for my own young children (ages 4-6), I searched for instruction designed to lay a foundation for academic success while
stimulating a child’s innate curiosity,
encouraging children to learn through direct experience,
emphasizing creativity and imagination, and
leading a child to explore in a way that grows lifelong, enthusiastic learners.
I am so grateful my children and I pilot-tested the Zone Proxima Math program between January and September, 2021.
During online Zoom sessions conducted twice a week, Zone Proxima Math taught me to guide my children’s discovery of fundamental mathematics through concrete math challenges using Cuisenaire Rods, progressive Gattegno tasks, and other resources designed by Zone Proxima. As a result, my children are very interested in their study of mathematics.
They now formally attend a Waldorf school. After a full school day, they come home and beg me, “Can I do math?” They also say:
“I love math.”
“When can I do math with Zone Proxima again?”
“I think if math ever gets hard at school, I know if I practice I can do it.”
“I like math because it is something I can do, and I can figure out math equations. That’s what I like about math.”
Come summer, my children will return to Zone Proxima math.
Zone Proxima Math developed my children’s tenacity, motivation, and self-efficacy for engaging and succeeding with challenging mathematics. My children learned the meaning of math fundamentals: of numbers, of how numbers combine and decompose, of multiples and factors, and of terminology like “equation.” They learned how to engage in algebraic thinking and processes. They now CHOOSE to engage with mathematics during their discretionary time. My daughter actually says, “I am good at math.”
Zone Proxima’s master teachers role model how to guide, recognize, and optimize growth mindsets in our children. They provide invaluable mentorship, coaching parents to be their child’s earliest math teacher. Because of the activities I did with my children during Zone Proxima Math, I now also incorporate foundational math concepts during my GreenSong class sessions. My students learn to look for numbers in nature. Math is all around us!
-Brygn Ellwanger