Conversations around numeracy
Build their confidence
Help your child achieve their best by having high, but realistic, expectations of them. Let them know that you believe they can do well at maths and give praise when they put in effort and show progress.
Build a strong foundation
Try looking through their maths workbook together. Ask them to explain the examples their teacher has already worked through with the class. Can they apply this to some more examples? If your child expresses that they did not completely understand the concepts covered in maths class that day, encourage them to talk to their teacher.
Stay positive
Try to talk positively about mathematics with your child—even if you struggled with it at school yourself. Saying ‘I was bad at maths’ can lower your child’s own expectations of themselves and can give them an excuse not to try.
Talk about maths
Talk about how maths is used in everyday life and find real-life examples for the maths they learn at school. For example, you can talk about household bills, such as electricity and water, analyse the graphs on the bills and discuss the costs and ways to reduce energy or water consumption. Or get your child to research the costs of different mobile phone plans to find the best value option for them based on call costs, calling patterns, their phone usage and previous bills.