How to Cure Math Anxiety
Math Anxiety is an Epidemic
How to Cure Math Anxiety
If you were to ask any child what her most feared field was, most probably she would reply math. Math is tough; there is no doubt about that. Learning math takes lots of effort. But the sad truth is that many parents leave 100% of the responsibility of teaching to school teachers. However, that is a mistake for the best math students are being heavily coached at home.
Steps to Overcoming Math Anxiety
If your child doesn't take to math like a duck to water, don't despair. Kids were not built for math. In fact, there is no such thing as a natural-born math whiz. Here are the steps to take if you want your child to overcome her math anxiety and become a math whiz. Don't worry, there is no such thing as too late even if she is in high school.
1. Go Backwards
If your child has serious difficulties with math, start with the grade level she can favorably handle. So if your child is currently in 5th Grade, you might have to start with 4th Grade or even 3rd Grade math. That is all right. Don't think that you are insulting her intelligence. Just tell your child that you have a proven strategy for helping her ace her math tests at school.
2. Lots and Lots of Math Problems
Buy lots of workbooks for your child. Get her to solve lots of math problems. You can also download worksheets from the internet. You can start slow but over time your child should be spending at least an hour a day on math. I am not joking. Since your child is starting with math problems at a lower grade level she shouldn't find it all that difficult and dreary.
3. Make it Fun and Funny
Make your math lessons fun by cracking jokes and showing lots of enthusiasm when you are teaching her. Show her your love for math. Hopefully, that will be contagious.
You can even generate your own funny math problems. Instead of the boring "If John has 3 marbles and Jenny has 5 more marbles than John, how many marbles do they have altogether?" you could write "If Witch Wilda has 3 hairy warts on her slimy tongue and Wizard Woku has 5 more warts on his slimy tongue than Witch Wilda, how many gross warts do they have altogether?" you would have a much better response from your child, after she has stopped giggling.
4. Praise and Build Self-Esteem
Every time your child finishes her work to the best of her ability, praise her for her effort. "You for real worked hard to solve those problems. I am so proud of you!" Your child will come to love your praise and attentiveness and will work harder to earn more praise.
Always praise her for her effort, but don't ever call her a math whiz. That is because your child must learn the all-important part that any challenge can be overcome by hard work, not by talent alone. This will also preclude her from being crippled in the time to come by math anxiety if she has mystery with a particularly tough math problem. Instead, she will have faith in her potential to solve any curious problem. She will know that as long as she has the right attitude she will eventually learn how to solve any math question, no matter how terribly difficult it may seem to be at the moment.
5. Promote Your Child
If you do it right, your child will come to love math and will hunger for more math questions. As she gets better and better, you will soon find that she has concluded one grade level and will be ready to move on to the next. Go ahead and promote her to the next grade level. Don't be surprised if in a year's time she has completed a few grades and is even ahead of her peers!
In Conclusion
Rome was not built in a day, and neither will your child's math skills. It will take patience, estimation and love on your part to help your child build her self-confidence in math. Happy teaching!
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