Just one tiny mistake and the whole thing is wrong! No wonder many children (not to mention quite a few adults) just give up on maths altogether. Here are a few ideas to help make sense of maths …

Make the most of teachable moments. Although we like to have a formal maths at the same time each day in our house, it’s important to not lose sight of the fact that it is a mathematical world. Maths is everywhere. Teach your children to identify numbers and patterns all around them from an early age and don’t be afraid to use the correct terms.

Relate learning to real life. The main purpose of learning maths is in order to use it so we can function in the real world. Do mental maths at every available opportunity and in a natural way e.g. “How many years is it since Grandma last came to stay?”

Hands up for hands-on. Don’t assume that children are too old for hands-on learning. If they have another strong learning style incorporate that as well e.g. getting them to read the problems out loud - or under their breath. Sometimes, being able to see it in a ‘concrete’ (real) way is all they need to make the light switch on.

Check for comprehension.  Can they explain the concept back to you? The ability to reason helps solidify the concept in their minds and allows you to perform some invaluable informal assessment at the same time. NB This applies to all learning, not just maths.

Verbalisation helps to train the thinking. Stick to the same wording while the concept is being taught e.g. When teaching subtraction with renaming (where one of the bottom numbers is larger than the top), I teach the children to ALWAYS start from the top, right hand number and then say “you can’t do that” if the bottom number is bigger. Then I teach them to say to themselves, “so what do I have to do now?” etc. At the end of the lesson you can talk about other possible answers or strategies as you want to encourage creative thinking but too many variations can lead to mix ups e.g. they might start to subtract the top number from the bottom or start with the wrong column. Incidentally, the same principle applies to teaching handwriting; an internal monologue can really help cement the correct formation which reduces the incidence of letter reversals etc.

Teach strategies. Explain what to do when things don’t go right or if they get stuck. Some things that you might like to try include trying three different ways before asking for help, thinking of another similar concept, breaking the task down into steps e.g. 15x13 = 10x10 + 5x3, estimation and self checking.

If in doubt, go back. If there is a mental block, always go back to the point where success is achieved. This of course seems logical but we often don’t follow this principle because we think they should know it just because we have previously taught it. Sometimes it is just to regain confidence before moving on again.

And the most important lesson of all…? Teach children not to be afraid of “having a go”. In my opinion, fear of failure is one of THE most important factors contributing to children’s lack of progress in maths. If you can encourage them to try, despite the fact that they might make mistakes, they will be well on the road to maths competence. Often the worst enemy is the child’s own lack of confidence and fear of making mistakes. Help them to see that making mistakes is a way of learning and, if necessary, break the marking process down into steps so they can see where they went wrong e.g. was it an addition error, a careless error or a comprehension error?

All the best for maths mastery.

Erena

Erena is married to Alistair and they have two children, Emma (9) and Caleb (5), whom they have been homeschooling since 2002.

Calculator image used from Classroom Clipart