You might call James McGhee, Jr. the father of the ‘Skip Count Kid.’

As a pre-school teacher in the mid-1980s, McGhee was learning to use some special materials designed to teach very young children mathematical concepts. He said another educator introduced the idea to use simple songs along with the materials to help the youngsters learn the concepts.

"I began to develop these songs and the children wanted more and more all the time," McGhee recalled. "Eventually, I developed a full booklet on skip counting and a musical tape of accompanying songs. Since my hobby is music, I wrote all the music and all the words, recorded the songs myself, and they’ve been selling all over the country since 1988."

The first book and tape was titled The Skip Count Kid. Its success sparked a second volume and tape called Bible Heroes, used primarily by students taking home-bound instruction. The books are teaching aids and tell the teacher how to use the skip count concept in conjunction with the accompanying music cassette tapes.

"Skip counting is the pre-cursor to memorizing multiplication tables," explained McGhee. "The concept is for kids to first learn the number patterns — 2, 4, 6, 8 or 3, 6, 9, 12 or 4, 8, 12, 16 — and they’ll get that pattern ingrained in their minds and learn the multiplication concept along with that. I lead up to the multiplication tables and make them really understandable, instead of just something that they have to learn by rote. The idea is to make learning math fun."

McGhee, 39, and his wife, Joyce, married for 14 years, have lived in Pinecrest for 11 years. They have two children, Andrew, 5, and Betty Alice, 2, and are members of the Temple Bet Breira congregation. McGhee came here from St. Petersburg at age 2, grew up in Miami and graduated Ransom-Everglades in 1978. He attended Trinity College in Connecticut, graduating in 1984.

McGhee spent his pre-school and early elementary years at the Alexander-Montessori School, 6050 SW 57 Ave., a school opened and owned by his father. After teaching for many years, McGhee is now an elementary school administrator for the Alexander School, whose elementary school campus is at 14850 SW 67 Ave. Another Alexander pre-school campus is located at 14400 Old Cutler Rd.

The Montessori tag, McGhee explained, is a method of teaching developed by Marie Montessori in the early 20th Century.

"The whole idea with Montessori is that you want a child to learn concepts, not just memorize," said McGhee. "Little kids are more attracted to learning when they can take charge of what they are learning. Instead of having experiments done just by the teacher, they can experiment with objects that are related to what they’re trying to learn.

"With the Montessori method of teaching, children can go to the shelf and take off materials for lessons they’ve been given; they can take their own initiative. Sometimes they do move themselves ahead faster than they might otherwise progress. The whole idea is to start with pre-schoolers because little children learn just by seeing, by imitation."

McGhee said his Skip Count Kid audio tapes are based on this same concept, to allow children more initiative and to move at their own pace.

As an education professional, McGhee sits on three different boards — the Dade Association of Academic Non-Public Schools, the Florida Kindergarten Council and is a board member and secretary of the National Independent Private School Association. He volunteers his time to help all three organizations plan their annual conventions and attends a minimum of three board meetings for each group over the course of a year.

"Our school’s motto is to learn to love to learn," said McGhee. "So, I try to always keep the idea of loving and learning as the most important things in life."