Strollerderby
Elementary School Offers Math Classes… for Parents
How do you find the area of a circle? What’s Pythagorean’s theorem? What’s the difference between sine and cosine?
You don’t remember, do you?
For many of us, it will have been 30 years or more when we start having to help our kids with their math homeowrk. Thirty years during which the most extensive math most of us have done is balancing the checkbook or counting the minutes between contractions. How are we supposed to help our kids with their homework when we don’t even know how to do it ourselves?
Robison Elementary School in Tucson has the solution. And no, “Google it!” is not their solution. (Though that works, too.)
The school is offering math workshops to parents aimed at helping them help their kids. These workshops will teach the parents the same skills the kids are learning in the classroom, using techniques that may be unfamiliar to parents, like using “manipulatives” (whatever those are).
What do you think? Would you take a class like this one?
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7 Comments
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amPythagoras’ theorem. Commonly called the Pythagorean theorem, but his name wasn’t Pythagorean.
I agree with BG – you need the class.
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amPythagoras’ theorem. Commonly called the Pythagorean theorem, but his name wasn’t Pythagorean.
I agree with BG – you need the class.
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amKeriF – You obviously need to take this class. The illustration that accompanies this article is not even accurate. Only the writing in blue is correct; the black “formulas” have no mathematical accuracy. For me, this causes Strollerderby to lose all credibility.
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amI’d take it. “That’s okay, I’ll wait for dad to get home” from your 3rd grader gets old fast. It’s not just about knowing the answer, it’s helping your kid learn the answer the new way that’s hard.
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amIt is a good idea, but…
Allow me to channel my 8th grade self – why are we learning it if we’re NEVER going to use it?*
*I know the answer. I know it helps build the brain and build analytical and study skills. But, c’mon, you gotta appreciate the absurdity that we have to relearn skills we forgot because we never used them so we can help our kids learn them…so they can forget about them and never use them.
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amManipulatives are physical objects used by students to understand a mathematical concept in a concrete way. Example: students can use beans to demonstrate addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amNot a bad idea. I think classes to help parents help their kids in general sound like a good thing.
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