How to Provide Hands-On Math Help for Kids

Interactive Math Help for Kids

Getting Started

To ensure that you're helping your child in areas where lessons can be the most effective, have a chat with his or her math teacher. The teacher will likely be able to help you understand what math skills your child needs to master and the areas where he or she needs the most help. If it's necessary to hire a math tutor or a learning specialist, your child's teacher will be able to point you in the right direction.

Create a learning environment at home where your child can concentrate, be comfortable and confidently complete his or her work. Help your child with math at the same time every day. This will help your child become accustomed to concentrating and absorbing information on a regular basis.

Techniques for Teaching Math

There are a number of hands-on math games and activities that you can complete with your child for extra practice. If your child is learning addition, for example, have him or her count and add together various objects around the house. Similarly, when grocery shopping, have your child count all the items in your cart.

Math facts can be the backbone of much of the work that your child is required to complete both at school and at home. If your child fluently knows the basic math facts for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, he or she will likely be able to complete the work faster and with greater ease. A solid way to teach your child math facts is with flash cards. There are a number of websites that you can download math fact flashcards from, or else you can simply create your own based on your child's schoolwork or information from his or her teacher.

Helpful Online Math Resources

Many websites offer hundreds of lessons - both for free and for a price - on common math topics. You can use these lessons to teach your child at home. Additionally, some sites offer a variety of practice problems that your child can complete online. For a more visual learning experience, your child can watch math help videos and complete interactive online tutorials. There are also free online tutoring services available staffed by volunteer teachers who can answer questions about simple and complicated math topics.