Top Tips for Helping Your Child with Maths
Maths is an obligatory school subject for children in the UK until they reach the end of their GCSEs.
With that said, as a parent it’s worth trying to find ways you can support your child’s numeracy
progress at home.
Even if you lack confidence in your own maths skills, there are simple ways you
can incorporate it into everyday life. Read on for some tips from a private school in Hertfordshire.
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You’ll need to start by having the right attitude towards your child’s learning in general, so they can
adopt your enthusiastic approach. Avoid saying things like “I’m rubbish at maths” or “I hated maths
at your age” because your child will pick up on that negative approach. Your child can practise maths
every day but if they’re not positive about their learning journey, it will be a waste of time.
There are many ways you can incorporate maths into everyday life and give your chance a child to
practise. For example, next time you go shopping, ask them to calculate how much you’re going to
be charged at the till and how much change you’ll receive if you pay with cash. Cooking and baking
also helps with numeracy skills, because it involves measuring and weighing and converting between
different units of measurement.
Board games are also great for helping a child with their numeracy skills because your child will be
having so much fun that they won’t even realise they’re learning. Monopoly is one example that
springs to mind, as this involves adding and subtracting while handling pretend money.
For younger children, there are plenty of nursery rhymes that help with counting. Here are some
examples:
- 10 Green Bottles
- Once I Caught a Fish Alive
- 10 Fat Sausages
- Hickory Dickory Dock
- 5 Little Speckled Frogs
If they are learning their times tables, they might benefit from having a chart pinned up on the wall
in their bedroom or playroom. The idea is to expose your child to maths as much as possible outside
of lessons. The more familiar they become with fundamental numeracy, the more comfortable they
will be with more challenging equations when the time comes.
We have first hand experienced of having a child that lacks confidence and needs a far more enthusiastic approach to learning maths. If you have any further tips for helping your child with maths then please do share in the comments box below.
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