Can You Make Math Practice Fun?!
Absolutely!
The data show math skills really suffered from the impact of COVID.
In an October ‘22 New York Times article, Sarah Mervosh and Ashley Wu reported the results of a nationwide assessment that found “troubling setbacks” in math (and reading) for students in most states. Clearly, this is a subject area parents should build into during the summer months.
But how can you practice math in an engaging way? You don’t really need to dust off your old calculus skills. We often confuse the complexity of advanced mathematical problems with basic skill-building.
People forget that at the heart of complex problems are the same (+, -,×, ÷) facts they learned in elementary school. The complexity is in the thinking required, not the basic facts. (It’s similar to the way the same 26 letters in the alphabet are used to create simple and more complex words. A basic knowledge of decoding gives students a leg up when encountering new words.)
A solid foundation of (+, -,×, ÷) math facts is critical to your student’s success. Many computer games and apps exist to aid memorization and review in fun ways. Try new ones regularly to keep the routine of drilling from becoming stale.
Giving your students real world opportunities to put their math facts into practice will help them understand just how significantly math underlies many daily activities. Think of the following ideas as real-life word problems.
Here are just a few possibilities that can work for many ages:
Bake a favorite recipe together, but half it or double it. Ask your student to help calculate the new ingredient measurements. Great practice with fractions!
Hold a yard sale and let your student select items of their own to resell. Help them determine prices. Let them use a toy cash register for the real money they get. Practice making change ahead of time, and teach them how to count up from the purchase price to the total money given. (This is an underrated skill many teens currently lack.)
Participate in a craft show, bazaar, lemonade stand, bake sale. Consider opportunities where your child has to purchase materials or products, and teach them how to factor in those costs to determine price and potential profit. (Quick side story: My kids ran a bake table/lemonade stand at our community yard sale for years before launching what became an annual Christmas bazaar at our educational co-op. The student-sellers-only bazaar they initiated afforded many students of varying ages the opportunity to pursue entrepreneurship and find a market for their own creations.)
Run a summer stock market game in your family. It can be virtual or use real money if you feel daring. Teach your students about why stocks exist, how they work, methods of learning about stocks, etc. Agree on a prize for the winner with the highest portfolio at the end of the summer.
Talk to your teens about budgeting. Share your family system for budgeting and help them make their own budget spreadsheet. Talk through the values of giving, saving, and spending and how to determine percentages for each. The internet holds lots of free resources.
If these projects seem overwhelming, look for real-world math workbooks that simulate these kinds of projects. These workbooks help students understand the relevance of word problems–that, in fact, most real world math is a word problem in need of a solvable equation. (These are easy to find on Amazon.)
[If you noticed all of my examples include food or money, it’s because they are easy lures to get students to participate 😀]
The value in these kinds of project-based learning experiences is that students will really begin to see math as a necessary toolkit for life. Encouraging that mindset will yield buy-in and future classroom gains!
