Many homeschooling parents worry about how to make math engaging, effective, and stress-free for their children. This worry is rooted in a real challenge. Math can be more challenging and tedious for parents as well as children, especially if the parents found the subject challenging themselves. Studies suggest that there is a troubling “math gap” in homeschooling; students excel in language arts but generally struggle with math.
Math is a crucial skill for navigating the world, but at some point in nearly every homeschool math session, a child asks, “When will I use this in real life?!” It’s a fair question. At the same time, we don’t tend to question other subjects in the same way. The truth is that math lessons, just like any other subject, provide skill-building exercises, a way to strengthen knowledge so that students can apply core concepts later on.
So, how do we make math an engaging subject that students and parents can feel confident in? How do we close the math gap? In this article, we’ll explore nine practical strategies to reverse the homeschool math gap, making math stress-free and fun in your homeschool, so that your family can learn math with clarity and confidence.
Observe to Understand
Before jumping into solutions, it helps to identify where any learning gaps begin. If you are finding that math is a slog, take some time to observe where those pain points are coming from. Is your child struggling with missed foundational skills like adding, subtracting, or ratios? If your child has math anxiety, what is causing them to feel that? Observing your child during lessons and asking open-ended questions can reveal a lot.
Understand the Root of Math Gaps
Taking it a step further beyond observation, use adaptive testing in math to clearly identify where students’ knowledge gaps are. Often, trouble in math can be found when students have not fully mastered earlier concepts. Pausing to rebuild foundational areas that are consistently coming up is possible once you know what those areas are, and testing can quickly provide you information on what are your pain points and what to do.
Go Slow to Go Fast
Homeschooling allows you the flexibility to take subjects at the pace that is right for your child. Ensuring students understand concepts beyond “good enough” can mean you can go faster later when you are building on top of each concept. Going slow also means taking the time to explain concepts (and understand them for yourself) in multiple different ways. Ultimately, much like learning to read or write, learning math is about the process. It’s ok to slow down to understand concepts and taking time to understand things thoroughly also helps to build important skills like perseverance and a growth mindset.
Creating Forward Momentum
While other subjects have more flexibility for self direction, for most students math requires a certain level of guided daily structure to maintain forward momentum in students’ comprehension. Math is not as intuitive, and requires a degree of structured examples and practice that many, if not most, students do not have the self direction to maintain. Make sure as you organize your homeschool day that there is a significant portion of your “structured time” set aside for math concepts, and that you are doing this at a very regular interval, such as each day or every other.
Use High-Quality Materials
This may seem obvious, but if math is a struggle every day, it may be time to reconsider the curriculum or tools you are using, as they might just not be the right tools for your child. There is a plethora of top-rated free and low-cost homeschooling resources, curriculum, and classes that actually work.
Foster a “Math Perseverance” Mindset
The goal here is to build an understanding in your student that struggle is a positive thing, and that there are many ways to approach problems in math. This takes time, but it is shown to be critical to success in most subjects, especially math. One key concept to understand when building perseverance is knowing when and how to intervene to prevent your student getting frustrated to the point of overwhelm. When a student is stuck or frustrated, it can be hard not to jump in and save them by giving them a next step to take. It can also be difficult to know just what the right thing to say might be.
Studies have shown that prompting students to think about the mathematics involved in the problem before they start working on the problem aided them to stick with it after hitting an obstacle. Asking open-ended questions designed to support reflection can help students either get started or get unstuck. Learn more about strategies for supporting math perseverance.
Be Mindful of Your Mindset
If math feels stressful to you, your child will pick up on that feeling. Be aware of your tone and lead with encouragement, even for small moments of success or perseverance. In fact, it has been shown that in habit formation – like sitting down every day to work on math – celebrating small wins is critical. This is a hugely powerful tool if you are looking to create that excitement for a subject and the confidence needed to make mistakes and learn.
Connect Math to Real Life
Connecting math to real life can add excitement, engagement, and even (we hope) that “a-ha!” moment which can make math click for your student. Brainstorm how you might incorporate the math you are working on into a real-world project that could supplement your curriculum. Think bold, this doesn’t need to be just learning how to do accounting for adult life. How could you incorporate math into fantastical, fun projects like building rockets or baking or other activities that would feel joyful for your student. Don’t put pressure on yourself that every lesson needs an example, but working on a project that relates to tangible life can create moments that meaningfully underscore maths importance.
Get Help
When it comes to math, many challenging dynamics can emerge. If math has become a daily battle for you or your student, it may be time to get help! A consistent tutor, small group class, or even a community college course for older students can provide additional support and resources that your child may need and reduce the frustration, fear, or fighting that may be popping up.