The second is that material written for parents, if any, be at a reading level suited to them. Many programs are aimed at families whose children are at risk of failing in school, or those in inner cities or of lower socio-economic status, and many parents in these categories also do not have highly developed literacy skills. Bertrand again:
I had had limited success with encouraging parents to read to their children because of the difficult vocabulary in many children’s books. However, the parents were able to explain the math activities and do them together (Hagedorn, 2004, p.68).
At the Seminole Natural Math Program, they stressed the importance of materials for parents being readable (about the fifth grade level), with culturally relevant graphics (Sears & Medearis, p. 6).
Family math programs hold parents interest and attention as far as they value and respect the knowledge and experience that parents bring. As one mother said upon reflecting on her experience in a Math For Parents course:
For me the relationship with the instructor was very important. It was a relationship based on equality, I don’t feel that because one is a teacher he should feel superior to us; this was a very positive relationship in which the teacher used his knowledge in a positive way, always treating us all as equals, and I always felt very comfortable (Civil, 2002, p.2).
In an eight-session program in an inner city Chicago school, teachers who got high parental involvement were less judgmental about families, and noticed many different kinds of involvement, other than volunteering in school programs, which is often hard for low income parents to do:
The attitudes and practices of the teachers, not only the educational status, socioeconomic or marital status of parents, are important variables in predicting parental success as partners in their children’s education (Landerholm et al, p. 5).
Carpentieri reports that in several British studies, it was the “skills, confidence and cultural awareness of recruiters” (Carpentieri, 2008, p. 11) that accounted for success in recruiting participants.
I think the emphasis on fun may have something to do also with trying to recruit participants
A parent who attended an Esso Family Math group said, “I could not think of fewer
ways I’d like to spend my time, but Mia [her daughter] wanted me to come
” (Onslow, 2002,
p. 9). After the second night she commented on how much she was enjoying the experience.
The Esso Family Math program consists of six sessions, but in order to attract more
parents who think that the sessions will be boring or painful, even if good for them, parents
are initially registered for only three sessions. At the end of the second night, it is announced
that a further three sessions will be put on if the parents would like them.