Many parents fear helping their child with their math homework at home. They may feel they don’t have the math skills or ability to help their child, might have had a bad experience learning math in their own education, or feel that they are not up with the newer ways teachers are teaching math. Fear not, as there are so many resources to help you to buff up your own skills while helping your child with their homework.
First off, you should always read through the workbook or textbook pages your child may be working on before sitting down with them. This may only take you 5-10 minutes to read through the pages, complete a few of the problems to help you reboot those skills from your memory bank. Then, you can assist your child with more competence and then not get frustrated when trying to explain more difficult concepts.
If reading through their work before you help them doesn’t work, you might want to look online for additional resources. Math a Tube is a great online resource. It is made for parents who want to help their children in math, but may not know where to start. There are videos that show a wide variety of math skills broken down by topics. The videos show you how to solve various problems and give examples and steps along with the video. It is a great visual way to learn the math. Depending on your child’s age, you may also be able to watch the videos together and then implement what you have learned by completing the home learning assignments assigned from school.
When in doubt, it is always best to contact your child’s teacher. They appreciate when parents are involved in their child’s education and may even meet with you to go over the concepts your child is learning in class to help prepare you to better help them at home.