Academics · Study Skills

Help with math
without taking the pencil.

The most useful thing a parent can do at the kitchen table is ask good questions and tell the teacher what happened. Log each night: problems done alone and with help, where it got stuck, how long it took and what you tried. The guide works out the share done alone and the time against a common rule of thumb, and prints a short note for the teacher.

Log tonightWhat you get

Homework nights

The worked example is made up: fourth-grade multiplication, a long and hard night of seventh-grade equations, and a quick tenth-grade graphing set. Saved on this device only.

Loading the night form. If nothing appears, turn on JavaScript.

What you get

Academics · Study SkillsFree

What you finish with
A record per homework night: child, grade, topic and problems; how many were assigned, done alone and with help; minutes, where it got stuck and how it felt; what you tried, questions you asked and a note for the teacher; five checks. Works out the share done alone, minutes per problem and time against the 10-minutes-per-grade rule of thumb, and prints the teacher note.
Who it is for
Parents, caregivers and older siblings helping children from kindergarten through high school with math homework, and tutors who want a simple log.
Format
Browser log with a saved record per night. Prints the note for the teacher, the full record, every night in a table or a blank form; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); exports and imports a file.
Access
Free. No account, no sign-in and nothing to install. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Study Skills space in Caveat Academics.
Support
Questions about access, an order or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Let them try every problem first.
  2. Ask a question before you explain.
  3. Mark the problems that had help.
  4. Log the night in two minutes.
  5. Send the note when it was hard.

Log tonight

At the kitchen table

Questions that help without giving the answerWhen they sayTry asking“I don’t get it.”“What is the question asking you to find?”“I don’t know where to start.”“What do you already know from the problem?”“We never learned this.”“Is there one like it in your notes?”“Is this right?”“How could you check it?”“Just tell me.”“Show me how you started, and I’ll look.”Questions that help without giving the answer“I don’t get it.”Try asking: “What is the question askingyou to find?”“I don’t know where to start.”Try asking: “What do you already knowfrom the problem?”“We never learned this.”Try asking: “Is there one like it inyour notes?”“Is this right?”Try asking: “How could you check it?”“Just tell me.”Try asking: “Show me how you started,and I’ll look.”
The aim is for the child to do the thinking, with you asking.

What the teacher needs

Homework is practice, and the teacher uses it to see what stuck. Work that looks finished but was done mostly with help hides the problem. A short note saying what was done alone, where it went wrong and how long it took is often more useful than a perfect page.

How long is too long

A common rule of thumb, backed by the National PTA and the National Education Association, is about ten minutes of homework a night per grade level, for all subjects together: about 40 minutes in fourth grade. Research on homework and achievement finds benefits are larger in secondary school and smaller in the early grades. If math alone runs well past that most nights, tell the teacher.

Feelings count

Children who hear that some people are “not math people” tend to give up sooner. Praise the strategy (“you drew it out, and that worked”) and the effort. If you felt anxious about math at school, keep it to yourself at the table.

Sources

  1. Cooper, H. (2007). The Battle over Homework: Common Ground for Administrators, Teachers, and Parents (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
  2. National PTA and National Education Association: the ten-minutes-per-grade homework guideline.
  3. Maloney, E. A., Ramirez, G., Gunderson, E. A., Levine, S. C., & Beilock, S. L. (2015). Intergenerational effects of parents’ math anxiety on children’s math achievement and anxiety. Psychological Science, 26(9), 1480–1488.
  4. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics: family resources (nctm.org).

The worked example is made up. The ten-minutes-per-grade figure is a rule of thumb for all homework, not a limit; your school’s homework policy comes first. Nothing you type is sent to Caveat. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.