~~ Design a 'healthy eating' schedule ~~

Yes, a little home algebra can even help your family eat more healthily.

Create abbreviations for oranges, apples, bananas, broccoli, celery, etc.

Then plan out your weekly schedule:

Mon: o + a + ba + 2br Tue: 2ce + p + o + a Wed: m + 2o etc.

Once your schedule is drawn up, ask your kid to add up how many of each item you need to buy at the grocery store.

You'd never have guessed a shopping list could make such great algebra training, but it does.

When your child is comfortable with the basic language of Algebra, it's time to move on to the next stage:

*** PHASE 2: Solve some problems ***

Much of Algebra involves finding an unknown value, also known as the "x factor".

The best way to develop problem-solving skills in kids is by playing simple games and puzzles.

Here are two particularly useful games for developing the algebra mind.

~~ "Dollars & Dimes" ~~

The idea is to give your child a formula, and they tell you the amount of money.

So you say something like:

"2d plus n plus i".

This means two dollars plus a nickel plus a dime.

(Notice how the letter 'i' has ingeniously been used to represent a dIme. This is because the letter 'd' has already been reserved for the Dollar.)

The answer should be "Two dollars and fifteen cents."

Play this a few times using several combinations of notes and coins.

You can also tell your child an amount of money, and ask them to give you the formula.

So if you say, "Four dollars and five cents",your child replies: "4d plus 5c".

Ideally they should give you the answer using the least amount of coins possible. So for "fifteen cents", they should say "n + i" or "i + n". Not "15c"!

~~ "Think of a Number" ~~