Bringing a child on in Math?

silverharp

My 7 year old boy is in first class and I want to develop his math skills as much as I can. So far on the "soft" side we play games like monopoly, Risk and similar games plus some sotware based games. Earlier in the year I stumbled on the khanacademy site and have been using that as a template as it is very well organised, so far we have covered most of the arithmetic and pre algebra sections, amazing what you can do in 10 or 15 minutes a day. The material on Khan will keep us going for years and will be good for me also to better understand how to see it from the perspective of someone learning the content.

So my question is are there ways of getting a child to have "deeper" appreciation for the subject apart from plouging through the material (which I assume is 90% of the process)? I'm also making a few games to help recall his times tables and mental arithmetic. Apart form that any other avenues to think about?

byhookorbycrook

Relating maths to everyday life is always a good idea, cookery is fantastci for this, likewise calculating if the special offer is really good or not e.g. is the 2kg pack cheaper than smaller packs (you'd imagine it would be, but very often not)24 hr clock is good too.As are simple fractions-1/3 of a slice, 2/5ths of ten sweets etc.

fullbackline

I agree, maths is real-life and should be linked to concrete things and situations as much as possible in order for children to fully understand it. Once the understanding of a concept is there the child will progress. Just try and think of all of the times during the week you use maths (numbers) and apply this to your child's learning. Using the immediate environment is extremely beneficial when teaching young children. I may also create a love of maths, something not many children have!

Feeona

You're doing a great job so far, even spending time with children is a great boost for their overall confidence.

I think puzzles are great for lateral thinking which is a vital part of algebra. I've often used the following puzzle when working with children of different ages :

You have three parallel lines. Add six more lines to make ten.

Whenever I show this puzzle to a class, they immediately come to life and start thinking which is great to see. I don't particularly care if the children get the right answer, I just want to see them trying to work it out. Some children come up with really imaginative answers

Even puzzles not connected to Maths are great too eg What's heavy when it's forwards, and not when it's backwards? Again it gets them thinking, deducing, reasoning-all vital skills for Maths.

silverharp

thanks for the responses, the cooking idea is a good one. Will have a look into lateral thinking and puzzle problems.