ABSTRACT
Virtually everyone connected with schools agrees that it is important for parents to be involved in their children’s education. Twenty-five years of research supports, this view (1988) and yet parental involvement remains more a part of the rhetoric of schools than of their reality. This chapter describes one project designed to increase parental involvement in schools through mathematics, and how it was adapted by a Canadian educational authority in Toronto, Ontario. Family Math, its name and its focus, differs from IMPACT in its training and in its home/school link. While IMPACT makes a direct connection between the curriculum in the classroom and the activities at home, Family Math provides activities that give parents and children a general understanding of the philosophy of math education. Thus the activities are not designed to fit back into the student’s classroom, but rather to make parents aware of the value of an activity-based approach, the use of manipulatives, the role of problem solving (especially in open-ended investigations), and the impact of talk, especially when everyday language is used.
