What To Do When Your Kid is Poor at Math

Sometimes kids need a little help as they learn. They may be struggling with certain subjects while at school and trying to meet up with their classmates on their own. As a parent, it is important that you know that this painful system of struggle can be very discouraging and can hinder your kid’s chances in the future if you do not help them now. You could use a lot of techniques and skills to relieve your kid and help them out of failure. When it comes to math, there is little more than a parent needs to do to improve on the grades. Before getting to the solution you need to know why it is important that your kid should be good at math.

Why kids have poor grades at school

1. Kids may not understand test questions, assignments, classroom work or discussions or even an essay-writing problem. Grade 3 is a critical year where your kid will be transitioning from learning to reading and if he or she fails to make it through that transition, reading abilities will impact every subject.

2. Disorganization is one of the factors that affect students and families and it can show itself in many ways and contribute too many problems. Sometimes it can lead to homework/supplies forgotten, test/ project due dates unknown, too many activities and enough time and untidy work with supplies and a disaster. These are

3. Your kid may be failing due to the lack of communication skills. Students not asking teachers for help and parents do not need to ask their kids about their school work. Communication is key to success and everyone needs to do their part. Parents may not be as involved in their kids’ school work as possible because kids need attention and supervision at most times.

4. Kids need to be focused and this requires that they do not daydream in class and are not burdened with too many tasks. This will deal with procrastination. Most times it is not the learning that’s the problem instead it is the things around him or here that is the issue. Distractions can make your kid lose focus and end up not grabbing the information needed. It is no surprise that your kid may be distracted given the fast pace our world is taking on technology which may be good but also bad. Find out if your kid has become overwhelmed with games or social media etc.

5. Our levels of IQ are not the same but for the brain to function effectively, it must live in a healthy body. Hence, things like skipping breakfast, lack of exercise and lack of sleep etc. may drag his or her grades down in math and other subjects too.

6. Kids need to know that they can do it. If a kid finds it uncomfortable in school, it becomes hard for them to learn anything. Kids who are shy and have confidence issues find it difficult to express themselves and become shy and introverts. This will mean that they will not be able to speak up in class or interact with other kids as well. Therefore, the classroom becomes a sort of prison or punishment that they want to escape from.

7. Another factor which can be overlooked at times is the issue of exam fear or panic. Kids may know all the rules, steps, information concerning the math problems but on the day for exams they freeze. Some kids do not do well in tests or exams but are good at home works and other kinds of assignments. So you may realize that your kid becomes agitated and anxious as time draws near to exams and with all of this stress he or she might do blunders in the exams.

Now that you know some of the causes of poor math grades, it is good that you follow the steps below and employ the best practice that will suit your kid’s reason for low grades.

First step:

Take note that, your child’s effort and not the ability is what decides their math achievement and grades. As I earlier mentioned, we all have different levels of IQ and so it does not mean that math grades are determined by the level of intelligence your kid possess but rather by the amount of time and effort they put into practicing and understanding the math problem.

With this in mind, research has shown that students who try hardest in math usually come out best. For your kid to be successful in math he or she needs to work daily on the subject. This will mean that you should encourage your kid to work on a math problem each day or depending on his or her capability, one problem for two days. As a parent you need to believe in your kid and learn to say, “keep working on your math a little longer, you will do fine”, or “I will sit with you and help you where you need it. Besides, did you know that watching you work on things is one of my favourite pass time?”. These simple statements make your kid mentally prepared for the challenge.

Second step:

Do not tell your kid that you were bad at math too. Do not give them the impression that it is a normal thing or else you risk the chance of making them feel comfortable with the failures. Your job as a parent is to believe that your child can succeed in math and express that believe in the ways that your kid will understand. Remind them of their past successes, tell them how their efforts paid of the last time and how much you are proud of their achievement so far.

Third Step:

Be attentive and show concern for your kid’s mathematical problems. A kid’s belief on how they will succeed in math is shaped by how they explain their earlier math performance. So if a kid focuses only on the negative outcome they had in math previously, they will only see failure in the future. You as a parent should prepare a response to your kid’s negative statements and say it out loud to motivate them.  You should tell your kid that the both of you could change the results with a little added effort and that this will mean that both of you will study together. Do not be afraid if you do not know some of the solutions; just make sure to get help from the teacher or someone else so that you and your kid can practice at home more often.

Fourth step:

Help your kid create a relationship with math by making sure that whenever you both work on a topic together, you laugh and smile, have a good time while doing this. It will give your kid another concept of the problem so that, he or she would not look at math time with disdain. Give good comments while doing this, your views matter to your child even though you may not realize but being positive bout math can make your kid adopt this view and push harder to achieve success.

Fifth step:

If your kid’s math is at the lowest level and one which you cannot help alone, then get help. You can hire a tutor or subscribe to some online classes for your kid to take. Or you can try your local newspaper and find excellent tutors for your kid. Every community has tutors that are glad to help your kid work on his or her math. Depending on the system that best suits you, tutors can come to your home or some tutor in their homes.

By following the steps above you are sure to get the best results, however, below are a few tips on how to personally develop your kid:

• Make sure that he or she understands the concept and not just memorizing the meaningless rules and drills.
• Teach your kid to write clearly and neatly.
• Always be around to refresh his memory or explain forgotten concepts
• Go through the math vocabulary to make sure that she can define the skills she is learning
• Encourage them to put down the calculator and use his head more often, it reinforces the concepts more quickly.
• Always check to ensure that your kid is using the right approach to solve the problems.
• Encourage them to tackle more assignments
• Solve math problems with your kid.
• Try to relate it to real life situations and challenge him or her to help you solve the problems you both have to face together.

With the above methods explained above, a parent, guardian is sure to see improvements in their kids’ grades when they follow the steps. Make sure to keep on encouraging your kid and motivate them so that they can have confidence and get better grades.