A Child-Led Approach to Developing a Love of Math

How many times have you heard, I don’t like math? It’s no surprise that math isn’t the favorite subject for many children and adults, as it can be confusing and challenging at times. If your child has recently started homeschooling, it’s a good idea to determine how they are learning and if they are enjoying their homeschooling math experience. One of the most popular ways to homeschool math is through the child-led approach.

Why Child-Led Education for Homeschooling Math?

The idea may surprise some people that math can be fun for kids. The key is to find an environment in which children feel safe to explore mathematics without feeling pressured or frustrated. Homeschoolers often excel in college math courses, since they use unique learning methods tailored to their personal needs.

Child-led methods, with the help of textbooks or other materials if necessary, can guide children through concepts, allowing them to enjoy mathematics and explore new topics at their own pace.

What Does it Look Like in Practice?

The key to successfully homeschooling math is teaching through hands-on, interactive, and engaging activities. It’s important for children to do math on their own in everyday situations. Parents can help answer any questions. It’s important for children to see how math connects with their daily life.

What are Some Sample Homeschooling Math Activities?

Homeschooling math activities can be tailored to any child’s interest. One way is by using word problems to help them learn math concepts. You might ask your child their favorite animals, and use math to calculate how many animals exist on the planet. With this approach, children solve math problems they care about and want answers for.

These activities make math enjoyable for kids, fostering a positive attitude towards math. Homeschoolers develop these positive associations through playing with numbers in everyday tasks. Children become motivated to learn mathematics through discovery and application.

• Eye Spy is a math game in which children describe and guess objects; for example, they might think of three things that are not rectangular in shape.
• Math Tic-Tac-Toe is a game that you can play with your child as a math activity. In this game, you draw a number card and depending on the square, add or subtract the number on the card. You win by getting three of your cards in a row horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.
• Grocery Store Homeschooling Math can be played at home or in the grocery store with only a calculator and shopping list. Ask your child to calculate the total cost of each item by multiplying the unit cost by the number. Use coupons and sales for subtraction.

How can parents assess their children’s progress?

Parents can track their children’s progress by keeping a math journal that includes daily lessons, solved problems, requests for assistance, new topics or skills learned, understanding of lessons, and practice outside of schoolwork.

Parents might also want to ask their children questions like these at the end of every lesson. For example: What would you like to work on next? What concepts did you find most difficult? What have we been able to skip over this week?