Make Math Homework Fun- Tips For Teachers

Do Not Let Your Students Groan Each Time You Assign Homework!
Create and Use Fun Yet Motivating Assignments
Make Math Homework Fun!

Rarely will you find homework and fun used in the same sentence. Teachers have the power to make homework fun or at least more enjoyable by being sure work is not too hard, not too heavy a workload, and by providing a variety of types of assignments that include challenging, interesting games, puzzles or problem solving challenges.

These tips will remind teachers to step back and keep homework in the proper perspective.

1. The point of homework is to reinforce what is taught in the class. Do not expect the students to teach themselves with a homework assignment.
   
2. Homework is not busy work. It needs to be productive and relevant to their needs.
   
3. Homework should be work that can be done independently, meaning they have enough experience with the skill, they can do it at home with little or no help. Parents are not teachers!
   
4. Where is it written homework this has to be page after page of boring problems? Incorporating a variety of activities, that address the targeted skill, in a challenging, innovative game will serve the same purpose. This does not means to make math homework fun by sending a game or puzzle home everyday, but it does mean that it will be beneficial to incorporate these innovative and challenging activities into the overall scheme of things.
5. If you run out of time in class, and did not have a chance to fully finish explanations, then assigning the accompanying problems will be frustrating and cause ill-will. You will just have to go over it all again the next day. Fire drills, visitors, unexpected announcements happen; it is never wise to punish the students for this by giving work they are not prepared to finish.
6. No one fails a class because an occasional day goes by with no math homework. To be sure, a simple no homework tonight is the best definition of a fun math homework!
7. Always have a back up plan! Digital printable math games and/or activities can be sent home electronically or easily printed out at the last minute for those days things did not go as planned. And yes, it is even acceptable to skip homework occasionally, the children with thank you, their parent will thank-you!
8. Regular reinforcement of math facts is educationally sound, so regular homework is necessary. It just does not have to be the same boring drills over and over again.
   
9. Avoid the Monday memory freeze or the first day back from winter break memory chasm by providing valuable quality but fun homework activities and games to use over the weekend or on longer breaks. This will eliminate the groan factor, but keep skills sharp
10. 20-30 minutes of targeted, appropriate work for elementary and 30-45 minutes for middle school is plenty of time. Anything over that, promotes distaste and negative feelings toward the class.
11. Simple as can be, if you hate the homework load, you will hate the class and take longer to learn what you need.

Math teachers will benefit from remembering the whole picture and find a balance that works between assigning important reinforcing drills and problems, and making math homework fun by incorporating different challenging but enjoyable activities into the mix.

Learn more! Click here to Make Math Fun with innovative printable games and activities