This is why your kid hate maths

Reading time: 4 min 50 sec

Hey 👋  - How have you guys been?

Do you belong to the team "I hated maths as a kid"

Then, it must be difficult to convince your kids to love maths right?

Recently Adi attended a birthday party where kids were asked to recite the multiplication table,

Adi was silent, he didn't know the tables. So he chose to keep quiet. He was upset about it.

But I have come across parents who like to display their kid's ability of reciting multiplication tables.

Perhaps it's their trauma of suffering in their classroom as a child that they now force kids to mug up the tables. 

Adi is taking his own time to learn timetables and I am seeing that he can make more sense this way.

He knows that 2 times 6 is 12, he is not randomly memorizing it. 

I have spent a lot of time understanding if maths tables should be forced on kids. 

According to Jo Boaler who is a British Education officer " “Drilling without understanding is harmful, I’m not saying that math facts aren’t important. I’m saying that math facts are best learned when we understand them and use them in different situations.”

On the other had Mary Morris who is a senior advisor at Kumon (which offers after-school Programs), “You need that automaticity to build a foundation and go to the next step"

She pointed out brain science studies that have shown that repetition helps build synapses in the brain. “Until you have the repetition, you can’t build the paths,” 

But Like Boalers says that this memorization should come from the usage of tables not just drilling before they even understand the purpose and calculation behind it. 

I rather choose to go with Boaler, so I create opportunities where my son would need to use the tables, hence he will learn it automatically. 

I have discussed this topic in detail in the blog. The link is below

I think we make too much fuss when it comes to teaching maths to kids. 

Sadly kids start hating things we like them to learn. 

We have started practicing maths in the holidays, just so that he doesn't forget everything. 

We decided we could work on maths every day for 20 minutes. 

This way it wouldn't be too much for him. 

I also tried using an app called Prodigy, so that he would learn in a fun way. But soon I realized, he was losing interest. 

It was working better when I worked with him. 

So now, I make sure to be available when he is practising his sums.

This week Adi learnt Banana DNA extraction in his class. 

This is a very interesting activity to try with your kid. 

Ingredients:

• Banana

• Liquid soap

• Alcohol/nail polish remover/Sanitizer

• Strianer

• Water 1 cup

• Salt

Step 1: Mash the Banana in a cup 

Step 2: Add salt to warm water Fill the glass half full with warm water. Add the salt, then stir with a teaspoon until dissolved.

Step 3: Add few drops of washing up liquid Add washing up liquid to the glass and stir.

Step 4: Pour into the bag.Pour the liquid it into the banana bowl. Mix it well.

Step 5: Sieve Put the sieve on top of a vessel and pour the contents of the bowl. Let the liquid drain through.

Step 6: Pour the drained liquid into a glass.Pour the drained liquid into a glass. 

Step 7: Add the  alcohol Pour the alcohol down the side into your glass. Watch the bottom of your cup! White strands which look like cotton should appear. This is your banana DNA – the instructions to make a banana!

Step 8: Pick out the DNA!You can use a skewer to pick out the DNA

See this here- 

After, I hurt my knee last week. 

I am unable to take long walks to the market for our walks. 

So, we have started little walks after dinner. 

Adi talks about his friends and his experience in the playground. 

Last 2 weeks he didnt play with his friends after he had a fight. 

But today he planned to resolve it all by himself, he approached them. 

He says they tease him but now he knows to handle it. 

I guess if children are given enough time, they figure out how to handle their friends, 

But at the same time we should give them the confidence that they can share anything with us. If you are interested to read more on this topic, find  the link below 

Yeah so we discovered something in our last night walk.

check this out - 

Cheers, Priyanka

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