Help Your Child Excel in Math

Help Your Child Excel in Math offers parents and teachers ideas and techniques for making math fun and interesting to children who enjoy math and those who don’t. It contains practical examples, based on the author’s experience, of methods that parents and teachers can use to help children to excel in math. Wang’s unique math techniques are presented, offering shortcuts for solving problems and methods of turning poor addition, subtraction and multiplication skills around quickly. Using personal examples from his own experiences of teaching math to his three daughters, and others, Wang shares a novel approach to the subject.

MATH is like a pair of BLUE JEANS. Finding a good pedagogy to teach children math is like finding a pair of comfortable jeans. (Preface)

Time is a treasure. By not seizing the opportunity to teach them adequately when they are young, we may be leaving children unprepared for future opportunities. How you spend your time is how you spend your life. … (Page 106)

Plan for consistent educational time with children. Many fathers have told me that they only have free time on weekends. They say that they spend lots of time with their children in sporting events on weekends. This is good, but I believe they could be spending their time better if they incorporated some academic time with their children to go along with athletic instruction… (Page 109)

Teaching by heart. When people ask me how I found a Child-learning Method …, my answer is two words: "by heart." And this is a lesson to all parents: as an outgrowth of your love for your child, you should challenge yourself to teach your child as much as you can, and find creative ways to teach abstract concepts. … (Page 181)

Encouragement and persistence. If I had not continued to encourage Sonia, she probably would have lost her self-assurance or her interest in math. … (Page 45)

Support, understanding and attention create a strong and close connection among teachers, students and parents. I have found that working with my daughter, Sonia, has created a strong and close connection between us. … (Page 64)

Using interesting materials when teaching abstract math concepts. To foster students’ interest, we must teach them abstract concepts in a fun manner. It is essential to use enjoyable materials and to teach in an entertaining way. (Page 158)

Specially Designed Child-Sized Abacus. Use the abacus to turn your child’s addition and subtraction skills around fast. This visual tool helps children do addition and subtraction exercises rapidly. (Appendix I)

Chapter 1
Teaching and Learning Math at the Elementary School Level: The First Equation

Why Math Is Important
As we begin the 21st century, advances in science and technology will be unparalleled. A command of math will be necessary for anyone who wants to compete in the global job market or our technological society. Don t let your child get left behind by his or her math incompetence. Children who are proficient in math will have an advantage in the future and will be qualified for advanced educational and career opportunities.

What are other purposes of learning math? There are many purposes, such as using math to reach higher levels of learning, opportunity and achievement. But, the most fundamental purpose is to develop a child s brain and improve his or her intellectual performance. Studies have shown that learning math can help to develop the brain and increase intelligence scores. Like a computer that has two components, hardware and software, the human intellect consists of two parts as well: the brain (hardware) and knowledge (software). Every person has a brain from birth, but knowledge comes from learning and experience.

Computers will not function if they have no software (operating systems and applications) installed. In a similar way, our brains don t function well without opportunities to learn and gain knowledge. When I compare my daughters childhood to my own, I am certain that they have more knowledge at their young ages than I did as a child and in some ways, they may have more knowledge than I do now! For example, they started learning negative numbers in fourth grade while my generation learned them in sixth grade. They also have equipment and learning aids that I did not have. They regularly use computers and the Internet to do their homework. Many children are more adept at using these wonderful tools of technology than their parents.

To function most efficiently, the brain needs to be developed through learning and exposure to knowledge. Students in elementary school are developing their bodies, their brains and their knowledge through teaching in language arts, social studies, mathematics, science, art and physical education. I believe that students should spend about 40% of their time learning language arts and social studies, and another 40% percent learning mathematics and science.

Math is a unique subject; it is also the foundation of the sciences. At the elementary school level, math introduces children to number sense, shapes and problem-solving strategies. Math cannot be replaced by any other subject. The following ten examples from Explore the Secrets of Math illustrate my assertion that learning math elevates scores on intelligence tests. Without understanding numbers, number sense, shapes and problem-solving strategies, students would not be able to solve the following sample problems.

Example 1: First grade level.
There are five monkeys in a line. There is a frog between each pair of monkeys. How many frogs are there in the line?
-Explore the Secrets of Math Level 1 Book 2 Page 1-34

To solve the problem, the student must understand numbers, number sense, the terms: "between" and "each

There are different ways to solve this problem. The easiest way is to use the least common multiple concept. Without knowing what the least common multiple concept is and how to use it, coming up with an effective strategy could be very challenging.

Example 10: Fifth and sixth grade levels.
Oriana swims the freestyle for 65% of 2,600 meters. Gina swims the freestyle more meters than Oriana, but both girls swim the other strokes for the same distance. Gina swims the freestyle for 75% of her distance. How many more meters does Gina swim than Oriana?
-Explore the Secrets of Math Level 5 Book 2 Page 2-30

By drawing from their foundation in mathematics, students can identify percentage concepts and problem-solving strategies to use when solving this problem.

The most basic reason for learning math is brain development. Through learning math, children can develop their minds, increase their knowledge and, in general, just become more intelligent. Being smart includes having good problem-solving skills and good strategies for solving problems in better ways.

Teaching and Learning
Teaching and learning are the two fundamental activities at the elementary school level. Teaching involves the presentation of knowledge, while learning is accepting and processing that knowledge. Teachers not only teach in the classroom setting, but they also learn. Likewise, students not only learn, but they also teach. Teachers demonstrate initiative in both teaching and learning. While some students