Did you have math anxiety as a child? Do you still have it? If so, the fears you have may rub off on your children. The best way to overcome these fears is to show your children math in everyday life. If math skills are introduced in a stress-free environment it goes a long way in helping your child to be more comfortable with using and learning more math.
Kitchen Math
Get out those measuring spoons and have your kids measure ingredients for cookie or cake baking. It’s amazing how much math you can demonstrate with a recipe or containers of flour and sugar. Have them think about how they would double or triple a recipe for fraction fun.
Encourage Your Kids to Solve Problems
Do you need to buy tiles to fill a wall? How about soil to plant a garden? How much money do you need to save to go on vacation? All these questions require math skills. Ask your kids to help you solve these problems and encourage them to solve problems on their own. If they see problem solving as a challenging and fun activity, they’ll be less afraid to tackle difficult math problems.
Play Games
Board games and puzzles encourage logical thinking. Look for games that teach specific math and science skills to help your child learn as he’s playing. Even a simple deck of cards can be used to teach arithmetic and algebra skills. The side benefit is that kids associate games with fun. Learning math shouldn’t be a chore. Learning math helps you win in games and in life!
Future Careers
Every future career will require some level of math skill. Find out what aspirations your child has. Does your child want to be a nurse or a doctor? Talk about how prescriptions or heart rates are measured. Does he or she want to be an architect? Talk about how geometry is used to create plans for buildings. Does he or she want to be an artist? Talk about how today’s artists use software programs to create vector art.
Be a Data Detective
Many of tomorrow’s careers will depend on data analysis. Online media stories provide a wealth of statistics to talk about. Print out graphs, charts, and infographics and discuss them with your child. Give him or her a project to determine the average rainfall in your city. Go outdoors and investigate how many insects live in a square foot of the backyard. There are math opportunities around every corner. Share them with your child and you can overcome your math anxiety too!
Try these tips in your home and see if you and your child feel more comfortable with math and more ready, willing, and able to tackle math problems.
Also check out this FREE online course from one of the great math teachers of our time, Jo Boaler.
https://lagunita.stanford.edu/courses/Education/EDUC115-S/Spring2014/about
It will open your eyes to ideas and research that can have a huge impact on how your child learns math!
If you can use additional help getting your child to make sense of math, call Mathnasium of Littleton to schedule a FREE diagnostic math assessment. We can find the learning gaps that are preventing your child from succeeding with and learning to love math! Call us today at 303-979-9077.
