Book Review: Maths for Mum and Dads by Eastaway and Askew

 Maths for Mums and Dads: Take the pain out of Maths Homework by Rob Eastaway and Mike Askew.

Maths for Mum and Dads is a book designed to help parents who are fearful of their children's maths homework.  It is aimed both at parents who did not get a good grounding in mathematics at school, and also at parents who do understand the basics of mathematics, but do not understand the new terminology and vocabulary.  It covers the topics likely to be encountered at primary school, but should be understood by all before attempting GCSE.

It is very easy to read, with anecdotes and points of humour throughout.  Where I found it most useful, is in looking at houw children think about maths problems.  In particular, thinking through how the wrong answers arose (especially when sometimes it seems totally logical to use the wrong method).  I'm a maths tutor, and often come across students at GCSE and A-Level who do not understand some of the concepts explained in this book, which should have been covered at primary school.  As such, I hope it will help me with another approach when tutoring and coming agaisnt blank faces.

Finally, as a mum who is hoping to HE, throughout the book there are ways to help encourage your children in maths and numeracy, without the need of intensive "teaching" or expensive props.  In fact, the book emphasises that if maths is normalised and approached in natural conversation, there are many more mathematical opportunities in everyday life, than many people realise - certainly much more than the arithmetic-fearing parents are scared of.

I'd recommend this book for any parent.