Parents Help with Math | Project Appleseed

Math success starts with parent engagement

Math and Parenting

Math is an important subject that lays the foundation for many other subjects in school. It's also a subject that can be challenging for some students, making it essential for parents and schools to work together in helping students learn and succeed in mathematics. By providing support, resources, and encouragement, both parents and schools can play a critical role in fostering students' growth and interest in math. In this answer, we will discuss how parents and schools can help students learn math, and provide specific ways parents can help with math at each stage of education: pre-school, elementary, middle school, and high school.

Ways Parents and Schools Can Help Students Learn Math:

1. Encouragement and Motivation: Parents and schools can provide a positive and supportive learning environment for students. This can include verbal encouragement, recognizing their accomplishments and helping them to understand the relevance of math in daily life.

2. Active Engagement: Parents and schools can encourage active learning and engagement by encouraging hands-on activities, such as solving math problems and puzzles, playing math games, and creating visual representations of mathematical concepts.

3. Building a Strong Foundation: Parents and schools can help students build a strong foundation in math by ensuring they have a solid understanding of basic mathematical concepts and operations, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

4. Practice and Repetition: Parents and schools can encourage students to practice math regularly, whether through homework, extra practice sheets, or online resources. This can help to reinforce concepts and develop proficiency in mathematical operations.

5. Real-Life Applications: Parents and schools can help students understand the practical applications of math by exposing them to real-life situations where math is used, such as budgeting, cooking, and home improvement projects.

Ways A Parent Can Help With Math in Each Stage of Education:

Pre-school:

Encourage hands-on activities such as counting, sorting, and measuring objects.
Play math games, such as number bingo and counting games.
Read books about math and numbers.
Incorporate math into everyday activities, such as counting objects in the grocery store.

Elementary School:

Provide opportunities for practice and repetition through homework and extra practice sheets.
Encourage real-life applications of math, such as creating a budget or calculating change from a purchase.
Play math games and puzzles to reinforce concepts.
Attend parent-teacher conferences to stay informed about your child's progress in math.

Middle School:

Encourage the use of online resources, such as math tutoring and practice websites.
Help your child understand the relevance of math in real life by discussing news articles or career paths that use math.
Attend parent-teacher conferences to stay informed about your child's progress and provide additional support as needed.
Encourage your child to join a math club or competition.

High School:

Encourage your child to take advanced math courses and explore math-related careers.
Attend parent-teacher conferences to stay informed about your child's progress and provide support as needed.
Encourage your child to participate in math-related activities and events outside of school, such as math competitions or visiting a local science museum.
Provide support for standardized tests, such as the ACT or SAT, which include a math section.

Here are some resources for helping parents support their children with math at different levels of education:

Elementary School:

Khan Academy Kids: https://learn.khanacademy.org/khan-academy-kids/
Prodigy Math Game: https://www.prodigygame.com/
Bedtime Math: http://bedtimemath.org/
Math Playground: https://www.mathplayground.com/

Middle School:

IXL Learning: https://www.ixl.com/math/
Cool Math Games: https://www.coolmathgames.com/
Khan Academy: https://www.khanacademy.org/
Math Game Time: https://www.mathgametime.com/

High School:

Wolfram Alpha: https://www.wolframalpha.com/
Mathway: https://www.mathway.com/
Cymath: https://www.cymath.com/
Khan Academy: https://www.khanacademy.org/

Note: these resources can be used as supplementary materials to support in-school learning and can be tailored to fit individual student needs and learning styles.