The truth is, math is all around us.
It’s even in the air. Equations surround you in harmony with nature. If you want to make math a less frightening subject for your scholars, make it a more relevant part of their lives. You will give them the knowledge and confidence to go even higher than they thought in their math knowledge.
Shopping
Every single shopping trip is all about math
You need to know what a good price is, what price you can afford, and how that price affects your bank account…. that\’s math.
Plus, you need to understand how much of something you need to buy for recipes or instructions. All of that requires that you use math.
Road Trips
Anytime you go on a road trip you can make it about math by talking to the kids about how far you’re going, how much gas cost, and other factors involving numbers on your trip. Let them use their skills to figure out your mileage, the approximate time it will take, and how much it will cost. You can even make a math game out of how many steps you walk once you get to your destination.
Board Games
Pretty much all board games involve at least counting, but if you can find some that are more mathematical, it will help more. For example, any game involving money or building a business, like Monopoly, Life, and games like that.
Baking
Baking requires precise measurements which are always great for learning math, like fractions.
As you bake with your child, openly discuss the math that you are doing. Tell them things like, \”We need 1/4 cup of flour for this recipe. This is a fraction of an entire cup, it’s one-fourth of a cup. If you separate this cup of flour into fours, you have 1/4 cup of flour.\”
Tossing a Ball
It might seem weird to be able to teach math with nothing more than a ball, but you can. You can measure how far you can throw it, how high you can toss it, and if you have something to use to measure, even how fast you are throwing it. Each number discovered can be discussed in many ways to help enhance the concepts.
While some of the math will sink in by merely playing, it’s best to play and talk. Talk about the numbers involved and explain their relation to subjects they will learn or are learning in school. You’ll open a brand-new world of opportunity to your children by making math feel natural – because it is.
Your scholars will LOVE spending time with you and you will be happy because you helped them learn!
Now go and get playing!