In high school, your teen’s math lessons become more advanced, covering topics such as algebra, calculus and trigonometry. Here are some ways you can support your teen’s mathematics learning at home:

Build their confidence

Help your child achieve their best by having high, but realistic, expectations of them. Let them know that you believe they can do well at maths and give praise when they put in effort and show progress.

Build a strong foundation

Try looking through your teen’s maths workbook together. Ask them to explain the examples their teacher has already worked through with the class. Can they apply this to some more examples? If your teen expresses that they did not completely understand the concepts covered in maths class that day, encourage them to talk to their teacher.

Stay positive

Try to talk positively about mathematics with your teenager—even if you struggled with it at school yourself. Saying ‘I was bad at maths’ can lower your teen’s own expectations of themselves and can give them an excuse not to try.

Talk about maths

Talk about how maths is used in everyday life and find real-life examples for the maths they learn at school. For example, you can talk about household bills, such as electricity and water, analyse the graphs on the bills and discuss the costs and ways to reduce energy or water consumption. Or get your teen to research the costs of different mobile phone plans to find the best value option for them based on call costs, calling patterns, their phone usage and previous bills.