But not knowing how to solve them may leave your teen staring at the page in frustration. Here’s a strategy that may help: Have your teen look for the pattern.

Often, a teacher will assign 10 or 20 math problems for homework. But in fact, each of these problems will be one problem given in 10 or 20 different ways. When your teen finds the one step that happens in each of the problems, he’ll have the key to figuring out all the problems.

As he solves problems, have him talk his way through each. (“Now I’m multiplying both sides of this equation by 2.”) When he’s finished, he will have found both the answer to the problem and the procedure he has used. This will make remembering what he did easier and will also help him the next time he sees one of these problems.

Copyright © Parent Institute