Five tips to stop math summer slide
No more classes, no more books, no more teachers’ dirty looks!
Is this your child’s summer mantra? While we’re all for some fun and recharging, make sure that they don’t go down that dreaded summer slide. Losing the learning from the previous school year means that the teacher will have to spend time reteaching past lessons instead of new ones; and that your child may need to do a lot of catching up to do.
How can you prevent that brain drain? Here are a few tips.
Use math in real life
Going to the mall? Ask your children to calculate how much you would spend for dinner and a movie (plus popcorn!). Or how much change they would get if they paid for their toy purchase with a thousand-peso bill. Older children can plan out the family vacation—including costs, travel time, even distance and mileage. Grocery trips can also be math-filled opportunities. Baking and cooking at home are also great ways to exercise math skills.
Play math-ish games
Even the young ones will find delight in games like Snakes & Ladders and other board games. Add the numbers on the dice, count spaces to move—these games develop math skills without them even noticing. For the older ones, games like Monopoly, Yahtzee, and Uno can further hone math skills. Even card games and role playing games have math components.
Take online classes
A couple of hours or so a week with a capable instructor and some classmates can help make math learning a more enjoyable experience. Plus, a live teacher will be able to answer questions and give more in-depth explanations in real time.
Enroll for a face-to-face class
On the other hand, some kids prefer their teachers and classmates in the flesh. With the country finally going back to face-to-face, it’s easy to find a good live class.
Read math-ish books
And we don’t mean textbooks! Story books with math concepts not only promote numeracy, but literacy as well. For the younger crowd, there’s the Sir Cumference series by Cindy Neuschwander and Wayne Geehan; and the Life of Fred series by Dr. Stanley Schmidt. For the older set, The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster is a classic loved by many. There’s also The Number Devil by Hans Magnus Enzensberger, The Math Curse by Jon Scieszka, and The Grapes of Math by Greg Tang. And just in case you’d want great math books, get copies of our bestselling 25 Math Short Cuts and Algebra Made as Easy as Arithmetic.
BONUS: Leverage tech
If you can’t beat them, learn from them! Use screen time for math practice and learning. There are many fun math apps that will help your kids practice concepts that they have already learned, or introduce new concepts and ideas.
Bottom line? Make math fun and watch your children’s skills grow, giving them a head start for the next school year.
