12 DAYS TO MATH CONFIDENCE The holidays are no time to be suffering from math anxiety. In fact, no time is a good time to have your child be afraid of failing at math. So, as a gift for the holidays (and in a tribute to Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith, authors of Math Curse (Viking), we offer the following light-hearted approach to math “problems.” Make up some more with your child. On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me: A Partridge in a Pear Tree If the song was written to teach persecuted Catholics in England the tenets of their faith between 1558 and 1829, how many years did they have to sing before someone caught on? On the second day of Christmas my true love sent to me: Two Turtle Doves… If the two turtle doves dress sells for $70 but that does not include the sweater, and the dress and sweater is on sale for $73, how much will I save over the regular price of $122? And can I use that information to talk Mom into getting both of them for me for Christmas? On the third day of Christmas my true love sent to me: Three French Hen… The paper for the Third Day of Christmas sampler is 14-count (14 holes to the inch) and the finished product measures 3-3/4 inches by 3-3/4 inches. How many total holes are there? Do I have enough time to finish the thing before Grandma gets here for the holidays? And who picked out this horrible brown? On the fourth day of Christmas my true love sent to me: Four Calling Birds… The Four Calling Birds ornament takes two to three days for shipping. But that’s business days and this is Saturday and I don’t have the money anyway and I’m not even sure that this is the one Mom collects. So if I wait till I have all that, will it be Christmas this year or next year before it’s under the tree? On the fifth day of Christmas my true love sent to me: Five Golden Rings… Asking for a gold ring for Christmas will take hours of hinting. If the ring is 18 karat gold and has a 1/8 karat diamond and will come in a blue box with a white ribbon from Tiffany’s, what is the ratio of hinting to karats? On the sixth day of Christmas my true love sent to me: Six Geese a Laying… At 22 cm by 30 cm with a 0.5 cm hem, a 2 cm turn-down on the top edge, a 1 cm border on both long edges and a 5 cm border at the bottom, is the Six Geese a Laying banner going to be bigger than my bedroom door? Will it look like a postage stamp on my bedroom door? On the seventh day of Christmas my true love sent to me: Seven Swans a Swimming… The Sydney Swans Australian Football League team sells an inflatable hand for $13.95. With 18 men to a side, each weighing around 16 stone, no pads or helmets, how many hands would equal the weight of a the entire line? On the eighth day of Christmas my true love sent to me: Eight Maids a Milking… For an 8-inch by 10-inch fine art poster with pictures of eight babies wearing milkmaid bonnets and sitting in milk pails, each baby takes up what proportion of the overall poster? What is the maximum each baby can weigh in order to fit in a bucket? On the ninth day of Christmas my true love sent to me: Nine Ladies Dancing… There are five dancers from around in the world in the Dancing Ladies Greeting Card set. At 10 cards per box, what are the odds that Sara and Melissa (my two best friends but who hate each other right now) will get the same card? On the tenth day of Christmas my true love sent to me: Ten Lords a Leaping… There’s this votive candleholder at the mall with 10 people dancing around—could be lords a leaping, could be angry cannibals around a campfire. Will my sister be really, really mad if I give it to her but don’t include the candle? On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love sent to me: Eleven Pipers Piping… For maximum annoyance, the Bagpipe March CD provides 48 uninterrupted minutes of screeching. At 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 800 decibels, how long will it take to drive my little brother crazy enough that they’ll actually come and take him away? On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love sent to me: Twelve Drummers Drumming… Better yet, the Masters Custom drum set could empty my entire house. Where is that letter to Santa?