There is a widespread notion that mathematics is boring and inaccessible. Just hearing about the word ‘math’ can cause a negative reaction in children. But as a parent, you want your child to love all their subjects – including mathematics. Yes, learning math does not come easy for most. But your child does not have to learn math with frustration and tears.
8 Strategies That Help For Your Child Love Mathematics
Here are eight strategies you can try to help your child love mathematics:
Recognize The Challenge
Learning mathematics has an effort component. It can be quite challenging, and understanding it may involve frustration, stress, and struggle. For a child, this can lead to an emotionally complicated learning process. However, the math learning process can also be an experience where perseverance and persistence are rewarded if each new concept is understood. Even a single success can be the starting point for your child to appreciate and love mathematics in Dubai or wherever you live.
You can also compare learning math to climbing a mountain, where your child needs to exert a lot of effort, but once they reach the symbolic peak, they will experience a feeling of gratification and achievement. So, be understanding and supportive.
Take Advantage of Math Summer Camps
Don’t let summer vacation drain your child’s brain of all the things they learned at school. Instead of letting them sit for long hours in front of a TV screen or any electronic device, why not enroll them in a summer camp?
Math summer camps can help enhance your child’s analytical, problem-solving, and research skills. These can also introduce your child to like-minded individuals, teach your child some essential life skills, and stimulate a lifelong love or curiosity for mathematics.
The benefits of summer camps are plentiful. These include:
- Making math fun – Math games and engineering activities will teach your child that math applies to real-world topics. These programs will also teach them to solve puzzles, form teams to perform group math projects, and observe different mathematical patterns in nature. More importantly, getting your child moving while learning math lessons will help them develop a deeper connection and understanding of the topics.
- Providing valuable life experiences – Math summer camps provide the opportunity for your child to learn valuable life lessons because they will be away from home for weeks. This means that they will be taking responsibility for their space and themselves – habits that they may even take home. Moreover, summer camps will teach your child resilience because there will be moments when they may not solve problems right away, and the only thing they can do is cope with such situations.
- Building connections – Math summer camps provide an environment where children with similar interests or backgrounds can mingle, connect and make friends. Meeting other young people can broaden your child’s horizons and boost their confidence. They can also learn how to work with teams and become good leaders. Even students who were once strangers can end up forming lifelong bonds with one another.
Enrolling your child in a mathematics summer camp can transform your child’s summer break into a memorable, magical experience that they will cherish forever.
Familiarize Yourself With The Different Learning Standards
As parents, you must know what math skills your child must learn in their present grade. Your child can learn better if the math lessons they take are suited to their level of understanding, needs, skills, and interests. With this in mind, it would be much easier for you to complement their learning with different activities at home.
Make Math Relevant To Everyday Life
Connecting math concepts with applications in real-world scenarios will bring meaning to lectures and lessons. This will also motivate your child to exert more effort to understand. For instance, derivatives can be introduced as a means to measure slopes, and slopes are often experienced in daily life, such as the big hill they cycle up or the skate park. Moreover, you can encourage your child to solve math problems outside of school.
For example, in the car, ask them how long it will take you to reach your destination based on your car’s speed. In the hypermarket, ask them to calculate the cost of four apples. In the toy store, ask them to remember the price of a toy they want that’s on sale and how long it will take them to save up to purchase it.
Play Math Games
There are plenty of games you and your child can play that involve mathematics. Games like cribbage, chess, dominoes, backgammon, checkers, Monopoly, and Set can help your child learn to enjoy math. You may also find several math games online suitable for different ages, whether you have a toddler, a grade-schooler, or a teenager. You can also try some fun math investigations and brain teasers during your family game time.
Pay Attention To Details
Whenever your child does their homework, make sure they can show how they came up with their answers. For instance, check how they solve equations and make calculations. Also, limit distractions and set a specific time of the day for doing homework. If you find it difficult to teach your child, ask their teachers which techniques are helping your child better understand or feel comfortable with math and try to apply the same.
Talk Positively About Math
When your child comes to you with a difficult math problem, be calm and assure them that you would help them solve it. Instead of becoming grumpy or upset, try to model persistent enjoyment of the subject. Don’t treat mathematics as something frustrating but view it as an interesting puzzle that is waiting to be solved. If you are calm and confident that there is a solution, you are modeling a positive approach to math that your child can emulate.
Encourage Your Child To Read Books About Math
Reading mathematics books is probably the easiest yet the most neglected trick to helping your child love math. It will help your kids make clearer connections about diverse subject areas. Picture books are proven to support both early and advanced math learning. So whenever you go to a bookstore, make sure to get one that incorporates math. You can also invest in books with some main characters solving problems using logic or math.
As parents, you will need resources to help your child become successful. In addition to becoming their role model, you should also find ways to fuel their curiosity about mathematics outside the four corners of the classroom. Add math to their daily life and enroll them at a math summer camp for continuous learning.
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