Is this a familiar scene?  You are sitting at the kitchen table, helping your child with homework, and struggling to help him memorize math facts and formulas.  Learning feels like a chore instead of a joy.

While 80 percent of traditional mathematics teaching relies on drilling and memorization, it can also be boring, frustrating and discouraging for children.  Parents can help to make math fun and approachable by linking it to real-world examples. 

“Memorization of math facts and formulas is an important part of math instruction,” explains Richard E. Bavaria, vice president of education for Sylvan Learning Center, the nation’s leading provider of tutoring services.  “In order for children to really understand even basic math facts, they must discover them in the world around them.”

Instill the joy of learning math with your child by using fun games and activities to help them apply what they’ve learned.  The following are some examples recommended by Sylvan Learning Center:

• Play popular board games that require basic math skills.  Chutes and Ladders® and RackO® develop number sense.  “24” and Yahtzee® help computation speed and accuracy.  Problem solving skills are developed through games like TriOminos® and Connect Four®.

A deck of cards can be a valuable math tool.  Card games begin to teach the lesson of probability.  Using a deck of cards is also a great way to reinforce addition and subtraction memorization for children learning basic math facts. 

• Relate math to your child’s favorite sport.  Ask them to calculate the number of points needed for their favorite team to win.  Encourage them to create multiple point combinations to reach that score.

• Use driving time as math game time.  Invite children to figure out how long it will take to get to your destination or estimate how much it will cost to fill up the gas tank.

• Dominoes are a great game for children of all ages.  Smaller children can use them to organize similar quantities, while older children can explore the concepts of probability.

Sylvan Learning Center publishes a “Seven Days of Activities for Family Learning Fun,” which provides other suggestions for enjoyable educational programs and activities for parents and children.  For more information visit www.educate.com/familyfun or call 1-800-31-SUCCESS.

Lee Ann Beall is the Center Director at the Columbia  Sylvan Learning Center, the leading provider of in-center and live, online tutoring at home to students of all ages and skill levels. With more than 25 years of experience and nearly 1,200 centers located throughout North America, Sylvan Learning Center has positively changed the lives of over two million students and families.  Sylvan's trained and certified teachers provide personalized instruction in reading, writing, mathematics, study skills and test-prep for college entrance and state exams.  At Sylvan, students develop the skills to do better in school and the confidence to do better in everything else.  For more information regarding the Sylvan Advantage™, call 1-800-31-SUCCESS or visit www.educate.com/info.