Have you ever wondered, “What is the secret to making math fun for my child?” As adults, most of us realize how important math is in our daily lives. Just about any job requires solving math problems of one type or another. Whether you are a farmer calculating crop yields per acre, a waitress adding up her tips, or a tailor figuring fabric needs, math touches all of us, every day.
So how do you motivate your child to do well in math class? It can be quite challenging to get kids interested in math homework, when they would rather be playing a video game or chasing the dog around the backyard!
The big problem that many children have with math is that they just do not see how it relates to their everyday life. You can tell them that math is important to their future, but for the average child, their “future” seems a million years away. Their whole “sphere of interest” revolves around the “here and now”.
Fortunately, there are several things you can do to help your children succeed in mathematics. The secret is to show them how much math affects them, in the “here and now!” Following is a list of popular tips:
- Get your child involved in everyday activities that involve math. When you go to the grocery store, tell them how much you plan to spend. Let them help pick out the products you will need for meals. Show them the price difference for buying smaller packages or buying in bulk. Let them check different brands and price per ounce or pound.
- Are you planning any home improvements? Get your child involved in the project! Have them do some measuring and calculating of how much material you will need. Whether it is patio bricks, carpeting or wallpaper, there is certainly something they can help with. Of course, you may want to double check their math before you order 15 extra yards of carpeting!
- Cooking is an excellent way to teach children math! Measurements, recipe size, conversions, fractions, figuring cooking times. It all involves math that kids can sink their teeth into! (I could not resist that one…)
- Does your child receive an allowance? Here is another great way to show them the math used for budgeting and or saving, to get the most out of their money. If you open a savings account for them at the local bank, they can learn about interest rates too.
- Old fashioned games. “Yes, Jimmy… there was life before video games!” Pull out the Monopoly game from the basement shelf. This and many other board games help teach basic math skills.
