When our son, Chris, was 5 years old, he eagerly looked forward to Kindergarten, so he would be "going to school", as did his older brother, Tim.

But misfortune intervened. The woman who was to take the Kindergarten Class left her husband and went away. It was announced that there would be no Kindergarten at our Campus School, Inter American U., San Germán, Puerto Rico.

Rapidly, Chris changed from happy child to a child cranky, hysteric, nightmarish in sleep, fighting with brother and parents. He locked himself in his room, where he had secreted his brother's books -- trying to teach himself to read, write, & calculate -- aping Tarzan in the Jungle. Chris became distraught at his own incompetence.

Then good fortune intervened. I returned with the morning mail while Chris was sitting glumly before a bowl of cereal. The mail included a package of The Sets and Numbers Series, prepared by mathematician, Patrick Suppes and an educator, illustrated by drawings of animals, children, flowers, trees. And, I said to wife Esther, "Here's the book for Kindergarten children."

The cereal bowl flew in the air as Chris ran to me in tears. "Daddy! Daddy! Teach me!"

Before coming home that afternoon, I procured a box of stencils, for Chris to shape letters and numerals. We began class that evening.

Chris' behavior changed "overnight" and he completed the "Kindergarten" book in 3 sessions, scawling an "X" for the correct "multiple choice". The book covered context of a set, equal sets, union of sets, intersection of sets. (The famed "cognitive" psychologist, Jean Piaget, claimed that children could not understand this until 8 years old. More this below.)

Chris became upset when the book was completed. So I allowed him to start the "First Grade" Book; then the "Second Grade" Book. Not only did this entail counting, adding, and subtracting, but such problems as "Color the convex shapes red and the concave shapes blue". Chris would insist on doing about 100 problems a night -- rarely making one error -- scrawling with his stencils. Then he would happily take his bath, don his pajamas, and go to sleep quickly without nightmares.

But, during this, a significant event happened. That evening we couldn't find the stencils -- looked "high and low". I advised waiting till the morrow, when I could procure more stencils. But Chris begged to try without them. But he soon became so frustrated trying to shape, unaided, the latters and numbers that he committed 10 errors in a row. Chris had, by now, completed several hundred problems -- with never two errors a night. I interrupted the session to make another search. I found the stencils under the couch where one of cats must have chased them. Aided by his trusty stencils, Chris then correctly did 100 problems.

When he completed "The Second Grade" book, I was afraid of more trouble. But Chris found his own "solution".

Across the street lived two little girls, Maria Linda (5) and Paquita (3). Their mother was a Gautomalen soprano with our music department. Chris showed them his books. And they, too, wished to learn. We had two blank copies of the "Kindergarten" book and Chris taught them. Maria Linda completed the book in a week (of shorter sessions) and Paquita in 10 days. (Eat your heart out, Piagetphiles!)