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Sneak Some Math into Summer Vacation
Tips to Have Fun and Stay Sharp By Beth Hering
Any dieter can tell you that the best form of exercise is one that doesn't feel like exercise at all. When you're having fun, you just enjoy the activity – and what you gain (or in the case of a dieter, lose) in the process is just icing on the cake.
On long summer afternoons, take a break from the heat by going indoors for some board games. Classics such as Monopoly and Life provide plenty of opportunities to deal with money, and be sure to let your child serve as the banker for added experience.
Another great game to take up is chess. According to the American Chess Foundation, chess improves such math-related skills as visual memory, attention span, spatial reasoning and ability to anticipate consequences. "Many parents come here with their kids on field trips telling me how their children have changed since taking up chess," says Sharon Samole, membership director of the World Chess Hall of Fame. "They are better able to focus and sit still. Most tell me their children have improved math and science scores, too."
If you have a baseball fan in your household, use that love of the sport. Baseball is chock full of numbers: ERAs, RBIs, win-loss percentages, batting averages. Help your child understand the meaning behind the numbers, and then get out the Sunday sports section to do some comparisons and projections. Is any team on pace to win or lose 100 games? If A-Rod had 14 homers this month, what would his total for the season be if he kept up this pace? What is the difference in earned-run-average between the best and worst pitcher in the National League? To add to the fun, have each member of the family compile a simple fantasy team by choosing one player from any team for each of the nine positions (and yes, you can pick a designated hitter instead of a pitcher). Keep track weekly of how each person's dream team is doing by adding up the batting averages for all nine players and dividing by nine to get the average. The person whose team has the best batting average at season's end gets to pick the place for a family outing.
