Teaching Tuesday: Math Is Important Too

Last night during dinner, Lovebug wanted me to give him some "hard" math problems. Mostly because his sister, who had proclaimed math "boring", was getting attention from my lovely cousin and her terrific boyfriend to prove that math was not boring.

I would venture to say it's their school's math curriculum that is boring, because both kids seemed very entertained by math at the dinner table last night.

Coming up with challenging problems for Lovebug was actually entertaining me, because I was trying to come up with ones where I too could figure out the answer in my head. I decided to throw division at my second grader because nothing else was challenging him enough. After I explained that division was breaking numbers up into smaller, equal groups, I tried this:

Me: What's 100 divided by 2 plus 4? 

Lovebug: (practically without pausing) 54

Clearly I'm going to need to use a calculator to challenge him from now on. Just as clearly, the Bedtime Math Hot Guy has been doing with the kids is very effective.

I used to hate math. First it got boring, probably in fourth grade or so. Piles of worksheets will do that to a kid. Then it got harder and then I started to hate it. Hell, I remember dreading the math courses I had to take to become a teacher. . . .

but those courses were different. Not only did I understand their purpose, we actually talked about math and wrote about math and no one gave me any worksheets. I had stopped hating math. Years later, during training for a math curriculum that my district adopted (and that I wish my kids' district would adopt) I actually started to see why people said math was fun. I mean, I'd still rather read a book, but I'll play a math game without complaint. And I can figure out a tip without using that formula that confused me and annoyed me throughout sixth grade.

But you'll notice that most of my Teaching Tuesday posts have been about reading. I'm still more comfortable talking about reading than talking about math. A lot of the people I know - especially a lot of the women I know - will describe themselves as bad at math, or hating math. And that kills me. A facility with numbers - whether it's figuring out sale prices versus coupon prices versus regular prices, or mutual fund performance, or interest rates - is a key part of future financial health. From being able to calculate checkbook balances in your head to being able to judge whether the new couch will fit, math comes up all the time (just like reading).

So let's stop badmouthing our math skills in front of our children and start giving our kids the confidence and skill we didn't have. Let's problem solve at bedtime. Let's not let our discussions of math taper off after our kids learn to count and recognize patterns. Let's not let (often weird, or boring) math homework be the only kind of math our kids see at home.

Ways to Promote Math at Home:

• Are your kids asking for a dog? Have them calculate how much it would cost, or how much time they will have to put in each week to take care of it. 
• Use the digit cards from a card deck (or use index cards to make your own) to play "Make 10" instead of Gin Rummy. Instead of matching digits or finding consecutive cards in one suit, look for cards that equal 10 for addition, 5 for subtraction, 50 for multiplication and so on. 
• Use math fact flashcards to play memory, with cards that have the same answer being a "match". 
• Help them use a checkbook ledger to keep track of their allowance, gift money and what they spend it on. 
• Do a fun math problem before bed each night, like calculating the number of servings in a bag or pretzels or one from a book like "Bedtime Math". 
• Tanagrams, Legos and pattern blocks are all toys that promote spatial awareness and skill. 
• Have them figure out stats (or what the stats mean) for their favorite sports teams. 
• Let them cut out and keep track of coupons, then add the savings they found to their allowance. 
• Encourage them to play math games on their device of choice (look for suggestions in Friday's post).