Do home numeracy and literacy practices of Greek and Canadian parents predict the numeracy skills of kindergarten children?

Abstract

Children’s experiences with early numeracy and literacy activities are a likely source of individual differences in their preparation for academic learning in school. What factors predict differences in children’s experiences? We hypothesised that relations between parents’ practices and children’s numeracy skills would mediate the relations between numeracy skills and parents’ education, attitudes and expectations. Parents of Greek (N = 100) and Canadian (N = 104) five‐year‐old children completed a survey about parents’ home practices, academic expectations and attitudes; their children were tested on two numeracy measures (i.e., KeyMath‐Revised Numeration and next number generation). Greek parents reported numeracy and literacy activities less frequently than Canadian parents; however, the frequency of home numeracy activities that involved direct experiences with numbers or mathematical content (e.g., learning simple sums, mental math) was related to children’s numeracy skills in both countries. For Greek children, home literacy experiences (i.e., storybook exposure) also predicted numeracy outcomes. The mediation model was supported for Greek children, but for Canadian children, the parent factors had both direct and mediated relations with home practices.

Keywords:

• early numeracy
• parent involvement
• home experiences

Acknowledgements

The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada provided support for this research through a Standard Operating Grant to J. LeFevre, J. Bisanz, D. Kamawar, B.L. Smith‐Chant and S.L. Skwarchuk. The data reported for the Canadian children are part of a longitudinal project. More information about the project is available at www.carleton.ca/cmi or from the first author. We greatly appreciate the cooperation and enthusiasm of the children, parents, teachers, principals, and schools who participated in this research.