Some Ideas and Suggestions for Offline Math
> Talk about math as you show your child how you use math in your life. Some examples are:
> Model the old adage “try, try, try again!” Develop persistence and flexibility in thinking by encouraging and allowing many ways to approach a problem: “Can you think of a different way to put the shapes together?”
> Spend time talking about your positive math experiences in school and life. Children are often influenced by the attitudes of the adults around them: “When I was a kid, I used to love playing card games, too.” or “Math can be hard, but if we keep trying we’ll get it.”.
- using the clock to be on time or plan ahead: “If dinner is at six o’clock, we need to set the table in 15 minutes.” or “If grandma is going to be on Facetime at 4:30, we should finish gardening and wash our hands by 4:25.”
- reading schedules for television or live streaming read alouds: “The movie starts at six o’clock so we’ll be able to finish watching it before bedtime.” or “If we want to watch Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems live at 10 am, we have to make sure we’ve finished our morning walk by about a quarter to ten.
- remarking upon your child’s ability to identify the time at which you commenced or completed an activity: “You said that walking the dog would probably take an hour. We started at 8 am and now it’s 9 am, so you were bang on!” or “You’re right! You usually brush your teeth at almost exactly 7:46 am!”
> Model the old adage “try, try, try again!” Develop persistence and flexibility in thinking by encouraging and allowing many ways to approach a problem: “Can you think of a different way to put the shapes together?”
> Spend time talking about your positive math experiences in school and life. Children are often influenced by the attitudes of the adults around them: “When I was a kid, I used to love playing card games, too.” or “Math can be hard, but if we keep trying we’ll get it.”.