Archive for the ‘Parent Tips’ Category

Math skills can be hard to retain during summer vacation. Kids may spend hours reading books at the beach and doing crafts at camp, but when do they practice math? Kids who practice math over the summer will have an easier time transitioning to back to school, while kids who don’t may lose a couple [...]

In my other life, I am a graduate student which means that I am constantly searching and reading research and books regarding mathematics education. In the midst of one of these recent searches, I ran across a book by Jo Boaler (a former professor of mathematics education at Stanford University) that is scheduled for release [...]

To a kid, there are no sweeter words than summer vacation. No more pencils, no more books…. But this doesn’t mean they can’t have fun learning this summer. Research shows avoiding the “summer slide” can have a profound effect on your child’s learning development. You may already know that DreamBox Learning is a wonderful source for [...]

School's out for the summer....School's out forever! Those words filled us with glee as children, but for busy parents "summer vacation," is an oxymoron. When the last bell rings, our schedules become even more difficult to juggle! And, along with all the summer activities we're planning, we want to make sure kids have plenty of opportunities to learn, and avoid the "summer slide"!

Ever wonder what your children should be learning in math? Or what you can do to supplement their math education? When parents know what to expect at each developmental stage, they can foster learning with fun, educational activities at home.

Here at DreamBox, in our blog and in our monthly parent updates, we talk a lot about the importance of relating math to everyday activities with our kids. My own son has a gift for art and is especially interested in animation. (And while his math test scores are high he’s never been especially motivated to focus on math.) But a memorable way to help kids understand the connection between learning math concepts and something they enjoy in the real world is to ask them what their favorite animated movie is. The animated movies that younger kids love can be a good jumping off point for helping them understand the unlimited possibilities of learning math.

The box claims this game is appropriate for ages 3+. It’s wrong. There’s just no way. Where do I even begin? There are so many chutes and ladders that it’s difficult to discern each individual box on the game board. It’s also hard for my three-year-old to know if she’s moving towards the right or the left. (The board is a series of switchbacks. Start from the bottom left corner and move across to the right. At the end of the row, move up one row and progress from right to left.) Although there are arrows at the end of every row, this does nothing to help when her piece is in the middle of the row.

Does your child have trouble using the mouse? There are a number of things you can do that can greatly reduce the frustration and significantly raise the chances of mousing success for your little ones.

How do you interact with your kids when it comes to school work? Do you enforce a strict homework time or let the little ones face the music if they don't get that book report in on time? To help parents get more involved in their child's education, DreamBox Learning presents the quiz: What's Your Edu-Parent Style?

Soon after we completed our first round of beta testing with our very first version of DreamBox (think 40 games as compared to our current 350+), I attended an incredible conference called Dust or Magic, an annual Children’s New Media Design Institute, organized by Warren Buckleitner, editor of the Children’s Technology Review. Buckleitner has reviewed thousands of children’s technology products in order to accomplish his mission: to help parents, librarians, and teachers find quality interactive media/technology products for children.

Forget the boogie man under the bed. There’s a bigger problem out there. “My child is scared to try new things that are hard for him.” At DreamBox, we hear this quite a bit. And I believe it’s a problem all parents should attack with muster. Why? Because learning to persevere through a tough problem is a life skill that will serve every child well, now and forever. So how does a parent address this? Every child is different. Experiment with the ideas below and figure out which best suits your child’s temperament.

I never liked this game, not even as a kid. However, I recognize the positive benefits of playing games with my 3-year-old Elle, and I could never deprive her of this experience. No matter how painful. However, I’ve recently been saved from some of this pain. I must thank Geetha B. Ramani and Robert S. Siegler of Carnegie Mellon University for their article Promoting Broad and Stable Improvements in Low-Income Children’s Numerical Knowledge Through Playing Number Board Games.

I recently came across two articles that really caught my eye.The first was in the Wall Street Journal and was a ranking of the best jobs in the US. Mathematician was ranked #1, with Actuary and Statistician holding #2 and #3 respectively. Computer, science, and engineering related jobs also were very well represented in the [...]

I am a DreamBox teacher as well as the parent of a pre-schooler. I must confess there are times I have a hard time not helping him play DreamBox. He really enjoys playing and he is learning a lot. But there are times when the games are challenging for him.

Here at DreamBox, we recommend for best results that a student play at least twice a week for 15 minutes at a time. Some will play more. However, like Vitamin A, a lot more is not better. To take an extreme, a child playing 3 hours a day every day is crowding out too many other activities for a happy child.