Math Frustrations Solved with These 7 Proven Tips!
Are you ready to tackle math frustrations with ease and solve the daily struggle that is mathematics in your homeschool? I’ve got you covered, my friend, with 7 proven tips plus one amazing freebie!
As a homeschool mom, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed as you help your child navigate the world of mathematics. From mastering basic addition and subtraction to higher-level algebraic equations – there’s no shortage of places where students (and their parents) may struggle.
But it doesn’t have to be this way.
Today I’m sharing with you seven proven tips that will help you streamline teaching math while nixing common anxieties associated with the subject once and for all!
Oh, and I’ve got an amazing freebie that you are going to love!
This post is sponsored by Teaching Textbooks. As always, all opinions are my own.
How To Eliminate Math Frustrations
Whether it’s multiplication, geometry, or algebra, it’s never easy dealing with frustrating lessons, challenging math concepts, or the endless cycle of math confusion.
I know, we’ve been there!
Over the years, I’ve put my own high school and college level math skills to the test as I help my children navigate both basic and advanced mathematics.
The reality is, we’ve all been there, facing a frustrated child who is overwhelmed by the daunting task of learning new things. A child who doesn’t understand and wants to give up.
Yet, I don’t want you to give up.
Or your child!
No, rather I’d love to share with you these 7 effective ways that you can banish math frustrations and make math simple so your child can start making progress and boost their confidence!
No math frustrations in our homeschool, just smiles all around as we make math simple!
7 TIps For Solving Math Frustrations
1. Understand The Basics
It seems obvious enough, but before we can ever move our children on to new concepts, we need to be sure they understand the basics and have a solid math foundation.
You can do this in a variety of ways including practice worksheets, flashcards, and math drills. In our home, we work hard building up the basics until we are ready to start Teaching Textbooks Math 3 around the 3rd grade.
In the lower levels, there is a big emphasis on a solid math foundation that your child can build on during the years to come. One of the best ways that Teaching Textbooks accomplishes this is through the use of spiral learning and Bonus Rounds.
Oh yeah, and this amazing freebie from Teaching Textbooks!
Bonus rounds not only help your children work on the basics, but they also provide a fun incentive for doing well with math!
2. Utilize Visual Aids
Whether you utilize flashcards or include manipulatives in your math lessons, visual cues can be especially helpful for banishing math frustrations and making this complex subject easier.
Especially helpful for visual learners are math fact sheets. Hung in central locations or included in their homeschool binder, fact sheets can give kids the extra boost they need while they work on memorization.
3. Use Real Life Examples
When was the last time you needed 578 bananas?
Or about figuring out how to evenly share 4.5 watermelons between your 3.25 friends?
Confused? Well, yeah! And obviously, your children are going to be as well.
Instead, let’s keep math problems a tad more realistic. Thankfully, Teaching Textbooks already does this and my kids and I love it because we can see just how we are going to be able to use our math skills in real life instead of unrealistic and frustrating math examples that don’t make sense.
By utilizing real life examples, we can answer the question of “when will I ever use this?”
4. Embrace Technology
It might be hard to believe, but there was a time that education did not revolve around a computer.
I know. I’m part of that generation that started life and schooling without technology in the classroom.
The last grouping of students who utilized encyclopedias, microfiche, and the card catalog for research.
I was even part of the last set of students who heard all of my teachers warn me that I wouldn’t always have a calculator in my pocket. Ha! They had no idea.
Yet, as much as I tried to create a homeschool experience, it didn’t take me long to see we needed to utilize technology in our homeschool.
The biggest help for us was video-based math lessons like the ones my children get with Teaching Textbooks.
You see, years ago we did use a book-based program, but with 4 children learning elementary, middle, and high school math, I simply couldn’t ensure my children a solid math foundation by handing them a textbook and reviewing their homework.
And I couldn’t successfully teach 4 levels of math each day if we also wanted to include other things in our homeschool like history and reading.
