Math class can go pretty fast. There is so much to cover in the course of a school year. And if your child doesn’t get a new math idea right away, they can quickly fall behind.
If your child struggles with basic math problems every day, it doesn’t mean they are destined to be bad at math. Some students need more time to develop the problem-solving skills that math requires. Others may need to review previous drafts before moving on. Because of the way math is structured, it’s best to take it step by step, lesson by lesson every year.
This article contains tips and tricks to improve your child’s math skills and minimize frustrations and problems. If your child starts to hate math, read on for ways to improve their skills and confidence, and maybe even make math fun!
What are considered basic math skills?
The basic math skills required to move on to higher levels of math learning are:
- Addition — Adding to a set.
- Subtraction — Taking away from a set.
- Multiplication — Adding equal sets together in groups (2 sets of 3 is the same as 2×3, or 6).
- Division — How many equal sets can be found in a number (12 has how many sets of two in it? 6 sets of 2).
- Percentages — A specific amount in relation to 100.
- Fractions & Decimals — Fractions are equal parts of a whole set. Decimals represent a number of parts of a whole in relation to 10. These both contrast with whole numbers.
- Spatial Reasoning — How numbers and shapes fit together.
