Math on the Go

Helping your children connect math to real-life can happen in your everyday life. One quick way to get them thinking about how math affects their lives is simply by bringing it into the conversation as you go about your normal life routines.

One quick idea:

When you are filling your car with gas, have your child do some math with you.

You will need to tell your child the gas mileage for your car (ex. 30 miles per gallon), the amount of gallons your tank holds, and the price of gas per gallon that you are paying at the pump.

Some example questions:

“Our car holds ten gallons of gas. The price per gallon is $3.50. How much will it cost to fill our tank if it is totally empty?”

“Last week, gas was $3.75 per gallon. How much less did we pay today than we would have paid last week?

“A gallon of gas is $3.50. If I put in 4 gallons, how much will it cost me?”

“It is five miles from our house to your baseball practice. How much gas will we use to go to and from your practice? How much will it cost to take you to practice twice a week?”

You can ask multiple kinds of questions. This will also make your child aware of how to track the spending of money, which is a necessary life skill. As you do these kinds of things, your child will begin to see math happening in real time. You can even have them notice things and ask you questions. It is always more fun when you are actively involved in the discussion, and your child will get so much more out of the experience when doing it with you.