Form a Network to Help Your Child With Math

Sometimes finding help is as easy as opening your mouth...literally. If your child needs help with math, talk with other parents to discover if their children struggle, too. If they do, you may be able to form a support group and exchange ideas and resources to find out what has and has not worked for others and what may or may not work for your situation. I know you've heard it before, "two heads working together is better than one." Suppose you had access to 3 or 5 or 10 brains? You may be surprised as to what you can discover.

What about other parents whose children already excel in math? Don't exclude them from the group as they can help you by telling you HOW their children excel. What habits do their children have that yours don't? What do they find helpful to keep their children on the top? Would their children sit and "talk" with your children about math and how to do better? Bottom line: Open up your mouth and form a network of people to help you help your child with math.

To purchase a book of strategies to help your child with math, go to http://HelpYourChildAchieveInMath.com.

Get Your Children Moving to Improve Skills

Watching the Winter Olympics was fascinating! The sheer athleticism of the participants was truly breathtaking.

I began thinking about how their athleticism could translate into better performance for our own children, not that they have to be olympic athletes, of course. But we can help our children learn and retain math better through exercise.

How?

I know that when I exercise my mind is sharper and I can focus more clearly on certain tasks. Those types of after effects of vigorous exercise can help our children perform better in and out of the classroom, too. Unfortunately, too few of us, our children included, experience the invigorating effects of working hard through exercise.

So, to help your child tap into the after effects of rigorous exercise, get them moving! Have your child to exercise for a minimum of 45 minutes each day, working to keep the heartrate up for at least 20 minutes. They do not have to overdo it here, but it should be difficult for them to hold a normal conversation during this time. Some activities that will yield this type of result include jumproping, jumping jacks, skating, biking, climbing stairs, aerobics, cheerleading, football, basketball, racing, soccer, even playing on the Wii! Find something that your children enjoy and make sure to incorporate it into their daily schedule either through an organized team or just a set amount of time at home. Get moving!

For more strategies to help your child with math, purchase a 38 page guidebook at http:HelpYourChildAchieveInMath.com.

TV Discussions Lead to Math Interest

Have regular conversations with your child about math and math related careers. Even doing simple things like watching TV can turn into a discussion about math. Discuss with her how TV programming is paid for in part by the commercials that are shown. That can easily lead into another discussion of how much air time her favorite program gets or how much specific products spend for advertising versus the price for their products and how many people they expect to buy the product as a result of the adverstising. You may discuss break even points and how many sales it would take for the product to make money after paying for the advertising. This could create a desire to learn more about the industry, and in doing so, to learn more about the math. Or, it could just be a discussion that leads to more such discussions which leads to more interest in math!

For more tips, visit http://HelpYourChildAchieveInMath.com.

Limit Video Game Playing to Increase Achievement

To help with math comprehension and achievement, reduce or limit video game playing to 1 hour per day total. Just like television, video games distract our kids much of the day. And just like television, if we want to help them get on track with their math, we need to reduce or eliminate video game playing. The time that they were spending on playing video games can be used in more constructive ways such as playing, exercising, talking and bonding with family, reading, memorizing facts, etc.

For a book of strategies, visit http://HelpYourChildAchieveInMath.com.

Turn off TV to Increase Math Achievement

Want to increase your child's math achievement? Here's a simple way: Turn OFF the TV or at least limit of reduce your child's television viewing to 1 hour per day.

There have been numerous studies that show that television watching halts the brain's cells in a way that resembles being in a vegetative state. So besides being an obvious time waster, too much televsion viewing also slows down our ability to think and process information correctly. Sure its relaxing, but at what cost? Many of our children today sit and watch endless hours of television and we allow it, perhaps not realizing the damage that we are doing to them.

By limiting their viewing to one hour per day, we can help reduce the brain's inability to comprehend and keep pertinent information. Instead of watching television, we can have our children study a few minutes more, have imaginative play, read, cook, talk to us or their siblings, write a short story, draw or even...EXERCISE! Bottom line is there are more meaningful things for our kids to do than watch television, and unlike television, these things actually stimulate their minds!

For more tips on how to help your child achieve in math, visit http://HelpYourChildAchieveInMath.com

Get Back to Basics to Teach Basic Skills

To teach or reinforce basics, get back to basics! In this day of ever increasing technology, it is still beneficial to give it all up for at least a few minutes and get back to basics.

