Saturday, February 16, 2013

The 7 Principles of Building a Solid Math Foundation for Your Children

American Regions Mathematics League
American Regions Mathematics League (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
by Sam Mirs

Mathematics represents more than something that has to be learned in school, it is a structure that helps your children understand a world of information.

What follows are the 7 Principles of building a solid math foundation for your children. The principles listed here are simple and powerful.

Understanding the Value First

Many young children understand how to count at least to a certain point, but knowing that adding 2 + 2 will equal 4 is not enough for them to fully understand its meaning unless they know what "2" and "4" are in the first place.

Math is the use of values, not just in how they interact, but in their meaning as well. Once a child understands the value of numbers, then concepts such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division become more meaningful and relatable to them.

Repetition

Repetition ingrains the lessons of mathematics into the child so they can be recalled instantly. This is why learning is so often doing a series of similar problems over and over again so they can be recalled and the solutions become more close at hand.

Daily Math Problem Solving

Along with repetition for each lesson is providing them lessons every day. To have a select amount of time each day learning math from using flash cards to using the homework assignments, helping them with their math skills even if its only 10 to 15 minutes per day can drastically improve their performance.

Share Math in Real Life

One of the best ways to instill the importance of math is showing how it is used in real life. For example, showing how many gallons are needed to fill up the gas tank. The use of measuring cups when cooking to demonstrate volume, counting the miles to the next destination.

Everyday there are situations when math arises, for young children this can be a very valuable lesson that shows the importance of math.

Teach Math in Sequence

Going from Calculus and then back to Algebra may not seem that important at first, but Calculus uses a great deal of Algebra in solving the equations. Therefore, it is vital that math is learned in sequence so that the child can fully understand the principles and applications before proceeding to a higher level.

Encourage Exploration of Math

A big factor in what inhibits many children from embracing math is their fear of the subject. Have your child use a calendar, globe, watch, measuring cup, milk jug and many more items around the home use forms of math as part of their function.

By encouraging them to explore how math applies to space, value, distance volume and so forth you can bolster their confidence and lower their anxiety about tackling new math subjects.

Math Tutors

A math tutor can be brought in if the child is having difficulty understanding math problems. In many cases, the private instruction of a math tutor done at a pace that the child can keep up will help motivate them while as they learn.

These 7 principles of building a solid math foundation can help your child learn and embrace mathematics which will open up entire new worlds for them.

Sam Mirs is the founder of Amazing Math Tutor, an in home tutoring company in San Diego. If your child is struggling with any math subject at school, please contact us to see how our expert San Diego Math Tutors can help: http://AmazingMathTutor.com, phone: 850-360-0134.

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