To support your child’s efforts at school you can continue the lessons they learn in the classroom by helping them to develop their numeracy skills at home.

You may feel that the maths your children do at school is different to what you were taught, but you can help in many ways:

- help your child to enjoy the maths they do at school by offering encouragement and asking about the work they bring home from school

- when travelling, play games such as counting the cars by colour or if you are travelling by bus or train ask your child to read the timetable to decide what time you’ll get home

- talk to you child about how numeracy is related to sports – to keep score, measure distance and indicate time

- involve your child when preparing a meal and help them decide how much food to prepare for the whole family and whether there will be enough ingredients

- when shopping, use the catalogue specials to talk about discounts and whether it is cheaper to buy larger-sized products or a few smaller products

Talk with your child’s teacher about numeracy at home and at school and raise any concerns with them.

For more ideas on helping your child with their numeracy visit: www.education.qld.gov.au/parents/map/

Julie Bowd