Encouraging math interest?

[LibrarianMom]

Hello! My dd is thus far a good student in all subjects but enjoys reading most of all. On several occasions she has indicated that she doesn't like math because reading is "her thing." She has also made some comments about girls not being good at math which I guess she has picked up at school. I really don't want her to become anti-math at such a young age (2nd grade). Does anyone have any suggestions on how we can help her develop an interest in math or at least not dislike it as much?

[samba2nite]

We are big kumon fans. While it is not for everyone...it has changed my son who was in the "math is not my thing camp" to "math is my best subject" I have all of my kids in the program and all of them love math at school since the Kumon exercises has made it so easy for them to understand. They take great pride in being the top math kids in their classes. I love that when my girls to math games and challenges at school none of the boys want to go against them. They both comment how the boys are frightened of them in math...a great position to be in as a young girl. We supplement school with 10 - 20 minutes everyday 360 days a year with Kumon Math. It takes a HUGE committment but it WORKS and I never thought my kids would look forward to learning the next level but they are...

[Rosie_0801]

I've never used this, but it is the cutest thing I've ever seen, so I want it!
http://www.livelylessons.com/Nobleknights.html

Rosie

[EmilyK]

If she enjoys being read to, I would read with her the readers listed at


http://www.livingmath.net/ReadersbyConcept/tabid/268/Default.aspx

And if she's someone who likes board games, I'd play board games with her that have a math focus.

http://www.livingmath.net/GamesMisc/Games/tabid/391/language/en-US/Default.aspx

[random_outlaw]

I afterschool DS with RightStart math and he loves it. He begs for math and always chooses it first. I think RightStart is a really fun program, and I've had no trouble fitting it into our (literacy heavy) afterschool schedule.

[LibrarianMom]

I have the RightStart games which we have enjoyed. I'm going to need to be more consistent in playing them. I have also enjoyed looking through the Living Math resources and need to find more ways of tying math into other activities.

[KarenAnne]

Here are some resources we dabbled in to try to deal with the same issue:

The Math Book for Girls and Other Beings Who Count, by Valerie Wyatt
Games For Math, by Peggy Kaye
The I Hate Math Book, by Marilyn Burns
Family Math, by Jean Kerr Stenmark

Don't count out math games of all kinds. There are a lot of spatial strategy games which are highly mathematical in nature even though looking at them on the shelf you might not automatically think: Oh, math. ThinkFun usually sells a lot of clever little games at Barnes and Noble and other bookstores. RiverCrossing, Rush Hour, Gobblett, and similar games are very good at developing mathematical thinking skills in the larger (i.e. not just computational) sense.