I'm sure you have observed that in schools these days, as in other parts of the world, technology is king. Our kids are constantly bombarded with ever more technology to complete simple tasks that we somehow accomplished without technology. There are computer and hand held video games and systems and even television programs dedicated to teaching and reinforcing math, english, social studies and science facts. Not that I am against any of these, I'm NOT! But there is a time for everything. And if the use of these advanced technologies has not helped your child learn or improve basic skills, then it should not be more of the same.

If technology has yet to yield the results you crave, do something different! Consider going back to the basics. Turn off the television, computer, and video games. Sit your child down in a quiet area with (dare I say it?) paper and pencil, and maybe a textbook (what is that?) and have him say and write the particular basic fact that you want him to learn. Have him do this 10 times, alternating sitting and standing while speaking (and writing, if he is able). After 10 times on a particular fact, say the Pythagorean Theorem, then and only then should he do the same with another fact. Limit his practice of this type to 4 different facts per day.

Tell him that you (or your designee) will quiz him either orally or in writing on his knowledge when he is finished. Quiz him and reward him for his successes with verbal praise. If he doesn't do so well, praise him for the effort, and work on the same facts the next day. Even if he does well and you move on to another set of 4 facts the next day, quiz him on the previous days' facts. You and your child can come up with a reward, if you so choose, after he receives a satisfactory "grade" on a quiz after at least 6 days of such quizzing. Since he is working daily and receiving daily feedback, his confidence is improving even if he is still not performing as well as you would like. As his confidence continues to improve, so will his performance, and with more work, he will work to achieve his potential.

For a 38 page book of strategies, visit http://HelpYourChildAchieveInMath.com.

Let Service Be A Part of Progressing

When we have a goal that we are focused on achieving, like becoming more knowledgeable in math, sometimes we overlook service as a means to accomplish our goals. If we can let service be a part of progressing to the next steps in goal achievement, I am positive that we would reach our goals faster.

How can you serve and learn math? Help someone else to learn what you already know! Even the student who is the most inept in math, still has some skill set in which he is apt. Maybe he is great with geometry, multiplication, or money. Maybe he has a unique way that he learned to count. He can pass his strengths on to the next person by giving them the tips that he has learned to succeed in that skill set with.

Whom do you help? Anyone you can! Maybe a neice or nephew, a neighbor's 3 year old, a sibling, or even a parent. Just look around and take your pick. There are always people in need of help and people who are willing to help you accomplish your goals. I've read that you can accomplish anything if you help enough people to accomplish something. Get out, look around, and offer your help to others. Who knows but that another person in that person's circle of friends will want to help you?

A 38 page book of tips is available for purchase at http://helpyourchildachieveinmath.com.

Deadlines Propel Us to Success

Setting deadlines is an integral part of success. Successful people in all walks of life and businesses set deadlines to accomplish tasks.

An important part of setting and achieving any goal is to set deadlines. I read somewhere that a goal is just a dream unless there is a deadline affixed to it. We must put a time limit on when we should accomplish our goals otherwise we may have the same unconquered goals forever. I know people who have had the same seemingly simple goals for years (coming up on decades). Now this is not to say that once you affix a deadline to a particular goal that you will automatically reach it--sometimes you will fall short. Neither is it to say that having long term goals is somehow undesirable. What it means is that although you can accomplish goals without deadlines, you are more likely to accomplish those goals if you have set a prescribed timeline to do so.

After you've set your goals to help your child with math (or in any other endeavor), make sure that you attach a deadline. For example, if the goal is relatively easy, like learn the 2's timetables or memorize the Pythagorean Theorem, then you can set a deadline of 2 to 3 days to accomplish the task. If you've set a seemingly insurmountable goal, then break it down into smaller, achieveable chunks. For example, say you child's goal is learn fractions. Well, that encompasses learning vocabulary, parts of a whole, adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing fractions with the same and different denominators, mixed fractions, etc. Break this up by focusing on particular facet of the whole thing like learning fraction vocabulary. This is relatively easy and an achieveable deadline can be up to 2 days by working only 10 minutes per day. Once your child has accomplished that task, then set another mini-goal and deadline for learning fractions.

By setting deadlines and checking that the deadlines have been met, you are now able to set new goals and deadlines and get more accomplished than you'd previously thought possible. The key here is to set realistic deadlines though. Make sure that you look at your and your child's schedule to determine how much time you can allot to meeting the deadlines and if needed, delete some time from other activities. Commit to spending at least 10 minutes per day on meeting the particular deadline and you will be well on your way to math and life success.

