Bringing Math Home

Math is all around us.

Come up with some ways to encourage the math your child is learning in school. Let's say your third grader is learning to divide...

How about doing some division while making cookies....While baking cookies you might say, "We're going to bake twelve chocolate chip cookies. How many should each of us get if you, mommy, daddy, and your sister share?"

Recipes for almost anything work really well. You could help reinforce proportion problems for your child in middle or even high school. "We need three-fourths of a cup sugar to make this cake. How much sugar do we need to make two and a half cakes?"

A father used recipes when his daughter asked "Why do we have to learn fractions?". One recipe needed one-third of a cup of milk for six people. While making the dish, he would ask questions like, "how much milk would we need for twelve people? for eighteen?"

Helping your kids understand the value of what they're studying in school is very helpful. Brings it home ..so to speak.