These steps are especially for parents of young children ages 3-6 years old. Every child can be great at math! What does it take to become good at math? Starting early gives your child more time for practice and processing. When children start early they are encouraged to continue and the process becomes self-fulfilling. They experience learning is fun and gratifying! START PRACTICING MATH EARLY Introducing math at 3 years old is a great age to begin. Research states that starting early between ages 3-6 has a direct impact on future academic performance. Children who start math early nurture intrinsic benefits including confidence and enjoyment. MAKE MATH REAL Include math in everyday activities your children enjoy. Here are some examples: Count your steps while taking a walk. Pick up leaves and count them. Introduce addition by adding things like cups of water at the dinner table, apples, and oranges in your shopping cart, or shoes and socks in your closet. How many do you have all together? Introduce Subtraction: Count the pieces of mail in the mailbox. Subtract the opened mail. How many pieces of mail are left? Count the cookies on a plate see how many cookies are left after one is eaten. Count the eggs in an egg carton and subtract the empty spaces as the eggs are used. USE EFFECTIVE TOOLS Use tools that provide repetition, frequency, and consistency and work them into your daily routine. Popular tools include: Flashcards Math board games Math books - Incremental is best. Introduce topics step-by-step with age-appropriate math books Apps & Software - (Parents - Please evaluate the technology first to understand its play vs. education value) Quality, opinions, and research vary regarding technology and its learning effectiveness. Young children can do math activities while their older siblings do homework. Regardless of the tools you choose, take your time, and encourage your child. Make math time fun. PRACTICE MATH OFTEN 1. As adults, we know what it takes to get into physical shape or acquire a skill. Learning to dance, or memorizing lines in a school play takes time, practice, perseverance, consistency, and a great attitude. This holds true for our children when learning. There is no quick fix to learning and of course, that applies to math too! Children need time to learn new math facts and new math concepts. 2. When a child learns a new concept on a given day, it does not mean they will retain it the next. They may need to review 10s of times until it ‘sticks’. This is completely normal and part of the learning process. It takes time for new concepts to go from short term to long term memory. It takes time to acquire greater understanding so these concepts can be used automatically in higher-level problem-solving. CREATE A ROUTINE Find a routine that works for your family and stick to it as much as you can. If you get off track, no problem, just adjust and resume when you can. Remember, mistakes are part of the learning process. good! Fixing them, even better, and helps cement the information. It is important to know what you don’t know, an important part of learning and improving. About the Author and Creator of Page A Day Math Janice MarksJanice began her career in education to pursue teaching pre-algebra at BASIS Tucson North, a charter school currently ranked as the sixth-best STEM school in the country by Newsweek. There she found joy in teaching math, working with parents, and inspiring children to believe in themselves and thrive. This experience, along with helping her own children succeed in math, led her to develop the Page A Day Math system.
