Back-to-School Tips: How to Get Your Math 'Thinking Cap' On

By Dr. Kobad Bugwadia, owner of Mountain View Mathnasium

With back-to-school upon us, parents can do a lot to start help their young children get back in the gear for math class.

A summer away from school can be a lot of fun for children, but it can also result in the well-known summer slide, when math concepts and skills deteriorate with each passing week.

The time to address this is right now. With just a little effort this erosion can be mitigated. Importantly, working on math skills with young children is not only valuable – it can be fun.

Math practice can be both enjoyable and a great everyday opportunity for bonding between young children and their parents. For example, if you’re at a restaurant, give your child the bill and ask him or her to calculate the change. If you’re heading to an appointment, tell your son or daughter what time you need to be there and how long it takes, and let the child figure out what time to leave.

Below are five tips for sharpening up young children’s math skills developed by Larry Martinek, chief Instructional officer at Mathnasium, who created the Mathnasium Method™ taught at all Mathnasium centers.

• Change: Have your child calculate how much change you should receive when shopping at restaurants, retailers, and grocery stores.
• Time: Ask your child to figure out when to leave for destinations by explaining what time you need to arrive and how long it takes to get there.
• Fair Trades: Tell your child you have six quarters and ask how many dimes that equals.
• Problem Solving: When your child is invited to a birthday party, ask how many months younger or older the friend is than your child. Ask how old your child will be when the friend is a certain age.
• Splitting in Half: If a pound of candy costs $6, ask your child how much half a pound costs. If half a pound is $1.50, ask how much a whole pound costs.

The key to sharpening math skills, as with many other activities, is to use them.

By asking the types of questions above through the remainder of the summer, math will climb back to top of mind and the everyday nature of the questions will emphasize that math is an important and useful skill.