Waking up, I stumbled upon this article from Mindshift. In this article, the author talks about how “when it comes to assisting kids with challenging subjects or an unfamiliar way of learning — like the new Common Core math standards and homework that requires approaches very different from those learned in previous generations — frustration that builds from struggling over the homework can foster anxiety.”
I have received similar feedback from parents with the same frustration, so you can imagine my “Ok, there you are!” moment when I saw this article. The math that kids are learning differs greatly from the math that parents learnt previously. Some parents told me that it poses a constant struggle for the family during homework time. This frustration can lead to math anxiety that stays with the child for a long time.
When it comes to assisting kids with challenging subjects or an unfamiliar way of learning — like the new Common Core math standards and homework that requires approaches very different from those learned in previous generations — frustration that builds from struggling over the homework can foster anxiety.
When parents are really high in math anxiety, their children, both boys and girls, learn less math over the school year and become more anxious over the school year.
But what are parents to do with this new information?
“It’s really not enough for us as educators to just say ‘get involved,’” Maloney said. She believes researchers and educators need to develop better tools for parents to understand the math their children are working on so they can help appropriately.
from Mindshift, August 20th, 2015
This is the reason why we started the parent-child workshop earlier this year, and are planning for similar sessions for parents in these coming weeks. In these sessions, we will talk about what “reform math” is, and how Singapore Math helps support the new math that kids are currently doing in school.
Specifically, you will learn about:
- how Singapore Math is often viewed by educators as a balanced curriculum (between traditional and “reform” math);
- Singapore math strategies that your child will be learning in our afterschool program;
- examples of logic reasoning questions, non-routine problems and bar modeling techniques that we use in our lessons;
- how Singapore Math middle school curriculum supports a strong foundation for high school advanced math;
- how Lexington Singapore School challenges our kids with rigor in a nurturing environment.
A little about the presenter
Offering after-school and weekend math classes in Lexington, Grades 1- 8, Lexington Singapore School is founded by Singaporean Kar Hwee Koh (Ed. M.), who has extensive experience teaching Singapore Math in premier schools in Singapore. She also conducts teacher training workshops in the United States, most recently for new teachers at Columbia University Teachers College, and is well versed in areas of problem solving heuristics, early algebraic thinking and lesson study.
Session 1
Date: August 28th 2015, Friday, 7pm to 8pm
Venue: Lexington Singapore School (807 Massachusetts Ave Lexington, MA 02420)
To register: https://goo.gl/j6wdXO
Session 2
Date: August 29th 2015, Saturday, 10am to 11am
Venue: Lexington Singapore School (807 Massachusetts Ave Lexington, MA 02420)
To register: https://goo.gl/eDqWNb
Session 3
Date: September 24th 2015, Thursday, 6.30am to 7.30pm
Venue: Cambridge Community Center (5 Callender St, Cambridge, MA 02139)
To register: https://goo.gl/ybE9n6
Session 4
Date: September 21st 2015, Monday, 7pm to 8pm (for current parents)
Venue: Lexington Singapore School (807 Massachusetts Ave Lexington, MA 02420)
To register: https://goo.gl/sRMIRP