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How can you help without the 'tech touch'?
As parents, we get home at night, everyone is exhausted but there's still so much to be done. Homework, dinner, housework, the list goes on and on. What you need to realize is that sometimes to help your child with mathematics, you don't necessarily need to sit down and formally set up a specific activity. Simply talking math can make a world of difference. When you're in the kitchen cooking dinner you can discuss measurements: temperature of the oven or the size of one amount compared to the size of another amount. Compare the length of certain events to familiar lengths of time. For example, a drive to Kingston is the same amount of time as watching your child's favourite cartoon on tv. Just talking things through and keeping the question, "Does this make sense?" in the back of your mind is going to be helpful. Let your child have the time that they need to process information. It's okay if times tables aren't automatic, but that your child has a strategy to get the answer. Our goal is to move away from the need for speed in mathematics and more toward the importance of "Does it make sense?" Just because your child has memorized a particular mathematical idea (eg. times tables, simple addition facts) does not necessarily mean that they understand the concept.
Time is often a math concept that is informally discussed in your house. My children want to know how long until a birthday party or bedtime, or how many days before a certain event. These are prime opportunities to discuss the number of minutes in an hour, hours in a day, days in a week, and so on. These important mental math concepts also help my children to know their schedules and to feel success with an essential math concept.
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