How Harry Potter Can Help Make your Child a Math Rock Star
By Deanna Hurn, Founder and Executive Director of Miracle Math Coaching
No, it doesn’t have to do with witchcraft.
Encouraging students to write creatively – whether a crazy short story or the beginning of a cool fantasy novel – will help them master Math. Researchers have found that children who write regularly are sharpening brain functions that help them become more analytic. According to Neurologist, Author and Teacher Judy Willis:
“When it comes to math and science, writing brings more than literacy and communication advantages. The practice of writing can enhance the brain’s intake, processing, retaining, and retrieving of information.”
And now is the perfect time to give them pen and paper (or plop them in front of the computer) to tell their stories. November is National Novel Writing Month (called NaNoWriMo for short), when millions of adult writers around the world pledge to finish writing a novel by the end of the month.
And kids are encouraged to participate.
NaNoWriMo has developed a webpage specifically for K-12 students. We know eight year olds aren’t going to write a 50,000-word novel. But children as young as six can have a goal of writing a novel of 25 or 50 words for the month.
If joining NaNoWriMo is a little too ambitious, here are some other projects to get your kids excited about writing. A big thanks to the website homeschooling-ideas.com:
5 Writing Projects for your Kids
Newspaper Stories – Find a newspaper article or magazine article that may be of interest to your children. Get them to write more about the characters of the article. What happened to them? What did they do afterwards?
Scripts or Screenplays – Have your child write a script for a scene from their favorite television show. They can be creative in having the characters do anything. Or have your child write and perform a puppet show or a play.
Journals – Let them write down whatever they want about their own life or the lives of people around them. You don’t want to give them too much guidance here. Whatever they choose to write about is ok, and assure them it will remain completely confidential.
Movie Reviews – Most kids know their favorite movies inside out. Have them write what they like and dislike about the films they see. Better yet, take them to the movies with the assignment of writing a review later.
Comic Books – If your child is a comic book fan, she might love to create her own superhero. Using real comic books as a guide for formatting, encourage her to create a world protected by a character with magic powers.
Let us know if you’d like more ideas for helping child excel in Math. And definitely contact us for a FREE Learning Discovery Evaluation to see where your child stands academically and how we might help: Click here to sign up now. Miracle Math Coaching is an award-winning, student-focused service with a track record of boosting academic achievement.