With video-based math lessons though, we have an in-home tutor every day.
A trusted source that can guide my children and ease their math frustrations.
And a benefit to our entire homeschool every single day, thanks to technology.
Whether we are using the TT app on our computer or on a tablet, we love how much easier math can be thanks to technology!
5. Change Your Environment
Somedays, we just need a change of scenery to end the woes of math frustrations. For some, this means taking a break. Pausing the lessons for some fresh air or even a cup of warm hot cocoa can be the change we need.
But sometimes, we need a bit more of a change to our environment, and there’s nothing like taking your math lessons with you to give your child a new perspective. So whether you opt to let them take their math to a bedroom, out on a back porch, or high in a tree fort, a change of scenery and environment can bring new life to your days.
Need a change of scenery to fight off math frustrations?! That’s not a problem with the Teaching Textbooks app!
6. Take A Break
Some days a change of scenery can help soothe math frustrations, but other days, a break is needed.
If you find your child in a particularly challenging season of math, feel free to declare a break from math lessons. Take a long weekend, expand for the week, or even pause a bit longer. If your child is struggling, this is not the time to push on and continue adding new things.
And if you are a Teaching Textbooks customer like we are, you can even pause your enrollment when you need to take an extended break.
Teaching Textbooks helps our homeschool solve math frustrations with ease… sibling issues are another story. 😉
7. Reward Progress
Whether your child is working on mastering addition facts, multiplying fractions, or using theorems to solve proofs, we know they are going to be motivated by rewards. We all are!
You can set up a progress chart in your home, offer an “extra” (TV time, staying up late, dessert… you get the idea!) for success, or even just play homeschool cheerleader. It’s not so much WHAT you do as it is doing something to reward progress and acknowledge that your child is doing well (and show them how to feel good about success).
Stickers, just one of the many ways that Teaching Textbooks rewards children for doing well and helps keep math frustrations at bay.
Of course, it helps when your math program does the same and thankfully Teaching Textbooks offers Bonus Rounds for extra points and includes new stickers as your child progresses.
In our home, this is a BIG deal. My youngest especially loves to select her stickers and anxiously awaits unlocking new ones. It’s a whole thing for her, especially since this is her first year with the same program she has watched her siblings use for years!
My Best Secret For Ending Math Frustrations In Our Homeschool
As amazing as these 7 tips are, my best-kept secret for ending math frustrations in our homeschool has been our annual enrollment in Teaching Textbooks!
With this one program, we have an in-home tutor who can meet every one of my kids right where they are and guide them through each and every lesson.
It starts with daily video lessons that explain new topics, but that’s just the first step! In addition, my kids have access to interactive lessons and daily reviews, a digital textbook, and step-by-step solutions to every problem.
Before we started using Teaching Textbooks, we had daily struggles because try as I might, I simply couldn’t walk all four of my children through homeschool math every day. It was a big hurdle and a big frustration.
But now, my kids have a solid math foundation and strong math teaching at every level.
If you are facing math frustrations in your homeschool, I’d like to personally invite you to not only add these 7 steps into your math routine but to also grab this Teaching Textbooks math free printable (no email required!) AND sign up for a FREE 15-lesson trial. This was not an option when we first started with Teaching Textbooks, but it is now, and I love it because you get complete access to this amazing online homeschool math program with no payment information needed.
Just a simple and straightforward free trial of our favorite homeschool math course so you can see for yourself just how amazing teaching math can be when you banish math frustrations!
Kelly Warner is a seasoned homeschooling mom from Maine, where she lives with her husband and their four children—two of whom are proud homeschool graduates. With years of experience navigating the ups and downs of home education, Kelly is passionate about helping families simplify their journey and find encouragement amidst the chaos of daily life. She shares practical tips, inspiration, and real-life homeschooling wisdom on her website, Hope In The Chaos, and across social media.
