Unfortunately, a number of high schoolers come to me when their parents could have answered a resounding “yes!” to the first four questions years ago.  In some cases I assess incoming students in senior high just to find out that the math gaps thread back to grade 4.  Yikes.  By that point it’s too late, but maybe for your child, there is time.

If you want to nip the problem in the bud now, you could send your child to Kumon, Sylvan, or other education centers.  But if such a common solution worked for you, or if you think it will work for you, you wouldn’t be reading this page.

Alternatively, you could go the DIY route:

• Assign and mark worksheets from the many free math worksheet websites on the internet
• Subscribe to IXL and hope that your child works through the program
• Find an appropriate textbook and teach your child yourself

If choosing the correct topic at the correct level, enforcing practice time, making sure your kids do the work honestly (and not getting the answers straight from Google or Photomath) sound overwhelming, that’s because you’re a parent, not a math teacher.  (And even if you are a math teacher, you may want to just be a parent to your kid.) 

Although I primarily teach high school students, I take in a few upper elementary kids who are not struggling in school, but could be doing so much better.  Consistently working one-on-one with a math tutor allows kids the opportunity to 

• be in dialogue with someone who is not only enthusiastic and knowledgeable about math, but also understands what is needed for concepts to “click” in the child’s brain.
• learn math at a level and pace that is appropriate for the child
• Explore topics in depth without the many distractions that take place in a group setting.

I don’t follow any specific curriculum, but I aim to have students fluent with 

• Mental math  (computations with counting numbers, negative numbers, fractions and decimals), 
• Geometry (drawing shapes to scale, understanding the difference between perimeter, area, surface area, volume of various shapes and applying that understanding to problems)
• Interpreting and solving word problems
• Getting ready for high school math