Huntington Learning Center Celebrates Mathematics Awareness Month

ORADELL, NJ--(Marketwire - Feb 23, 2012) - Huntington Learning Center joins schools, colleges, universities, student groups, and other related associations and interest groups to celebrate Mathematics Awareness Month this April. Mathematics Awareness Month began in 1986 when President Ronald Reagan issued a proclamation for National Mathematics Awareness Week. The annual celebration is a collaboration of the American Mathematical Society, the American Statistical Association, the Mathematical Association of America and the Society for Industrial Applied Mathematics.

The theme of this year's Mathematics Awareness Month is "Mathematics, Statistics, and the Data Deluge," to bring to light how mathematics and statistics provide the tools to understand the massive amounts of data collected every day from many different networks, instruments, devices and other sources. Math helps protect people from the misuse of such data and also is the key to using data sets for numerous business and other opportunities.

"We live in an era where technology plays a crucial role in our daily lives," says Eileen Huntington, co-founder of Huntington Learning Center. "Data is everywhere, and used every time we go to the grocery store, every time we use the Internet. This year's theme for Mathematics Awareness Month really speaks to the practical application of math -- something we try to instill in students. Math is used everywhere, all the time. We're proud to celebrate Mathematics Awareness Month as a valuable skill that can prepare students for so many different careers."

Even at a young age, parents can help their children learn the importance of math in everyday life. Huntington offers a few ideas for parents to help their child practice math while at home or on the go:

1. Have your child help you make a recipe and put him or her in charge of all measuring. Ask questions along the way -- is two 1/4 cups the same as a half cup? How can you tell?
2. Try fun family projects that use math. Measure each family member's height and/or weight on a monthly basis and calculate any change in percentages from month to month. Create a graph to track results.
3. Ask your child to estimate the grocery bill while you shop.
4. Let your child plan a family road trip, estimating how long it will take to drive to each destination based on the speed limits and distance. Have him or her calculate the trip cost based on the cost of hotels, meals and other expenditures.
5. Teach your child to save, and talk about the effect of compound interest.
6. Play games that use math, such as Yahtzee, Monopoly, UNO and dice games.
7. Play games that foster critical thinking and problem-solving skills, such as Sudoku and chess.

For more tips to help students learn math, view Huntington's parent guide, Helping Your Child Learn Math at the Amazon.com Kindle store.

To learn more about Mathematics Awareness Month, visit www.mathaware.org.

Contact Huntington Learning Center at 1-800-CAN-LEARN or visit www.huntingtonlearning.com.

About Huntington Learning Center
Founded in 1977, Huntington Learning Center is the nation's longest-running supplemental education services provider. Today they continue to be an industry leader providing instruction in reading, writing, spelling, phonics, mathematics and study skills as well as SAT and ACT preparation to tens of thousands of students from kindergarten through 12^th grade. Huntington prides itself on its unparalleled programs that help parents, caregivers and educators identify the gaps in skills and knowledge that can limit learning potential. Huntington's personalized programs of instruction enable children to excel. To learn more or to locate a center near you, call 1-800 CAN LEARN.