Maths is like Marmite – people love it or hate it. Our own dislike for it can get projected onto our kids, continuing the never ending cycle of disengagement from a subject that offers a beautiful way of understanding the world.

 

Maths is a language. Just like any language, you become rusty without practice.

 

Here are 3 ways you can continue practicing Maths skills and techniques whilst also increasing an enjoyment of the subject.

 

 

Kids love getting involved with activities their parents do. As parents, we often want to get the mundane activities out the way as quickly as possible – child free. But you’re losing a precious learning opportunity. Get your kids involved in the weekly grocery. Aside from helping them understand the value of money, you can practice the following skills:

 

– Estimating

– Mental Maths (addition, and multiplication if buying multiple items of the same product)

– Calculating discounts, especially percentage discounts.

 

The skills practiced will be dependent on age. Some of these skills aren’t acquired until early secondary.

 

Whether baking a cake or preparing a meal, Maths features in cooking from measuring ingredients to ratios, when diverting from the specified recipe. This is the perfect chance to see Maths in action. Skills that you can practice whilst cooking:

 

– Measuring, whether mass or volume

– Converting units from metric to imperial (or vice versa)

– Ratios, when increasing or decreasing ingredients

 

Once you are done with a Maths cooking lesson, you also have the reward of the cooked meal or baked goodie at the end to enjoy!

 

 

– Measuring the room and the furniture and scaling down to draw at scaled drawing of the room

– Measuring the walls and calculating the amount of paint required to cover the area

– Drawing 3D shapes from different angles and elevations

– Understanding spatial awareness

 

What other things do you do at home that feature a practice of mathematical skills?