Of course, early reading is essential, but did you know early math skills are a better predictor of academic success?
According to experts, reciting numbers from one to 10 doesn’t count. That’s because the skill being developed here is memorizing. It doesn’t immensely help with problem-solving and logical thinking.
For parents who don’t want their kids to struggle in math, an early start can help. Wishing their kids will “catch up” in later grades may work, but it’s better to enroll their young children in a preschool with a straightforward approach to teaching math. This approach should include sorting, measurement, patterns, etc.
To learn more about the benefits of teaching kids math, read on. We’ll also talk about tips for helping your child learn basic math skills.
Why Teaching Math Skills to Young Kids Matter
Early childhood education, emphasizing math skills, can help kids do well in elementary and high school. The better they are at these skills, the more they’ll likely do well in the labor market.
Since math is logic’s language, it helps build reasoning. If kids know how to organize their thoughts more logically, their comprehension will also improve.
It’s also crucial to remember that teaching kids math early is an excellent way to develop a growth mindset. That means there’s no reason for kids to accept that they’re bad at math. If they’re struggling with, let’s say, multiplication, they can discover more ways to learn the skill and get better at it even if their parents believe they don’t have “math genes.”
Some Tips on How to Teach Kids Math
One of the first things kids need to learn is to count forward and backward. This is called number sense, and it’s the foundation for advanced math concepts and calculations.
However, as mentioned earlier, it’s not enough for kids to memorize the numbers. Children should understand the relationships between numbers and represented items.
For example, the basics of counting can be taught through pictures of animals or toys to help children recognize that a specific number represents the items depicted. Try using images (e.g., three monkeys, seven trucks, etc.). Next would be mastering the concepts of addition and subtraction.
Ideally, kids should learn to add and subtract before reaching elementary school to help them with multiplication and division later on. Other concepts to teach are spatial sense (geometry) and estimation. Spatial sense involves shapes, sizes, positions, directions, and movements, while estimation focuses on the meaning of terms like more, less, bigger, smaller, and so on.
Are Your Kids Ready to Improve Their Math Skills?
Now that you know the importance of teaching math skills, will you enroll them in pre-school soon? If you want to homeschool them, we hope you’ll remember the fundamental mathematical concepts they should learn before reaching elementary school.
You may scroll through our other posts if you need more tips and advice. We also have plenty of parenting articles that may help.
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