Choose a Personalized Strategy to Reach Your Math Goals

What is a strategy?
A strategy is a plan of action to achieve a goal or objective. It's important to choose a personalized strategy for long term math goals because everyone learns differently, has varying needs and has different areas of strength in math. You will be more likely to achieve your math goals with a personalized strategy than with a general strategy. Your strategy will provide a roadmap of actions to complete your goal. Strong strategies, skills, and concepts are all necessary ingredients to math success, and academic success in general.

An Example of Strategy in Everyday Life
Imagine guests are arriving to your house soon and you want to make a good impression. To achieve your goal of making a good impression you need a strategy and action plan. You decide a good goal involves a clean house and a happy family to greet the guests. Also, imagine you have three sons ages 4, 12, and 15. How will you manage the children and the tasks necessary to achieve your goals of a clean house and happy family? You need a strategy to carry out your plan. Without strategic planning, your guests will likely arrive to a chaotic, messy house with frustrated hosts. Your specific, individual strategy to clean the house and keep everyone happy will depend on your situation.

You could:
Assign each child several tasks that coincide with their abilities. Or …
Clean the front room and shut the doors to other rooms to hide the mess. Don’t invite your guests past the front room. Or …
Recognize that the 4-year-old won’t be very helpful. Ask the 12-year-old to entertain the youngest. You and the 15-year-old do all the cleaning. Or …
Hire a maid and take the family out for a meal while the maid cleans the house. There are many other alternatives that probably come to mind!

The best strategy depends on three variables.

1. The complexity of the goal. Transforming a whole house from a disaster zone to a showpiece is harder than picking stuff up off the floor in one room and shoving it under the bed and in closets. The complexity of the goal helps determine the strategy.
2. The Resources Available. If the 12-year-old is sick, asking him to watch his little brother is not appropriate. If you are on a strict budget, hiring a maid may cause more stress than it solves. A great strategy must be doable.
3. Your Values. If you believe childhood should be about playing, not working, you may hire a maid. If you think training children to the household is important, you may assign the 4-year-old cleaning tasks, even if it is inefficient.

Strategies for Math Goals
Let’s look at three different long term math goals for three different children and review the strategies you might consider for completing them.

Child 1 Goal: Alicia wants to take calculus in high school so she can enter an engineering program in college. Her parents would like her to earn college math credit while she is still in high school. She did great in middle school math, but as a freshman she is experiencing challenges in Algebra 1.

Child 2 Goal: Brad wants to complete enough math in high school to avoid remedial math in college. Remedial math wastes time and money.

Child 3 Goal: Linda wants to earn a GED or high school diploma and has no plans to attend college. She hates math and is currently failing Algebra I.

Long Term Math Strategies
Long term math goals require a strategy that includes several smaller goals to pave the way for success.
What are good strategies for achieving long term math goals? Let’s look again at the criteria for choosing a strategy.

1. The Complexity of the Goal. Long range math goals are complex. Parents should start when the child is in middles school, or better yet in elementary school!  Note, our example children are already in high school.

        Complexities for our 3 Example Children

• Alicia enrolled in an accelerated math class before she was ready. Now she, her parents, and her math teacher need to figure out what the best path of math courses are for her.  She needs a boost in math skills to prepare her for the junior and senior math classes that offer college credit opportunities. Her strategy must prepare her for the advanced high school math in programs such as, dual enrollment, AP, Honors, or the IB program.
• Brad wonders why he should push himself to take advanced math classes. He plans on majoring in Russian Literature, and possibly teaching at the university level. He doesn’t see any reason to stress over calculus. He and his parents should look at college math requirements to make sure he is on track for college algebra. His math grades and tests like the PARCC, PSAT, and the SAT are helpful indicators. Taking our free, no-risk assessment would also alert the family if Brad is not on track for college readiness in math.
• Linda may have undiagnosed dyscalculia. Her current math education is not working for her. Part of her strategy for success might include getting a diagnosis. She definitely needs some math support beyond what she is currently getting in the classroom and she likely has unidentified gaps that have compounded over the years and have resulted in her current frustration with math.

2. The Resources Available. Supporting your child’s long term math goals requires resources. The more resources you have available, the better your strategy can be. Math resources might include:

• Someone in the house who can help when your child gets stuck on a concept or skill.
• Extra math help and support from the school and/or Mathnasium of Parker
• A motivated child willing to work through the tough times. A child who already has math anxiety and frustration will need extra encouragement and support.
• Time to correct math gaps and alleviate anxieties.

Think about your resources.

Do you have the patience and the skill set to help your own children with math skills?

Is the school and the math teacher a good fit for your child?

How motivated is your child to succeed and how much effort will they put forth? If your children don’t put forth a lot of effort they may be struggling with a fixed mindset or gender stereotype. 

Are you willing to bring your child to Mathnasium of Parker to get math help and tutoring?

Possible Resources for Our 3 Example Children
Alicia’s parents couldn’t help her in math. Her math teacher was focused on kids in the class who were failing, so Alicia didn’t get extra attention from him. Motivation was not a problem. She still had a year or two before she needed to enroll in a college credit math courses. She registered in Mathnasium of Parker's Summer Program to give her a head start on the advanced curriculum.

Brad’s brother understands the math, but not how to teach it. The “help” he provided often turned into bickering. Brad wasn’t motivated to push himself in math. He just didn’t understand how much of a stumbling block remedial math classes in college really are. Luckily, his parents had done their research and were motivated to guide him. They brought him into Mathnasium of Parker for our SAT test prep program which also helped shore up his Algebra skills.

Linda was motivated to graduate but felt defeated in math and that affected other areas of her academics. She had succumbed to the false belief that she “just didn’t have a math brain.” Her dad stopped making excuses for her and got her the help she needed. He wished he had gotten her help while she was still in elementary school, but he figured "better now than never." Her mom wondered how they would pay for the extra math help. When her parents looked at how much money they spent on her sports activities they realized they could find a way to put Mathnasium in the budget.

3. Values
If you have long range goals in math for your children, and you are reading this article, you value math … and education in general.

Take a few minutes to see if the Mathnasium values fit with your own. Read our article, How do Mathnasium’s Mission Statement and Guiding Principles Impact your Experience at Mathnasium of Parker . You can also read our checklist about the values of families that find Mathnasium helpful.

Values for Our 3 Example Children
All three families decided that their children’s education had to come first. They allocated the resources necessary to get them the help they needed.

Set Your Child Up for Success
We are thrilled that you are taking your child’s math education seriously as well. Goals are a great first step and the next step is a strategy that fits your situation. At the first sign your child struggling in math class or having a math gap, you should take action. Part of your strategy might include supplemental math help from us or a private tutor.

We hope that Mathnasium of Parker will be a part of your strategy. No one teaches math like we do! Call us today 303-840-1184 and let us know how we can help attain your math goals.

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