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  4.35 (Worth a try) from 29 votes (1278 Visits) |
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Math homework HELP! |
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by lindterbean  (August 2006) (rank 80th) |
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Being a successful student is very different from guiding someone to be a successful student. Many times when we have to help our kids with their homework we are confronted with subjects we have already (and gladly) forgotten, ghosts of topics we struggled with ourselves, or frustration over the fact that our child is having so much trouble in areas we breezed through. Take a step back, a deep breath, and prepare to tackle school all over again, but with new eyes and new sensibilities.
General tips:
- Designate a study place for your child. Make sure there are no distractions, no TV, no music, no people going back and forth, etc. Make sure it has good lighting and there is plenty of room for books, paper, pencils and any other necessary items.
- Designate a time to study. Make it the same time each day, preferably not too late, so little brains aren't tired, and without a time limit, so not during or right before a favorite TV show or other reward that might result in rushed and sloppy homework. Homework is a responsibility, not a punishment, so there should be no risk of regularly missing something fun to get it done.
- That said, the proper emphasis should be placed on studying, so it should be worked on until completion, even if that means staying inside while the chums play football. An occaisonal reward after this is done won't hurt anything, "You've worked so hard, I'll do your chores tonight. . . we'll have your favorite for dinner. . . let's put in that DVD you love. . ." kind of thing. While it is true that hard work should be its own reward, everyone deserves a pat on the back when extra effort has been expended, especially if they do it without your telling them to.
- Check their homework and look through their lessons regularly. You'd be surprised how little you may remember if you try to jump in mid-semester, just when your child is having problems. Even if they don't need help, check up just to keep up with their lessons and how the teacher teaches.
- Keep up with when their exams are. This is harder than it seems. They won't always tell you. Make sure the night before they get a good night's rest, have studied thoroughly and eat some protein in the morning. Protein helps keep those brainwaves working.
Math troubles:
- Make sure all work is done in pencil.
- Make sure they bring home their books, not just their worksheets. If they get stuck, have them try to find the answer in the book themselves. The books usually have great explanations that the kids never even look at; they rely on either their teacher's explanations or yours. Why do the work if you can have someone else do it for you? Besides, you may need them if it comes to it. It's probably been a looong time. . .
- Look over your child's homework and try to figure out what the trouble really is: difficulty grasping the concepts, carelessness, sloppiness, not following directions? Different issues require different solutions.
- Arrange a meeting with your child's teacher - early, before things become a problem. Your child may be working one way at ome but a differnet way in class. People's habits change dependent on their environment. Make sure the homework problems you are focusing on are the main ones your child has difficulty with and are not just issues reserved for at home.
- Make your child try to figure out a solution even if they seem to be at loggerheads. Many kids are so used to asking for help at the first sign of difficulty they won't even give the tougher problems a try. Best to get those little grey cells thinking about possible solutions even if they aren't the right ones than just handing them the right path to take. They will need to develop this ability for when they are taking tests and you aren't around.
- Encourage your child to talk you through the solutions to any math problems and if he or she is old enough to be working on multi-step problems, to show all work on paper. If you can follow their train of thought on paper without any extra explanation, then the work is detailed enough. If you have to ask questions, then there are steps missing.
- If it looks like your child is having trouble keeping track of things while they are working problems out, have them talk them through as they are working on them. It has been proven that the more senses you can appeal to while you are studying, the better your brain will process the material. Besides some people are better visual thinkers while some are better aurally. Your child may be better able to keep track of things if he or she listens to them as opposed to just seeing them on paper.
- Young children often have trouble keeping columns in line while they are doing arithmetic on paper. They are often still unsteady with their handwriting and still developing fine motor skills. Until they get the hang of it, use grid paper or turn the notebook paper sideways so that the lines run up and down instead of side to side and let them use the lines as column guides. Use wide-ruled paper for kids with especially large handwriting or the challenge to keep things in line may still prove too frustrating for them. This may use more paper than otherwise, but isn't it worth it?
- Get a chalk board or white board for them to use as scratch paper at home. They can work out their problems here, check them, fine tune them, then copy them neatly on their homework papers for turning in. It may sound like a lot of extra work, but remember the repetition will help the material sink in, and you will avoid eraser holes in your child's worksheets.
- Ask your child math problems whle you are out and about. If a six-pack of soda costs 2.40 how much will one can of soda cost? We are having one extra guest over for dinner and we have 4 large sausages. How many pieces will we have to cut the sausages into so that everyone gets the same amount?
- Continue to ask why? All too often at school kids end up learning "recipes" for certain types of problems. This may work just fine for assignments, but if they can't apply what thy learn, it's not doing them much good, is it? Why do we subtract the same thing from both sides of the equation? Because just like on a balance, if you take te same amount of weight away from both trays, the arm will stay in balance.
- Compare textbook problems to things your child can relate to. If abstract ideas are causing difficulty, make them concrete. Your child may never have heard of some of the things they talk about in word problems, so change the elements but keep the math the same and you might be surprised how quickly your child catches on.
- When working with word problems, have your child draw a picture. The creaters of word problems just love to include little details most people leave out. They live for it. Draw a picture of that fence Al has to build and you won't forget the extra post at the end. Even if the problem seems very simple, sketch it out. It's when you start to get confident that they throw in a zinger.
- Break difficult problems into smaller bits. 345 - 60 is just 300 - 60 45. 24 X 7 is 20 X 7 4 X 7. A little longer way round, but easier calculations.
- Remember the shortcuts. Like if you add all the digits in a number and that is divisible by 3, then the number is divisible by three. Or 9 times any single number is one less than that number then nine minus that number (9 X 7 is first one less than 7 (6), then 9 - 6 (3) or 63). This will not only save your child time and aggravation, but it works as a little confidence boost of being "in the know".
- Hang on to your patience. That one should need no explanation!
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