Helping Your Eighth Grader Learn Outside of School

1. Ask your child to do an Internet search to determine how mathematics is used in specific careers. This could lead to a good discussion and allow students to begin thinking about their future aspirations.

2. Have your child use magazines, clip art, and other pictures to find and describe examples of similar and congruent figures

3. Using different objects or containers (such as a can of soup or a shoebox), ask your child to estimate surface area and volume, and check the answer together.

4. Encourage your child to stick with it whenever a problem seems difficult. This will help your child see that everyone can learn math.

5. Prompt your child to face challenges positively and to see mathematics as a subject that is important. Avoid statements like “I wasn’t good at math” or “Math is too hard.”

6. Praise your child when he or she makes an effort, and share in the excitement when he or she solves a problem or understands something for the first time.