{"id":19243,"date":"2022-12-14T17:57:40","date_gmt":"2022-12-14T17:57:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/?p=19243"},"modified":"2025-07-26T12:19:36","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T11:19:36","slug":"how-can-parents-help-with-childrens-math-homework","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/how-can-parents-help-with-childrens-math-homework\/","title":{"rendered":"How Can Parents Help with Children\u2019s Math Homework?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>Key Takeaways for Caregivers<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Before children enter formal schooling, a good way for <a href=\"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/how-parents-can-support-math-learning-at-home\">parents to help children learn math<\/a> is through activities such as playing games that involve numbers.<\/li>\n<li>Once children enter formal schooling and have homework, these activities become less frequent. Unfortunately, parents often have more negative feelings (e.g., frustration and irritation) when they are involved in their children\u2019s math homework than when they are involved in activities, and this can undermine children\u2019s math learning.<\/li>\n<li>When they feel efficacious (e.g., confident) in helping, parents are less likely to have negative feelings during children\u2019s math homework.<\/li>\n<li>Information on what children are learning and how to best help children may contribute to parents feeling efficacious.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>How Parents Can Help with Math Learning at Home<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Before children enter formal schooling, many parents engage their offspring in informal math activities, such as measuring while cooking and playing games that involve numbers. These kinds of activities <a href=\"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/math-parents-number-games\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">can help children learn key math concepts<\/a> and become interested, as well as confident, in math. However, with children\u2019s entry into formal schooling, activities of this type may occur less frequently as children have assigned homework to complete.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_22263\" style=\"width: 1210px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22263\" class=\"wp-image-22263 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/pexels-julia-m-cameron-4145350-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"801\" srcset=\"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/pexels-julia-m-cameron-4145350-1.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/pexels-julia-m-cameron-4145350-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/pexels-julia-m-cameron-4145350-1-1024x684.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/pexels-julia-m-cameron-4145350-1-768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/pexels-julia-m-cameron-4145350-1-356x238.jpg 356w, https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/pexels-julia-m-cameron-4145350-1-700x467.jpg 700w, https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/pexels-julia-m-cameron-4145350-1-50x33.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-22263\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/photo\/photo-of-woman-and-boy-smiling-while-watching-through-imac-4145350\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Julia M Cameron<\/a>. Pexels.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Unfortunately, parents often have more negative feelings (e.g., frustration and irritation) when they are involved in their children\u2019s math homework than when they are involved in activities.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>To better understand how parents can continue to help their children learn math once they enter formal schooling, <a href=\"https:\/\/srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1111\/cdev.13774\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">we studied two primary questions<\/a>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Is it useful for parents to get involved in their children\u2019s math homework?<\/li>\n<li>Is math homework just as good an opportunity as math activities for parents to help children learn math?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Measuring Parents\u2019 Involvement and Children\u2019s Motivation and Achievement in Math<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Our study included 483 parents of first and second-graders in the midwestern United States. Most parents were White (67%), 17% were Black, 8% were Asian, 5% were Latinx, and 4% were of another ethnicity or more than one ethnicity. Parents\u2019 highest level of educational attainment ranged from less than a college degree (29%) to an advanced graduate degree (38%).<\/p>\n<p>We asked the parents to complete a survey every day for 10 days. Parents reported on whether their children had math homework and if they were engaged in <a href=\"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/number-games-with-preschool-children\">math activities such as math board games or workbooks<\/a>. Parents then reported on qualitative aspects of their involvement in their children\u2019s math homework and activities \u2013 such as whether they had negative (e.g., irritated) or positive (e.g., happy) feelings during their involvement. They also completed a one-time survey on their feelings of efficacy in helping their children with math (e.g., their level of confidence in their ability to help).<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_22261\" style=\"width: 1210px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22261\" class=\"wp-image-22261 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/jessica-lewis-fP2-cL-6_U-unsplash-scaled-e1670764608324-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/jessica-lewis-fP2-cL-6_U-unsplash-scaled-e1670764608324-1.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/jessica-lewis-fP2-cL-6_U-unsplash-scaled-e1670764608324-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/jessica-lewis-fP2-cL-6_U-unsplash-scaled-e1670764608324-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/jessica-lewis-fP2-cL-6_U-unsplash-scaled-e1670764608324-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/jessica-lewis-fP2-cL-6_U-unsplash-scaled-e1670764608324-1-356x237.jpg 356w, https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/jessica-lewis-fP2-cL-6_U-unsplash-scaled-e1670764608324-1-700x467.jpg 700w, https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/jessica-lewis-fP2-cL-6_U-unsplash-scaled-e1670764608324-1-50x33.