The rallying cry is beginning its slow crescendo. In her brilliant piece, "Calling all Moms, stop saying that!" Nicole Bryan discusses how frequently we moms discourage our girls from pursuing math without meaning to. Kelly Wallace expands on the same, citing renound academic Jo Boaler and her experiences with "damaged" Stanford undergrads and grads - all wounded by the false assumption that math...
Family life is busy. But wouldn't it be great to fill those few minutes we have of our child's undivided attention - while driving to activities or making dinner - with a fun intellectual activity? We think so too. That's why we've created 'Math on the Go:' a list of three to five math activities that we'll provide every few weeks that you can do as a family.
Once you have begun to tell your young child that she may have just one candy, you have launched her on her math journey. Eventually, you will introduce her to bigger numbers by asking her to place three or four spoons on the dinner table, to use five colored pencils for her drawing, or to invite ten friends to her birthday party.
There is a prevailing public sentiment that math is something to be feared. Many adults readily admit their aversion to the subject, proclaiming a proclivity for literature or the arts instead. This math anxiety begins in childhood, as early as first grade and is compounded through a child's personal history of math fatigue and negative experience in math classes. No adult in their sane mind...
