Turn family game time into math learning time by posing some simple math queries as your family members play their favorite togetherness time games. When playing board games, ask your child to quickly add or subtract the numbers of two dice. When playing cards, use the digits on the cards themselves as components in a math problem. Don't make these math questions the center of your game time, but instead simply ask them as passing questions to quickly challenge your learner.
Many of the skills students work on developing in second-grade math fit perfectly into cooking applications. Adding and subtracting fractions, for example, are often keys to measuring out ingredients properly. Instead of having your child's after-school snack waiting for her when she arrives home, ask her to assist in preparing it, using her math skills to do so. Even preparing simple recipes like trail mix can offer math challenges if you insist that your child measure each component as she prepares the dish.
When your child tells you he is done with his homework, don't just take his word for it, but instead look it over, checking his work and asking him to correct the missed problems. Provide an incentive for him to get it right the first time by purchasing small stickers featuring his favorite things and placing them next to problems that he answered correctly. Not only will this practice ensure that your child never returns to school with math errors on his paper, it will also give you some time to partner with him in his academic studies.
If your child is like many second-graders, organization is likely not her thing. Because math concepts build on one another, it is vital that your child remember the information she learned at the beginning of the year. To encourage this, help her keep a math binder. Ask her to bring home all of her math work, and store this work, in the order in which it was completed, in a binder. When your child seems perplexed by something she learned several weeks before, simply flip back in her binder and review the subject to make it clearer to her.