Healthy Homework Habits

Doing math schoolwork at home can be more enjoyable for both you and your child if healthy homework habits are not used. That’s why we’ve designed this page specifically for families. Here, you will find strategies to help you support your child with having the best environment for persevering through challenging math work.

How to Support Your Child with Homework

Here are several tips from Scholastic and Mathnasium for building good habits and creating a supportive learning environment for completing math schoolwork.

Set up a designated place to complete homework: Choose a comfortable, well-lit spot that is free of distractions. Make sure your child has all the supplies and tools he or she will need.
Meet your child where they are: You know what works best for your child. Give meaningful praise and help build a growth mindset.
Make homework time enjoyable: Learning should be fun, and so should the time your child spends working on math schoolwork. If you have a separate space for homework, allow your child to decorate it. Provide short breaks to maintain effort.
Relate math homework to everyday math: Show your child that the math work they are doing relates to things they do and see at home. For example, if working on multiply single digits like 2 x 3 = 6 or 2 x 6 = 12, you can show how a muffin pan has two rows of three that make 6 muffins and 2 pans of 6 muffins totals 12 muffins.
Discover more ways you can use math at home on our Learning Math at Home page.

Understanding Math Standards and School Math Learning

Ohio has math standards for each grade level. Understanding your state’s math standards can help you discuss with your kids what they are learning in school and support math education at home. This Math Standards and School Math Learning resource page from our Center includes short video clips created by the University of Texas at Austin that show what these standards look like in K-12 classrooms as well as a math practices guide for developing critical thinking and problem-solving skills.