So last summer, I wrote about my disdain for math-geared summer camps. And I was summarily schooled by my friend Lynn Salvo, founder of MathTree, which offers summer camps in Virginia, Washington D.C., Maryland and Delaware. She was right, of course, and I invited her to share why a summer camp centered on math can be a rewarding experience for parents and students. Mind changed. (Thank you, Lynn.)
While summer is a great time to kick back and recharge, the down side is that kids forget a lot of math over the summer. Studies show that during the lazy months of summer, all kids suffer from “brain drain” or the loss of learning. In fact, students lose (on average) 2.6 months of mathematical competency in June, July and August. Only the most math-minded and determined parents can find the math in everyday life to keep math going over the summer. A couple of weeks of a math camp anywhere in the summer can bridge the long gap.
I am president of MathTree, which I founded in 1999 to address this very issue. We have been providing math camps for children ages five to15 throughout the DC, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware area ever since, mostly in the summer but also during long school breaks. Children love our camps and return summer after summer. Some have even grown up to be instructors for us themselves.
If you’re reading this blog, you probably know math is not the most popular subject. MathTree would have gone out of business long ago if we had not found a formula that works to provide a great summer math experience for kids. In a typical school setting, younger children are taught math by amazing elementary school teachers who are generalists, not specialists. And unfortunately, many of them don’t really like math all that well. Summer is a great time to give your child an opportunity to work with folks who love math, love kids, and love teaching kids math!
So what should you be looking for and how can you evaluate the math (summer) camp possibilities you are considering for your child? Here are some questions:
- Does the camp provide different ways of learning there is not time for in a packed school curriculum?
- Does the camp promise an adventure? Will the camp creatively lead my child on a mathematical exploration? At MathTree we have our own mathical characters, including Princess KrisTen; Grouper, the Regrouper; and Numero, the Number Wizard, which we use to happily engage our campers in fun math exploration.
- Is my child going to be set up to make mathematical discoveries?
- Will my child play fun math-rich games? For instance, we play games such as Ten Mingle to learn numbers that add up to 10 or Product Parfait to master multiplication facts.
Other important questions should include:
- Will my child actively engage with people who can sense subtlety and nuance in my child’s understanding or will s/he be babysat by an electronic device?
- Does the camp provide a sustained and focused learning experience? Does it develop momentum and go deep into math?
- Does the camp focus on why, not just how? Will my child learn concepts, not just processes? For example, will my child learn what division is, not just how to do it?
- Does the camp provide an enriching head start on the big ideas coming in math in the next school year?
- Will my child be placed with mathematical peers or lumped with others of the same age or grade regardless of where they are mathematically? It’s critical that your child is neither frustrated (too hard) nor bored (too easy).
- How will my child be assessed? Will my child’s understanding be monitored in multiple ways, even in simple conversations?
- What is the staff to camper ratio? Your child may have suffered already in a large class.
I firmly believe that parents should always look for classes with less than 15 campers where there is a teacher and an assistant. Here is what the teacher can do in that setting:
- Actively engage your child in the learning
- Tune in to your child — your child is not a number!
- Embrace your child’s unique personality
- Notice if your child looks confused
- Jump in quickly and “unconfuse” your child.
Here’s what the assistant can do in that setting:
- Handle routine tasks so the teacher can be fresh and creative with the class
- Check children’s work quickly
- Prepare rich math materials for children to use and store them after use so there is more quality class time
- Provide a challenge if your child gets ahead of the group.
Whichever camp you choose, take the selection of your children’s summer math camp seriously. You want your child to come away loving math (more) and you want to feel you got a high return on your investment.
MathTree has been growing our children’s love of math since 1999. For more information about MathTree and registration, please go to www.MathTree.com. MathTree provides summer camps for kids in 25 locations in DC, DE, MD, and VA. Use our camp locator to find a MathTree camp near you.
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