A version of “Follow These 4 Steps to Beat the Math Homework Blues” was originally published on the Huffington Post
Have you ever found yourself going round and round in circles when trying to help your child with math homework? You’ve checked the example, asked your child how the teacher explained the work in class, and even resorted to teaching the topic from scratch.Yet your child doesn’t get it! We’ve all been there! As a math teacher, math blogger and lover of math, here are a list of strategies that I use as a parent and a tutor to help my kids build a strong foundation in math and beat the math homework blues!
1. Figure out what they should know
Dig out those emails from your child’s teacher and see if you’ve been given a list of topics that your child will learn over the week, month, semester or year. That way you’ll at least be able to mentally prepare in advance for tricky topics. If you can’t find the information from the school, see if you can find the list of topics online for your child’s state. Another tip is to go to the bookstore, brick-and-mortar, or online and check the contents pages for workbooks for your child’s grade level. When looking at a particular topic. It’s often a good idea to check that your child is confident with that topic at previous grades levels too. For example, if you’re child is struggling with long division, check to make sure they know their times-tables and division facts and are also strong at multi-digit subtraction, all skills necessary to confidently tackle long division.
Curriculum resources:
Thinkster Math Curriculum (blends US curriculum with Singapore Maths and PARCC + other testing)
