Dear ADDitude: How Can We Weave Math Lessons Into Our Summer?

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ADDitude Answers

If you are planning a family vacation, prompt your child to go online and research the distance between here and there. Say, “If our car gets, say, 20 miles to a gallon of gas and gas costs $2.50 a gallon, how much is it going to cost us to get there?”

If your child wants to buy tickets to a sporting event or miniature golf, have her check the price online for adult tickets and children’s tickets, then calculate a total cost for the family.

If your child wants to buy a new outfit, she should go through the catalogs or web sites to do some comparative shopping. At restaurants, you can play the game of estimating the price of the meal, making sure to calculate taxes. Then your child can help you figure out how much to leave the server for a tip. Using cash can make this easier to grasp for tactile learners, but it’s not necessary.

- Answered by Sandra Rief, M.A.

A Reader Answers

My response is so simple and yet not easy! Repetition, repetition, repetition. Math is VERY difficult for my child due to her memory issues, so she requires many more repetitions of the tasks. Back in 3rd grade when she was learning her multiplication tables, it was something we had to practice all year. We practiced a lot in the car. To this day at the age of 14, her teachers always comment on how solid her multiplication is. When it comes to memory issues, there’s no easy answer. It’s a lot of work, but practice, practice, practice!

- Posted by dmschott@pacbell.net

This question was originally posed during this webinar: Fun Ways to Boost Your Child's Academic Skills During the Summer