"How to Help Your Kids Achieve In Math," a 38 page guidebook, is available at http://HelpYourChildAchieveInMath.com

Don't Give Up Your Kids To The System, The School System That Is!

As my two kids were having a private conversation I heard, "Give up your kids?" in an incredulous tone from my 6 year old daughter. That started me to thinking of how many people unknowingly give up their kids to an educational system that may or may not work for them.

As a parent, it is your responsibility to make sure that your children get everything they need. Not just the bare necessities of food, shelter, and clothing but the more meaningful attributes that they will take with them for the remainder of their lives. These include love, first and foremost, security, and yes, education.

So why do so many parents enroll their children in school and expect the system to do the rest? Have we not learned that the system fails at least as many as it helps? The scary truth is that in order for your children to be successful in obtaining a good education, YOU will have to delve deep and determine what a good education is and help them get it.

How? Many people have read or been told that children do better when parents are a part of their school lives. I concur. However, that doesn't mean that you must spend hours completing his math project so that he will get a good grade. While assisting with homework will help your child do better in school, there is another way that studies prove increases his achievement. Simply be a presence in his school. Go to the parent-teacher conferences, PTO nights, plays, and games. But more than that, help out around the school in various ways. Maybe you can donate some items for art, beautify the school grounds, assist a teacher by running some copies, answer the office phone, etc. The list is endless. Ask school personnel what you can do to help if you are unsure where to start.

What if you work?

You don't have to be in the school everyday or even every week for that matter. You can take a couple to four hours per semester to volunteer at your child's school during the day. Altogether, that's ONE day you will miss work for an entire year, and it's for a far better cause than watching a ball game! Imagine if 100 parents per school committed to spend 4 hours per semester in their children's schools. That's 400 hours, or 57 days per semester (based on a 7 hour school day) of extra, free workers in our schools, and 100 extra bodies making sure that our kids are safe!

For more strategies to help your child achieve in math, go to http://HelpYourChildAchieveInMath.com for a 38 page book.

How Parents Can Help Their Children In Math Over the Holidays

Many of us are eagerly looking forward to the holidays. But the holidays are also an excellent time for parents to help their children excel in math.

Ways to Help Your Child in Math Over the Holidays

1. Instead of hiding the math folders on the bookshelf until the start of school, insist that your child study for a few minutes each day. Studying for as few as 10 minutes per day helps your child not only remember what he's already learned, but also learn new things he may have missed when they were originally brought up in class. Things to have him concentrate on are notes and textbooks from class, fundamental skills such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts, memorizing rules and theorems, and solving word problems.

2. Make grocery shopping a lesson. Tell your child your budget and have her estimate if you will be under or over budget after getting the items on your list. For older kids, have them estimate the tax as well and encourage them to help you come under budget. Do you need to wait to purchase a certain item, or go to a different store to make it happen?

3. Let your child help you with some of the cooking, especially the measuring. Although sometimes it is more difficult to cook when kids are in the kitchen, it is a chance for them to spend time with you and learn, sometimes without realizing it, about math. Resolve to have your child help you with at least one dish for the holiday meal. Aside from measuring, children can also be instrumental in determining how long a meal will take or how many minutes or hours until your guests will arrive.

4. Play games with your child. Of course Monopoly is a math based board game, but you don't have to play specific games to help your child achieve in math. Most board games help with analytical thinking so play, play play!

These are just a few ways to help your child in math over the holidays. Use them and continue to help your child become the best that he can be! For additional ways to help your child in math, I've written a simple book of strategies, much like the ones above. It can be accessed at http://HelpYourChildAchieveInMath.com.

Help With Math

Right now the US is no longer at the top in education. I'm sure that concerns many people, as it should. However, as any child who struggles will likely show you, focusing on the problem will not help. We should be focusing on the solution.

So how can we, as citizens, help our children and our country with education? Expect the best from our children. In the area of math, there are many ways that we can help our children achieve in math. One thing that we can do is to read our children books or articles about math and how it relates to a particular job in society. Let's show our children that math counts outside of the classroom. This will pique their interest in math, and we all know that children participate in what interests them.

To help your child achieve in math, try this out for 4 weeks: Read 2 to 4 books or articles per week to your child math. Choose books or articles that show how people use math in their careers or books or articles about how math can be fun or easy.