HELPING YOUR CHILD
LEARN MATH
with activities for children
aged 5 through 13
By Patsy F. Kanter
Foreword
"Why?"
This is the question we parents are always
trying to answer. It's good that children ask questions: that's
the best way to learn. All children have two wonderful resources
for learning--imagination and curiosity. As a parent, you can
awaken your children to the joy of learning by encouraging their
imagination and curiosity.
Helping Your Child Learn Math is one
in a series of books on different education topics intended to
help you make the most of your child's natural curiosity. Teaching
and learning are not mysteries that can only happen in school.
They also happen when parents and children do simple things together.
For instance, you and your child can:
sort socks on laundry day--sorting is a major function in math
and science;cook a meal together--cooking involves not only math
and science but good health as well; tell and read each other
stories--storytelling is the basis for reading and writing (and
a story about the past is also history); or play a game of hopscotch
together--playing physical games will help your child learn to
count and start on a road to lifelong fitness.
By doing things together, you will show
that learning is fun and important. You will be encouraging your
child to study, learn, and stay in school.
All of the books in this series tie in
with the National Education Goals set by the President and the
Governors. The goals state that, by the year 2000: every child
will start school ready to learn; at least 90 percent of all
students will graduate from high school; each American student
will leave the 4th, 8th, and 12th grades demonstrating competence
in core subjects; U.S. students will be first in the world in
math and science achievement; every American adult will be literate,
will have the skills necessary to compete in a global economy,and
will be able to exercise the rights and responsibilities of citizenship;
and American schools will be liberated from drugs and violence
so they can focus on learning.
This book is a way for you to help meet
these goals. It will give you a short run down on facts, but
the biggest part of the book is made up of simple, fun activities
for you and your child to do together. Your child may even beg
you to do them. At the end of the book is a list of resources,
so you can continue the fun.
As U.S. Education Secretary Lamar Alexander
has said: "The first teachers are the parents, both by
example and conversation." But don't think of it as
teaching. Think of it as fun.
So, let's get started. I invite you to
find an activity in this book and try it.
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