It’s no surprise that children would rather play with their friends and their toys than study for math class. But if a child is struggling with math in school, you need to be proactive as a parent and do everything that you can to make learning fun and to ensure your child doesn’t fall behind in school. Math is a fundamental part of daily life and success in math can open up doors to many different jobs down the line. If you know that your child needs some extra help in order to succeed in their math class here are a few helpful tips to implement at home to help your child with the process.
Bring Math to Life
Show your kids how simple math is a part of everyday living. Have them help you with some baking and teach them about measurements while making cookies. Cooking is a fantastic way to show kids that fundamental math skills are important and applicable to things in their lives. Sometimes looking at a sheet of paper and deciding how to figure out a math problem just doesn’t make sense to children, so bring math to life and have them see how simple adding and subtracting can be used at home. Have them set the table and count out the place settings. Surprise add a few guests and then take some away before dinner is served. By having your children count out loud with you and visually see the impact of their math on the table, they may have an easier time grasping otherwise abstract concepts.
Make Math a Game
In most games you see math, whether it is obvious or not. Encourage games where math is a big part, such as Yahtzee, Scrabble, or Cribbage. Have your child keep score for everyone at the table and help them with adding the numbers either in their head on or paper. Play Scrabble and let your child count their own tiles. What happens if they land on a triple word score? Having the fun of a game to distract them from the learning that is going on is a great trick for parents to use.
Use a Reward System
Kids love a challenge and can be competitive in nature. Arrange to have a competition in your house, such as a times table marathon, and be sure to inform the children of the prizes. Having an incentive to work hard and learn the process behind math will motivate your children to learn, even though they think they’re just striving for a trip to the ice cream store or that new pack of Pokémon cards.
Math is a skill that will open so many doors for children. Help them to succeed and realize their own potential by working with your children at home in fun, educational ways.
