Math Power: How to Help Your Child Love Math, Even if You Don't, Revised Edition

You may be shocked to learn that in America, twenty-four states have no math requirements at all for prospective elementary school teachers. Until states require their teachers to learn more math, parents are their children's primary hope.

Pat Kenschaft, a mathematician and mother of two, believes that although math phobia is rampant, it is unnecessary. With this guide, any child can overcome mediocre math teaching in school and parental math anxiety at home. Kenschaft shares with parents her strategies for understanding and teaching math concepts, explaining what math really is and how it works. Her lively techniques for understanding math--through games, questions, and conversations, as well as specific math activities--can help preschoolers to ten year olds develop math ability.

A detailed appendix for parents who homeschool their children is included in this edition. Accessible and authoritative, MATH POWER will help you inspire your children mathematically by giving them the tools they need for academic and real-world success.

Patricia Clark Kenschaft is professor of mathematics at Montclair State University in New Jersey. In addition to teaching university students, she has taught mathematics to thousands of elementary schoolchildren. She is the author or coauthor of 8 books on math, including the forthcoming CHANGE IS POSSIBLE: Stories of Women and Minorities in Mathematics.

HELP YOUR CHILD LOVE MATH

In America today, many elementary school teachers are woefully unprepared to teach math. Parents are their children's primary hope. With Math Power any child can overcome mediocre math teaching in school and parental math anxiety at home. Pat Kenschaft, a mathematician and mother of two, shares with parents her easy-to-follow and concrete strategies for teaching math concepts. Her lively techniques—including games, questions, conversations, and specific math activities—are tailored for children from preschool age to ten years old.

Kenschaft shows parents how to assess the math education their children are getting at school. She argues that rote learning and standardized testing cripple a child's natural love of learning, and she shows how parents can effectively supplement their children's math education at home.

Math Power—now with a detailed appendix for homeschoolers—is the only book by a mathematician for parents of young children. It gives parents the tools they need to help their children achieve academic and real-world success.

"Pat Kenschaft's love for mathematics comes across in this dynamic guide for parents. This should be required reading for all parents of elementary schoolchildren."

—MAX A. SOBEL, former president, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

"When I was reading Math Power, I didn't want to put it down until I got all I could from it."

—ANGELA MCBRIDE, president, Parents' Advisory Council for Children with Special Needs, Newark, New Jersey Public Schools

"This book contains explicit, easy-to-follow instructions that can be used successfully by even the least mathematical adult to help children learn math and to see it in the world around them."

—SUE GELLER, professor of mathematics and director of Honors Programs in Mathematics, Texas A & M University

"Thank goodness for a book which fills in the gaps between 'how to' and theory. Parents who want to help their child's growth in understanding, appreciation, and love for mathematics must add Math Power to their book collection!"

—EVA L. EVANS, Ph.D., international president, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

"I hope many parents will read this valuable book. It shows how parents can set positive switches in their kids that will help them enjoy mathematics both in school and out."

—HENRY POLLACK, former president, Mathematical Association of America

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