Here at Mathnasium of Belden Village in Canton, we have been setting monthly goals for the students to give them something specific to work toward. It is a new concept for us and there are a few kinks in our system, but so far it seems to be working. 

New Year's is a great time for anyone to set personal goals; here are a few math-oriented resolution ideas for 2020:

Math Goals for Students

     Resolve to ask at least one question per week in math class. Chances are if you have a question, other students have the same question and your teacher will be grateful for your participation.

     Do your math homework first thing, skipping over the more difficult problems to get help with later from your parents or your Mathnasium instructors.

     Read a book or watch a movie about math; see our blog posts on these subjects here.

     Always double-check your work and make sure your answer makes sense. This will help you avoid careless mistakes that can have a large impact on your overall score and thus, your confidence.

     Participate in a math club or math competition through your school or outside source.

    Play a fun math-oriented game on the weekends either with friends and family or solo, to brush up on your arithmetic, speed, and critical-thinking skills.

Math Goals for Parents

    Talk to your students about math in everyday life. Measurement skills can be taught while cooking or in the workshop. Use estimation skills while shopping and practice percentages and which item is the better buy. Discuss elapsed time while traveling or watching a movie or other activity. The possibilities are endless!

     Instead of concentrating on memorization of facts and algorithms, discuss concepts with your students. Instead of 25 ÷ 5, talk about how many fives there are in twenty-five; Discuss fractions as parts of a whole. Stop into Mathnasium and pick up a pamphlet on more of these concepts.

     Play math games with your kids. Some of our favorites are 24, Albert's Insomnia, Set, and Prime Climb.

     Encourage your child to draw pictures when working on word problems and to always double-check their work and make sure their answers make sense. Instead of telling them how to do the problem, ask them questions that build on their prior knowledge. This will help them see that what they already know is important at the next level, always. 

     Keep a positive attitude about math. Avoid saying things such as, "they are just not good at math and neither was I". Such statements set them up for failure. Whatever things they don't yet know are just learning opportunities for the future. At the end of the day, kids don't hate math; they hate being confused by math.

     Schedule a trial session at your local Mathnasium to help your students learn math the fun way that makes sense!

Goals for Our Center

      We strive to make our learning center stress-free environment where students can feel comfortable learning math concepts at their own pace and their own level. In 2020, we hope to instill in our students the desire to create their own math goals and provide them with incentives to help them do so.