HOME > FCAT EXPLORER PROGRAMS > 8th GRADE MATH > EVERYDAY ACTIVITIES

A good way to encourage your child to learn math is to emphasize the math that surrounds us in our daily lives. By pointing out the math you use every day—math your child may already know—you can show your child that math is not an isolated academic subject but, rather, a building block upon which our lives are built.

The activities below will help you demonstrate everyday math to your child and make practicing and learning math a normal part of your child's day. The activities can be done in your living room, kitchen, or car, and they do not require any special materials.

1. Explore measurement in the kitchen, in fashion and design, in construction, in home decoration, with tools, with temperature, in travel, with time, in scale models, and for science and social studies.
2. Investigate health, life, car, and property insurance that you or your child might want in the future. Consider coverage and costs.
3. Explore banking opportunities including rates of interest charged for loans and paid for certain deposits. Discuss the use of exponential functions.
4. Explore investments of various kinds. Follow a selection of investments over a period of time and evaluate the profit or loss as if the investments had actually been made.
5. Create and solve math problems related to activities in which you are engaged. For example, gardening offers great opportunities to make calculations related to plants and spacing, the shape of flower or vegetable beds, the volume of soil or mulch needed for a particular space.
6. Investigate the mathematics needed for a variety of careers. Consider the courses available in your community and plan to maximize opportunities to benefit from them.