Why is my child making careless math mistakes?

It is frustrating to see your children in a situation where they continually make mistakes on their math schoolwork.  However, there is a solution to help them! The first step in finding that solution is to identify the “why” behind their mistakes.  Why are they making certain mistakes? There are three main kinds of math errors:

1)  Careless  (is your child rushing through their work and/or not paying attention?)

2)  Computational  (is your child incorrectly solving basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division problems?)

3)  Conceptual  (is your child not understanding the topic being taught?)

If your child is making Careless or Computational errors, encourage them to slow down and take their time working through each step carefully.  Having them go step-by-step will help improve their accuracy and reduce careless or computational errors.

When working through word problems, careful observation and interpretation is key. Going step-by-step and circling key pieces of information presented in the problem will help decrease the chances of missing a key fact.

Conceptual errors are altogether a different kind of mistake.  They are not simply “careless mistakes” but rather “clueless guesses.”  They represent a deeper problem at hand -- one where a student is lacking crucial prerequisite knowledge needed to solve the problem presented in front of them.  Encourage your child to reflect on their answer and ask themselves “Does my answer make sense?”

The pace of your child’s math classroom at school will continue to move forward during the school year, making it difficult to find time during class to go back and re-teach skills from the previous years.  If your child has foundational gaps that need to be filled in, consider enlisting the help of a math professional. They will teach your child the concepts they have previously seen in their math studies, but have not yet mastered.  These are skills your child will take will them into Algebra and beyond.

If you are looking for some help in finding a solution for your child’s math mistakes, give us a call at (305) 489-9457.  Let our specially trained Math Instructors help your child strengthen their math skills!