First the two of you need to decide what you will be working on. Go over reports from school and talk to the teacher. At what point in math did your student stop keeping up? Are there small missing pieces or do you have to go a long way back and start over? Math is sequential, so you will want to go as far back as necessary. Ask the school to administer diagnostic tests or give your own. One way to do this is to use your teen's own math book. Most books have a practice test at the end of each chapter. Have your teen take this test without any preparation. If he passes everything on it, go on to the next chapter. If he misses some problems, look them over together to find out why. Were they careless mistakes or were they due to lack of understanding? Now, since you are trying to catch up, only work on those sections your teen missed. Don't waste time on material he knows already.
Once you have found a skill to begin studying, begin by asking him to read the instructions that explain how to do the skill. Ask him to try to figure it out himself. Use a problem that has an answer at the back of the book if possible, or work it out yourself in advance. You want him to learn how to teach himself for the future. If he has trouble, show him how to learn the skill. He needs to work the problem himself, one step at a time, on paper. He should write the problem, and then copy the first step as shown in the book. Ask him to explain what that step accomplishes. If he isn't sure, have him look at the page again-the sample step, the explanations, any diagrams. It is important that he try to figure it out for himself using
Go To Page: 1 2