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-22261\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/photos\/boy-in-gray-crew-neck-t-shirt-reading-book--fP2-cL-6_U\">Jessica Lewis<\/a>. Unsplash.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<p>To understand how parents\u2019 involvement in their children\u2019s math homework contributes to children\u2019s math learning, we also measured children\u2019s math motivation and achievement at two times \u2013 when we measured parents\u2019 involvement in their children\u2019s math learning and one year later. Children indicated how much they liked math, chose between easy and difficult math problems in making a worksheet for themselves, and took a math achievement test.<\/p>\n<h3>Confident Parents are More Constructively Involved in Math Homework<\/h3>\n<p>We found that parents\u2019 involvement in their children\u2019s math homework was less constructive than their involvement in math activities: Parents tended to have more negative and less positive feelings when working on homework than they did when engaged with activities. Importantly, the lower parents\u2019 self-efficacy (e.g., having less confidence in their ability to help with math), the more negative and less positive their emotions were when they were involved in both math activities and homework, but this was particularly true for homework.<\/p>\n<p>One reason for these findings may be that some parents <a href=\"https:\/\/psycnet.apa.org\/buy\/2005-02477-012\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">might feel like they do not know how to help children<\/a> learn math when it comes to math homework, which may be more difficult than math activities. Children often become frustrated with homework, which <a href=\"https:\/\/psycnet.apa.org\/record\/2008-02496-002\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">may lead some parents to become frustrated<\/a> because they feel out of their element in helping children. This may be particularly true in math since the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/06\/30\/us\/math-under-common-core-has-even-parents-stumbling.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Common Core curriculum used in most U.S. classrooms today often relies on different methods than parents learned<\/a> as children.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, the more parents\u2019 involvement in their children\u2019s math homework was characterised by negative emotions, the more children disliked math, avoided difficult math problems when making their worksheet, and had poor math achievement a year later. Moreover, parents were more involved in math homework and less involved in math activities with older than younger children.<\/p>\n<p>Together, these findings suggest that parents become less constructively involved in children\u2019s math learning as children get older because more time is spent on math homework and less time is spent on math activities.\u00a0However, parents\u2019 feelings of efficacy could buffer them from unconstructive involvement, which suggests that boosting parental self-efficacy can enhance parental involvement.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_22262\" style=\"width: 1210px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22262\" class=\"wp-image-22262 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/pexels-monstera-7114090-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/pexels-monstera-7114090-1.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/pexels-monstera-7114090-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/pexels-monstera-7114090-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/pexels-monstera-7114090-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/pexels-monstera-7114090-1-356x237.jpg 356w, https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/pexels-monstera-7114090-1-700x467.jpg 700w, https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/pexels-monstera-7114090-1-50x33.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-22262\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/photo\/black-mother-pointing-in-book-while-doing-task-with-daughter-7114090\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Monstera<\/a>. Pexels.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<h3><strong>How Can Parents Help Children Learn Math Once They Enter Formal Schooling?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>While parents are involved with children\u2019s math homework, they can act as cheerleaders and provide a sounding board. Parents can be encouraging when children hit a stumbling block, acknowledging their frustration, allowing them to explore on their own, and offering a hint to help them get on the right track when they ask for help.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>When they feel efficacious (e.g., <a href=\"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/confidence-in-parenting\/\">confident<\/a>) in helping, parents are less likely to have negative feelings during children\u2019s math homework.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>When children encounter problems, parents can also suggest that children ask their teacher the next day about how to do the work. During elementary school, children usually do not have to turn in mistake-free homework. Parents can also seek advice \u2013 for example, from the teacher \u2013 about what their children are learning in math and how best to help.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Recommendations For Math Teachers Working with Parents and Children<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Teachers also have a role. They might think about how they can steer parents toward constructive involvement in children\u2019s math homework (for example, by communicating that mistakes on homework are part of the learning process, so parents do not get frustrated when children have difficulty) or assist parents in feeling efficacious in helping. In the early years of schooling, this may be as simple as telling parents they do not need to know a lot about math to support their children and giving them information on what children are learning, along with a few tips on helping their children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Parents\u2019 math involvement is more beneficial to children when parents feel more effective in helping with math.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":235,"featured_media":22264,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[451,267,6],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19243"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/235"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19243"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22259,"href":"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19243\/revisions\/22259"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}