The Cowichan Campus Management Team (2007) outlines some of the salient features of the community that the Cowichan Campus of Vancouver Island University (VIU) serves: Cowichan Valley Regional District is situated on Vancouver Island, between Victoria and Nanaimo. Forest industries, tourism, agriculture, and commercial fisheries are the most important economic sectors of the area, but the service sectors are the largest employers. Education, health, and public administration make up 25% of the regional labour force. Of its 79,000 inhabitants, 10% are Aboriginal, and this percentage is growing. As is the case with other Aboriginal populations in BC, over 50% of the Aboriginal population in the Cowichan Valley is under 25 years of age. At present, Aboriginal students make up 15.6% of the students in the school district, and 18% of grade 6–12 students. This figure is much higher than the provincial average which shows Aboriginal students represent 9.5% of the total BC public school population (SD #79, 2006).
Of the general population in the region, 27% have not graduated from high school and a further 12% have no training past grade 12 graduation. As in other regions, high school completion rates for Aboriginal students are much lower than for other students. These figures are reflected in the ABE/Literacy classes we offer at VIU, which have a large proportion of First Nations students; indeed, in recent years my classes at the literacy/basic numeracy levels have been more than 90% First Nations students. Administration and faculty at the Cowichan Campus of VIU have developed a strong working relationship with the Cowichan Tribes, and many of the programs and courses on offer have First Nations content.
Many groups and individuals in the community generously supported my efforts to do this project by offering me meeting space or helping me publicize the family math groups and recruit participants. Generally they were less interested in the research than in having the family math sessions offered to their clients. They seemed to see immediately that working with parents on math skills for their kids was a useful thing to do, without waiting for research results, and wanted to take advantage of a chance to broaden their program offerings. Five agencies were willing to provide free meeting space, which was a generous gift, since I envisioned needing the space twice a week for 11 weeks.
In this literature review, I will outline the relationship of family math and family literacy, explore the importance of play in developing early skills, and trace the mathematical development of early childhood; next I will review several large and small scale family math programs, and discuss common findings as to what makes these programs successful. Finally, I will note some of the homework advice available to parents, in the context of home-school relationships. Except where noted, the examples are mine.