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Hear What the Experts Say!

As a parent, you can support your teen's education in many ways—from helping them choose courses and plan a career pathway, to assisting with everyday schoolwork. While answering their questions, you might have questions of your own about the best ways to help, what else to try, and where to find more information.

Help is available!

Expert's Perspective

Student's Perspective

What Can Parents Do?

Parents play a key role by giving guidance and support as teens navigate through life. Guiding and supporting can take many forms—from being there when teens need to make a big decision and coaching them through math homework problems, to just being a good listener. Here are some other ideas to try out:

  • Be aware of your teens' physical and mental health. Make sure they keep a healthy balance between schoolwork and other activities such as sports, clubs, and friends.
  • Show you are listening to their point of view. In serious conversations, summarizing what the other person says is a good way to confirm you understand their perspective.
  • Help them see errors as opportunities for learning.

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Strategies

There are many how-to strategies that can help teens and parents with math-related activities such as doing math homework, developing good study habits, and studying for tests and exams.

Here are just a few examples to try:

  • Don't try to solve math questions for your teen. Instead, suggest specific steps they can take to do it themselves.
  • Encourage teens to proofread all math schoolwork.
  • Talk about math! Ask what they are learning in class. Try to connect math with real-world examples they can relate to such as paying bills and estimating tips and taxes.
  • Encourage them to come up with effective study strategies of their own. Try different techniques, such as writing, singing, or talking, to help remember information. Rework math questions they had difficulty with in the past.

 

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Just the Facts

Here are some key resources available to help parents and teens stay informed about math education in Ontario:

  • www.edu.gov.on.ca. Ontario's Ministry of Education offers specific online information for students, parents, and teachers. This includes the Ontario math curriculum — grades 9 to 12. http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/secondary/math.html
  • www.ilc.org. TVOntario's Independent Learning Centre (ILC) is the official source of many online learning resources in Ontario.
  • https://homeworkhelp.ilc.org/. The ILC has partnered with the Ontario Ministry of Education to create the "Homework Help" website. Students can access online tutorials and live tutoring through chat sessions, all based on the Ontario curriculum.
  • www.mathies.ca. The resources on this website—including games, learning tools, and lots of grade-specific activities—have been developed by the Ontario Ministry of Education to "support mathematics learning from Kindergarten to Grade 12."

 

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