I have been an EMU Specialist since 2010 and for as long as I can remember homework has always been a challenging task. Most parents of students on the program are very motivated and enthusiastic and are ever willing to assist their child. The most frequent question I get asked is, ‘What can I do at home apart from helping with the set homework tasks?’ But almost always, it follows with information that their child is involved with one of the many online maths programs available over the Internet.
Most online programs have a time and place but children who are challenged mathematically need concrete manipulatives and real life experiences to support their learning. They need to see that mathematics is encountered at home and in the community where we engage in the really important mathematics like counting, measuring, locating, designing etc each day of our lives.
Ann Gervasoni, creator of the school based program Extending Mathematical Understanding (EMU), believes to be truly numerate is to be able to apply the mathematical understanding and skills learned at school to solve problems that arise in our day-to-day lives. So what can parents do to support their child’s numeracy learning at home? There are many suggestions on Ann Gervasoni’s website numeracyathome.com. In addition families can create a Numeracy Treasure Chest with task cards of activities that will raise awareness of their daily encounters with mathematics. Asking questions like ‘how did you work it out, or explain what you were thinking,’ can prompt further discussion. It has an added bonus of spending quality family time whilst building a positive attitude towards numeracy. Furthermore children get to be involved in activities they so desperately want to be involved in. Cooking, gardening and shopping will never be the same!
Here are some suggested activities to get started.
- Find some things in your house or garden that are less than one metre long.
- How much liquid did my family drink at dinnertime?
- Trace on a map the route my dad/mum took to the office?
- What things did people do today that took more than 10 minutes?
- How many square metres of carpet are in the house?
- How much milk do you drink a day? How long will it take to finish a litre? How many litres will we need for the week? How many bottles is that?
- You can spend up to $5/2 when we do groceries. What could you buy?
The list is endless and limited only to one’s imagination. Have fun!