When your kid comes in from school with a frown on their face and in a bad mood from math class, it may feel like you can’t help them. When they can’t finish their math homework and are dealing with math anxiety, you may not know where to start. School can be difficult for kids, and when you add additional struggle in there, it can make it feel unbearable.
As a parent, there’s no doubt that it’s also difficult to see your child struggling with math. This being said, there are so many ways to help your children! From figuring out ways to teach your child math to find them qualified private math tutoring, there are so many options and benefits out there.
Here are the top 10 tips to help with math homework:
1. Figure out what your child needs: This is a big one - you won’t always be able to help your child unless you understand what they need! This could be just some homework clarification, to understanding the basic concepts of math. A great way to understand your child’s thought process is to ask them to work aloud when completing their math problems.
2. Do your own homework first: If you are going to help a student with their math homework, you’ll want to do some of your own homework first! A quick Google search can provide tons of resources, from online video tutorials to homework help websites.
3. Let your child teach you: By letting your child teach you, you are giving them an opportunity to show you how they learn and how they solve problems.
4. Make math learning fun: A great way to provide math homework help to kids is to make math learning fun. This could mean incorporating more games into the instruction, or even food!
5. Be positive: A way to encourage students to succeed with their math homework is to always be positive! Even if you are struggling with a problem, speak about the subject in a positive manner, and always encourage your child.
6. Incorporate different strategies: Using different strategies to get to the same place can give your child different ways of thinking about math problems - it can challenge many of the ways they had always thought about them and give them new methods for problem-solving!
7. Homework is more than just getting the right answer: Encourage your child to explore different avenues to get to their final answer. Their work can be correct while their final answer may be wrong, and this is okay! Work on their learning processes.
8. Keep math homework help short: Don’t spend two hours on homework - your child will burn out! Keep problem-solving to 15-20 minutes, and then move on. This gives your child enough time to rush, but also enough time to take a break!
9. Ask your child’s teacher: Your child’s teacher has tons of resources both for themselves and for parents, all you need to do is ask!
10. Find additional help: While parents can always help, they aren’t always trained math tutors. By finding additional help for your child with a tutor or a tutoring centre you can provide them with the math homework help they need.
