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Every guide in the Math Prizes resource hub, newest first. Page 1 of 16.
Screen time that is actually productive: how to tell a learning app from a slot machine
Not all screen time is equal. I build these apps for a living. Here are the design tricks that tell you whether an app is teaching your kid or just farming their attention.
Multiplication facts that finally stick (without flashcard misery)
Flashcard marathons make kids hate multiplication and still do not work. Here is the order I teach the facts in, and the ten minute routine that makes them stick.
How to help a child who is struggling with math
When a kid decides they are bad at math, the fix is almost never more of the same worksheet. Here is the triage I use in the classroom, step by step.
Estimation: Teaching Kids to Know When an Answer Is Ridiculous
A kid wrote that 4 times 6 was 240 and didn't blink. Estimation is the skill that would've caught it. Here's how I taught kids to smell a wrong answer.
Arrays and Area Models: The Picture That Ties Multiplication to Real Math
Kids who memorize times tables still freeze on word problems. Arrays and area models give multiplication a picture, and the picture is what makes it stick.
Introducing Coordinate Grids: Plotting Points Without the Panic
The first day of graphing usually ends in tears or blank stares. Here's how I taught the coordinate plane so kids stopped guessing which number goes first.
Multiplying by 10, 100, and 1000: The Pattern Behind the Zeros
Just add a zero works until your kid hits decimals, then it falls apart. Here is what is really happening when you multiply by ten.
Converting Fractions, Decimals, and Percents: One Idea, Three Costumes
Kids treat fractions, decimals, and percents as three separate subjects. They are one number in three outfits, and that changes everything.
Understanding Remainders: What Long Division Leftovers Actually Mean
Most kids can write R3 at the end of a division problem without any idea what it means. Here is how to make the leftover make sense.
Fractions on a Number Line: The Model That Ties It All Together
Pizza slices work until a kid has to compare two-thirds and three-fourths. A number line is the one model that carries fractions all the way up.
Order of Operations at Home: More Than Just PEMDAS
PEMDAS is a memory trick that quietly teaches two wrong ideas. Here is how to teach order of operations so it actually makes sense to your kid.
What Is Algebra Readiness in Elementary School, Really?
Algebra readiness has almost nothing to do with algebra. Here are the elementary skills that actually predict who thrives in eighth grade, and how to build them.
Patterns and the Start of Algebraic Thinking in Elementary Math
Patterns look like kindergarten fluff, but they are where algebra actually begins. Here is how to grow that thinking at home with beads, tiles, and questions.
Reading Graphs and Charts: The Data Skill Schools Rush Through
Why chart-reading gets crammed into a single week each year, and how to build real data sense at home using cereal boxes, weather, and a jar of coins.
When Practice Should Stop: Reading the Signs Your Kid Is Done for Today
Ten good minutes beats thirty grinding ones. Here are the real signs your kid is done for the day, and why pushing past them costs you tomorrow.
Elementary Geometry Basics Every Parent Can Teach in the Kitchen
Shapes, angles, symmetry, area, and volume are all sitting in your kitchen right now. Here is how to teach the geometry basics without a single worksheet.
The Quiet Kid Who Thinks They're Behind in Math
She never raises her hand and she is sure everyone else gets it. Often the quiet kid who feels behind in math is not behind at all. Here is how to tell.
When 'Just Five More Minutes' Becomes an Hour: Fixing the Time Blindness
Your kid swears it was five minutes and the clock says fifty. That gap is not defiance. It is how the software is built, and there are ways to close it.
Introducing Negative Numbers Without the Confusion
Negative numbers trip up smart kids because we teach them as rules to memorize. Here's how to make them make sense before a single rule shows up.
Resilience in Math: Raising a Kid Who Tries the Hard Problem Twice
The kids who get good at math aren't the ones who never get stuck. They're the ones who go back and try the hard problem a second time. Here's how that gets built.
Free Math Websites That Are Actually Good, and How to Judge One
Most free math sites are built to keep kids clicking, not to teach them. Here is how a software engineer tells the good ones apart in about five minutes.
Wrapping and Gifting Math: Volume, Area, and Ribbon Length
A stack of presents and a roll of paper is a full math lesson in disguise. Here is how to turn wrapping night into measuring, estimating, and problem solving.
Grade-Level Math Anxiety: Is It the Math or the Pace?
Sometimes a kid isn't bad at the math. The class just moved on before it clicked. Here is how to tell the difference, and what to do about each.
The Five Minute Rule: How Little Daily Math Actually Works
Five honest minutes a day beats an hour on Sunday. Here is why small daily math practice works better than the big weekend cram, from a teacher.