No matter what kind of school year you are planning on your child going back to, they’re inevitably going to need school supplies. We want to give you a fun way to build a list WITH your kid (using math), and give you a fantastic resource to ensure you’re getting great discounts – all to help you start the school year off right!
- An important life skill | Helping them learn how to make a list ensures your child can plan and organize their thoughts effectively, while also helping with money management as they learn to find the best deals.
- Develop a sense for the true value of items | If kids don’t know how much something costs AND if they don’t have the opportunity to relate it to an everyday cost, they may not be able to fully understand the value of what’s in front of them. When kids can help create a list, they will not only be able to see how much their supplies cost, but also get a great perspective on the value of the items.
- Opportunity to practice their math! | What better way to get your kids’ practicing their math skills then by using them in an everyday way? They will likely not realize they’re doing math, but will get to see firsthand the real-life application of it! What’s really cool is that you can tailor the way in which they help you make the list to fit the appropriate level of math for your child. A few ideas for both younger and older students are outlined below, but the possibilities are endless:
- Younger students: Have them count how many items are on the list. For an added challenge, have them figure out how many more items it would take to get to 10, or 20. Still too easy? If they know there are 24 crayons in a box, but you are going to buy 3 boxes, how would they figure out how many total crayons they were getting? What about crayons + markers?
- Older students: Have them help you as you figure out which discounts are the best – such as comparing stores and quantities of items (don’t forget to consider shipping costs). Another idea is to have them help you figure out how much the total will be including tax – then have them be there to see how close the prediction was to the actual amount. Or, if this sounds too easy and you want to add a challenge… challenge them to a “List off”. Outline which supplies must be on the list and how many of each, then race each other to make a list whose total comes out the cheapest. Then, compare and see if you think the difference in price is worth the difference in “value” of items on the list.
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We also wanted to share a terrific resource that will provide some great discounts on supplies you already need.
- Krazy Coupon Lady
- This is a FREE app that alerts you when there are promotions running on your favorite brands or at your favorite stores. You select which stores or opportunities you want to be notified about and those are the notifications you will receive.
- Some of the notifications that I like to have “turned on” around Back to School time are: “Back to School”, “Amazon”, “Target”, “Walmart” and “Dollar Tree”. Although I am sure you’ll find many more that you’ll fall in love with and find useful!
We hope your return to school – no matter whether that’s at home and online or in-classroom – is as stress-free as possible!
If you ever need any math help, we are your local math enthusiasts!
Mathnasium of Littleton
(303) 979-9077
