4 Math Instruction Tips For Homeschool Teachers

Posted on: 13 November 2017

Homeschooling offers many benefits for parents and children, including the opportunity to offer quality, one-on-one education that aligns with your child's interests and strengths. One challenge for homeschooling teachers, however, is that it can be tricky to teach your children subjects you are not especially strong in, and for many parents this is math. Luckily, there are strategies and tools available for homeschool teachers to teach math creatively and effectively. Here are a few ideas:

Teach Math with Drawing

Incorporating art and drawing into your math lessons offers many benefits for kids, including helping them to more effectively absorb and remember key concepts. Teaching math with drawing can help math make more sense to your children, especially if they are more artistically inclined or visual learners. There are books available that provide drawing exercises to help you illustrate math concepts more clearly.

Incorporate Math into Play Time

For younger children, the most effective way to teach math concepts is often to turn it into a fun game by incorporating math concepts into play time. This may mean playing a board game like Monopoly that requires basic arithmetic and financial concepts. Having your children help you cook or bake, and teaching them how to measure, add, and subtract ingredients can also be very effective. You can also purchase toys and games that are specifically designed to help teach your child math and science concepts in a fun, engaging way. 

Take Your Math Lessons Outdoors

Sometimes when math lessons start to feel stale or too difficult, it can help to shake things up with a field trip. Fresh air and a change of scenery are mentally stimulating, and you can show your children math concepts out in the real world. Have your children measure a fence and create the right formula for adding to it. Bring them to a construction site and show them how the cranes have to be at just the right height to do their job safely. 

Be Upbeat and Positive

For many homeschooling teachers, math is intimidating to teach because they themselves didn't enjoy learning math when they were younger. It's important that you make an effort to remain positive and upbeat when discussing math with your kids. If you tell them how hard or boring math is, they will absorb your attitude. Instead, focus on how important math is in daily life, and how even the tricky or complicated concepts can be broken down into small steps.

By incorporating these ideas into your homeschooling math curriculum, you will be able to help your child learn and absorb mathematical principles much more easily and in a way that is also fun. Contact a company like Mary Smale for more information and assistance. 

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