Tips For Helping With Math Homework
Posted on February 18, 2008
Filed Under Helping Parents Help Kids, Learning Tips |
We received an email from a mom that begins “My 9 year old son flips out when he has to do math homework. I’ve tried many things to help him get through it.”
She goes on to say that by accident, she stumbled upon something that worked. She was doing the math wrong, and her son corrected her, and continued to do the problems all the while teaching her. Soon, without the usual fuss, the work was done. Mom’s question was should she “play dumb” in future 
homework sessions, to repeat the success.
Here’s the answer: No, he’ll see right through that. Instead of “playing dumb,” impress on your son that teaching someone else how to do something is one of the best ways to learn it yourself.
Encourage your son to act as the teacher, “showing” you how to do the problems, even though you know how to do them yourself. Jump in when he gets stuck, but, do so by “team teaching” with your son.
This will accomplish three important things:
- It will get the homework done.
- Your child will know the material far better than if he had just rushed through the work himself. And
- Working together in a pleasant way, without stress, provides valuable additional “quality time.”
And as a bonus, give this process some time, and don’t be surprised if he discovers a better way to do his math homework—by himself. Why? Because it’ll be faster and more efficient that way.
Linda & Al Silbert
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Thanks for contributing this post to this week’s Carnival of Family Life, hosted at Intensive Care for the Nurturer’s Soul! The Carnival will be live on March 31, 2008, so make sure you stop by and check out all of the other wonderful posts included in this week’s edition!
JHS
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