===========================================================5 Ways To Help Your Kids Do Math
(c) Copyright 2003 by Murdo Macleod
===========================================================
Uh oh.
Your kids arrive home with their school reports and it's poor marks from math department. Now what do you do?
You may not be a math teacher, but thankfully there are ways you can help your kids improve their grades.
Studies have shown that children are much more likely to perform well in a subject that interests them.
So here are 5 ways to get your kids excited about math and actually looking forward to next math class:
1. Inspire them.
Some kids don't enjoy math because they just can't see point of it. Unlike reading or painting, all those mathematical symbols and numbers don't seem to mean anything.
What you need to do is show them how important math is in real world.
Tell them stories about great engineering feats throughout history. From building great pyramids of Egypt, to Hoover dam, to latest space missions to Mars, nothing would have been achieved without mathematics, and mathematicians.
2. Get practical.
Involve your kids in some real world math away from classroom. Find something your child is interested in and relate it to math in some way.
For example, do they like baseball? Terrific. During a game, ask them how many points losing team has to score to beat other one. And how many games do they need to win before they have enough points to win league?
If they enjoy helping around home then let them do "clever stuff". Ask them to work out sizes for that wood you're going to cut. Or get them to measure out ingredients for cake you're about to bake.
When you're in a store, ask your kids to add up prices and keep a running total while you shop. Then ask them how much change you should expect at checkout.
3. Take life "step-by-step".
Success in math - as in life - is largely about breaking large projects down into manageable, bite-sized pieces.