Yet another Math program?
I was approached recently by Bon Crowder and Wil Devine from Math Is Not a Four Letter Word (www.MathFour.com) to ask if I’d be happy to recommend their new That’s Math! program to Maths Insider readers.
Well, at first I was skeptical… there are hundreds of websites and books that offer solutions to math anxiety, fear and low grades. What would make this any different?
But since I already know Bon’s work on MathFour.com (she’s got a reputation for giving value and providing great content on that website), I figured I’d give them a listen.
They told me that this was NOT just another program for kids. In fact – it’s really for parents!
Bon explained that children can develop math avoidance just like they can develop bug-avoidance – by seeing the reactions of grownups to it. WhatBon and Will have done is create this program to counteract math avoidance just like we would counteract bug-avoidance. Teach ourselves to quit freaking whenever we see a critter with more legs than the family dog!
And since they built it with lots of info from research, I decided to take That’s Math! for a spin to see for myself if it was worth recommending.
That’s Math – An interactive membership site for parents
Right from the start, Bon and Wil impressed me with their ability to lay everything out in a simple step by step manner.
The quick reference cards provide parents with printable sets of questions to help them SEE MATH. They can take these into their own world to SAY MATH or use the provided exercises to practice online anywhere. They can even share their successes with other parents!
At the end of each module they can print out a worksheet and a coloring page to DO MATH with their kids. And there’s even a list of activities!
One of the things that you might struggle with is accepting the thought that changing the way you talk about math can really help your kids. It’s tempting to keep searching for things for them – and ignoring the modeling you might be doing. Remember the bug?
But…
With the That’s Math! program, you’ll be able to see how your positive math talk makes a difference in just a few short weeks.
Real life math for curious parents and kids
The That’s Math! program currently provides:
4 Areas: That’s Math! in the Bathroom, Kitchen, Outdoors & Grocery Store
20 printable Quick Reference Cards
Over 100 questions to help you find math in your world
60 exercises covering 20 items in your world
60 printable activity pages, worksheets, and coloring pages to do with your children
The program is suitable for parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. Even teachers!
The great thing about this course is that it’s simple – and it’s so easy to see your effort really change your children’s math confidence and engagement, even as a Maths Insider, I found some great math talking points to share with my kids!
I’m happy to recommend this program to anyone who’s serious about improving their child’s lifetime math learning. It’s actually less than $5 to try for the first month, that’s less than 17c a day for unlimited access to the curiosity inducing questions and activities.
So check it out, here’s the link www.thatsmath.com
A well written article written Caroline :) I am really impressed by your accurate and perfect description of #thatsmath. Well, personally for me as rightly said by you as well the product looks so very refreshing and new. Bon and Wil have tried their best and worked so hard in coming out this product that the result is there for all of us to see.
Thank you Caroline for pointing out the website and of course describing so very well #thatsmath. Being a part of the Math fraternity I can safely and proudly recommend this #Math gold mine to all the parents who want to introduce the subject Math to their kids. This product will serve as a starting point for all you dear parents and yes as Bon and Wil emphasize, you will soon enough “See Math, Say Math and Do Math”
A proud brother
Vijay
@bucharesttutor on Twitter