Articles
Guides and resources about math education.
Challenging Gifted Math Learners Without Overloading Them
The fix for a child who is bored by the math they are given is not more math — it is different math. Learn the three levers (depth, breadth, and personal projects) that challenge a gifted learner without adding volume, the difference between small and skipping acceleration, and why harder thinking almost always beats more work.
Math Competitions: Friendly Challenges for Curious Kids
A math competition is really a set of puzzles with a stopwatch — for a curious child bored by the textbook, it can be rocket fuel. This guide helps a parent choose the right level of contest, prepare without cramming, run the after-talk that builds resilience, and spot the three ways competitions go wrong before they burn a kid out.
Preventing the Summer Slide in Math
Math skills fade faster than reading skills over a long break, but the recovery is cheap: fifteen quiet minutes a day. Build the summer menu of four small habits — daily reps, real-life math, games, and a weekly look-back — so September starts with last year intact and not one re-learning week.
Choosing a Math Tutor: Questions to Ask
A good math tutor diagnoses gaps before touching the latest lesson, asks 'why' instead of showing answers, and reports what happened in every session. This guide turns the hiring decision into a short list of questions — method, diagnosis, session structure, homework, and the clear red flags — plus how to run a honest 30-minute trial.
Helping Your Child Remember Math Formulas
Formulas stick when the child can rebuild them, and they last when the reviews are spaced. Use the three-step home system — say it in your own words, draw the picture that proves it, and schedule the small formula cards on the interval shelf. No more crammed lists that evaporate by midterms.
Spaced Practice: Making Math Stick Past Tomorrow
Cramming fills the bucket for a night; spaced practice keeps the water in. Review the same day, two days later, a week later, and a month later — each review at a larger gap turns a studied fact into memory. For parents this means one simple shelf: a review bin and the rule of intervals, wrapped into the homework routine.