Flip the Phobe Switch and Conquer Math

Where Math Phobes Get Their Start

Fun Math Games open a world to mathphobes they were previously terrified to touch. May your child never so suffer! The good news is they don't have to - and neither do we.

Nobody likes to be wrong. But have you ever seen what happens when a child throws up their hand in class begging their teacher to answer only to find out they're wrong? Yeah, I've seen it, too. The whole class laughs. How many times do you think that'll happen before your child won't even raise his eyes never mind his hand? We can fix that.

Give Your Child a Break with the Real Deal

Real fun math games, as opposed to games that people have designed to try and hoodwink kids into thinking they are having fun, will make your children feel secure in themselves and their math skills.

What you really want to do is turn on the internal calculator of your child's brain. And that's nowhere near as difficult as it sounds. It revolves around the most powerful language in the universe. But a language with only 10 letters! Well ... 10 numbers. How hard can that be?

Traditionally, we start counting from one and go to ten. But that's not how numbers work. There are only 10 digits. They start with zero, not one. Hold up your fingers. Start counting the digits.

"HEY, I saw that! You started with one, didn't you?" Back up. Start with ZERO. Yes, you have 10 fingers, but you're using them to represent 10 digits, remember? Zero to nine.

Once you start thinking from zero to nine instead of from one to ten, you switch on a latent calculator in your brain. Hey, just pull out your pocket calculator and look at that big, fat zero on the screen. The first of ten digits. And the digits only run up to nine. Zero through nine. Every, single, other number in the universe is based on those ten digits. Why force your child to use his brain any differently? Isn't that kind of like learning the alphabet starting with B?

Three Steps to Compressing Two Digits into the Single Digit Nine

Since nine is the last of the 10 digits, all other numbers, no matter how large, compress to nine. Pretty wild but just watch. Even little kids get this.

1. Break the full number down into single digits. (10 > 1, 0)

2. Add the digits together. (1 + 0 = 1)

3. Take the sum of the digits away from the full number. You will get nine. Every time. (10 - 1 = 9)

More Examples:

• 11 > 1,1
• 1 + 1 = 2
• 11 - 2 = 9

• 12 > 1, 2
• 1 + 2 = 3
• 12 - 3 = 9

• 13 > 1, 3
• 1 + 3 = 4
• 13 - 4 = 9

• 19 > 1, 9
• 1 + 9 = 10
• 19 - 10 = 9

And just to show you it works with bigger numbers, too ...

• 38 > 3, 8 3+ 8=11 38-11=27 (keep going) >> 2+7=9 27-9=18 >> 1+8=9 18-9=9. The magic number nine.

• 63 > 6, 3 6+3=9 63-9=54 >> 5+4=9 54-9=45 >> 4+5=9 45-9=36 >> 3+6=9 36-9=27 >> 2+7=9 27-9=18 >> 1+8=9 18-9=9. There's that nine again.

They ALL go back to nine. So what's the point? This technique allows your child to mentally check if they got it right BEFORE their teacher tells them it's wrong in front of the whole class.

How to Use this Trick to Pre-Check Your Answer

5+5=10. Right? But did you figure that out? Or did you rely on your memory? (That's what I thought! Me, too.) But now your child can actually figure this out.

If 5+5=10 Then 55-10=45 And 4+5=9. Ta da! Since she compressed down to 9 she knows her answer is right!

Did you hear the switch flick? You should have because your child just conquered the world of numbers. And deep down inside, they know it. And that, my fellow parents, is exactly what you are reaching for!

Watch your child's eyes go wide with delight and you'll know what you've taught her will bust up the mathphobe demon for good.

Many math games, supposedly FUN Math Games, still involve repetition. They might be more fun than simple memorization because of the added competitive element. But really, what math game could be more fun than actually dominating the fear of being wrong? When you're only 6 or 7 years old?

Reddi Austin