She said that playing Yahtzee with her family also affected her as an ABE math student. “Encouraging the kids to ask for help gave me the courage to ask [her own math teacher] for help.”

She concluded by saying that before she introduced Yahtzee to her family, things had not been going well, especially between her and her husband. However, she reported that recently he had sat her down and said, “I want to thank you for bringing it (Yahtzee) to us. It brought us together.”

It was lucky for me that she was so articulate a participant, and had clearly done a lot of reflecting on her family dynamics. Her story clearly shows that playing math games led her family down a path that led to more communication, better relationships over what had previously been difficult issues, and that the benefits extended to the children’s school and the parent’s school as well.

Changes in Attitudes to Math

Feedback came informally at group sessions, at a more organized group feedback session with a recorder, and at the final interviews. In this section, data from all three sources is incorporated. Parents did some in-depth reflection on the effect of the group and of using the activities at home with their kids, and some surprisingly varied effects were noted: they all had more fun than they ever expected; they found themselves more interested in math and less frustrated with it; they learned some specific strategies to help their kids with math (especially school age kids); they found a new way to communicate and work with their kids which resulted in changes in the kids and a more positive adult/child relationship. One commented on a more global level, “It’s a lesson learned, to take an interest in new things.”

Fun and more fun

Overwhelmingly, they liked taking part in the project. Especially they liked and were often surprised by how much fun it was to participate in the group sessions and by how much fun they had doing the activities with their kids. They found it much more fun than they expected, in spite of the fact that all of them had reported at the initial interview that they liked math. (The only two participants who didn’t like math dropped out of the project early on, and did not come in for the final interview.) Nearly everyone mentioned the word “fun” and in particular they had fun with card and dice games, and making things—chalk, cookies, play dough and boxes. Practical evidence of fun and engagement was displayed when participants went out of their way, or spent their own money, to continue or expand the activity. After we played Rummoli in the group a couple of times, one tried to buy a Rummoli set, and another got one from a sister who had a set, but didn’t know how to play it. Two asked for copies of the cookie recipes and for more score sheets for Yahtzee. Another reported buying more stickers to finish more calendars to give for Christmas gifts. In short, their change in attitude is summed up by one participant’s comment: “I saw it could be fun and not all hard work.”

The title of the draft manual was the same as the title of the project, “Parents Teach Math.” The group at the Reading and Writing Centre came up with several suggestions for a new title, including the one that we used on the revised version, Family Math Fun! The words “fun” or “play” appeared in four of the five titles they suggested.