Provides practical guidance on developing and reinforcing mathematical skills in preschool- through elementary-school-age children. The booklet contains activities for making learning experiences out of everyday routines, such as grocery shopping and doing laundry, using materials found in the home. Parents get step-by-step tips on a range of activities, including using: (1) rhythm and song to explore mathematics; (2) a walk in the park to introduce children to arithmetic operations such as addition and subtraction; (3) sorting games to introduce young children to such operations as classification and measurement; (4) bathroom and kitchen scales to prepare children for using equipment in school to weigh and measure; (5) advertised prices in a newspaper to estimate the cost of items on a shopping list; (6) a family vacation to reinforce map skills and to teach the relationship between 2 quantities such as miles per hour; (7) games that involve chance to introduce the concept of probability; and (8)the special functions of a calculator to expand children’s knowledge of arithmetic operations. Parents can help their children succeed as mathematical students by visiting their school, checking homework and other assignments, and helping them see that mathematics is an essential component of everyday life.
