Last Updated on May 26, 2022 by Thinkster
Does it seem like your child spends more time glued to their devices than practicing extra math problems?
Whether your child needs a little extra support in the math department, or needs additional math worksheets to stay at the top of their class, you’ve probably considered signing them up for practice at your local tutoring center.
While those math tutors may help your child improve their skills, it’s certainly not the best route to take any more.
Thanks to the dawn of the Digital Age, online tutoring and math tutor apps now have the upper hand.
Let’s talk about the best benefits both you and your child will receive when you partner with the right online math tutoring organization.
With the online universe at our fingertips, it’s only natural to segue this power to childhood education and math tutoring – especially since kids are so naturally adept at using computers, tablets, and other devices.
So before you sign up your child for math tutoring or hire a private tutor (read: expensive), check out these benefits of choosing a math tutor app instead:
If you’re short on time and you want to read the next bestseller, you may purchase that paperback to read on your device instead of sitting in traffic and waiting in line to buy it at the bookstore.
The same holds true for math tutoring and the tutoring experience.
Instead of having to take the entire family to the tutoring center, then spend an hour of your valuable time waiting while your child receives math instruction, a math tutoring app will deliver the ultimate convenience.
You’ll never have to adjust your schedule or inconvenience another member of your family again waiting for another teaching session to be over. You’ll also save gas money and time spent sitting in traffic, too.
The less time you spend on the road or in a sterile tutoring center, the more time you’ll have with your family.
Some students love doing math worksheets. Some kids just tolerate them. And most kids outright dislike them.
Worksheets force your child to sit at a desk with a pencil and a sheet of paper until they solve every problem in front of them, over and over again. This kind of rote homework has been proven to not fully engage kids and emphasize the tedium of math – not how fun it can be.
Many online math apps still offer dozens of problems per assignment just like worksheets. But because it’s a digital platform, children don’t see completing the activities as work.
You know how hard it is to get your child’s attention when they’re deeply engrossed in their devices? Math tutor apps will hog all of your child’s focus and attention the same way.
This simple shift from a paper math class worksheet to an online “game” inspires students to enthusiastically tackle math instead of viewing it as a chore.
One key that makes learning apps more effective than traditional teaching is a principle called instruction at the point of learning.
This means providing students with instruction and feedback at the point where they are learning the material, rather than handing them a worksheet and then correcting the work at a later time.
With instruction at the point of learning, powered by the in-app technology of an online tutor, your child receives the necessary instruction exactly when it is needed.
Instead of waiting for the specific tutor or teacher your child is working with to respond or provide feedback, a math tutoring app provides feedback instantly.
Your child is redirected when they make mistakes so they learn quickly instead of just seeing the right answer after the mistake is corrected.
App-based tutoring often uses reward systems to help with math problems that modern children respond well to as a supplement to their regular mathematics course.
Gamification, or the process of turning one act like math practice into a game, means your child will be awarded points, badges, and other goodies for accomplishing certain goals, like correctly solving math problems.
This positive reinforcement encourages kids to continue working with the program because learning doesn’t feel like homework; there are no worksheets, no textbooks, and none of the drudgery of sitting at a desk just to get busy work done.
Your child will be just as eager to log on to their tutoring program app as they are to sign in and play their video games.
Since you and your child are always on the go, online tutoring apps give you the ability to take the learning with you no matter where you are.
If you’re driving from school to karate lessons or waiting for a sibling’s ballet class, your child can squeeze in a few problems in the car, created by an experienced tutor.
While math worksheets require your child to sit upright at a desk just like they do in school all day, math tutor apps let your child work wherever they’re most comfortable.
Getting help with any math problem can be done on the couch right in the comfort of your living room. Your child can do their work no matter what the rest of your family is doing. That’s better than making and trying to keep math center appointments you’ve made – and paid for whether you show up or not.
Besides the convenience of taking math problems on the go, an online math tutor app means your child can work whenever is best for them.
It may be difficult to find a math tutor willing to visit your home at 7 am on a Saturday morning, but your child could theoretically work on math problems using an app at that time.
No matter the odd hours, the in-app technology still allows for instant feedback as if a live tutoring session was in effect.
Math tutor apps usually stick to the standardized math curriculum so their lessons line up with any state or national standardized test. A standardized curriculum ensures that your child is prepared for what he or she will need in the classroom.
But this one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t strengthen kids’ skills.
Math tutoring must constantly adapt to the learning, improvement, and situation of the individual child. Without this, what’s the point. you want your tutoring program to change and grow with your child.
With brick-and-mortar tutors, that adaptability goes at a much slower pace, particularly if your child is seeing different instructors every visit.
Math tutor apps track and evaluate your student’s progress on an individual level – making sure they grasp any math concept fully before moving on. That makes it an easier and more efficient way to adapt the curriculum to your child’s specific needs.
Kids are more likely to want to learn if the lesson is specially designed just for them. They won’t want to keep repeating problems and concepts they already understand like in a traditional math course; they want to maximize their time and get over what they’re struggling with.
You can find a trustworthy math tutor app for a fraction of the cost of hiring a private math tutor or going with a tutoring company.
When you take your child to a tutoring center, what you’re really paying for (besides the math lesson) is overhead. The tutoring location has to cover expenses like rent, utilities, franchise fees, and other costs. This gets included in your membership price.
A math tutor app is up to several hundred dollars less expensive per month – and guarantees better results for your student – both in the classroom and during math homework.
Unless you have an answer key, you’re usually tasked with determining if a homework problem is correct, right? And how much school math do you recall?
Most online tutoring programs will provide the answers for you, saving you time and countless headaches.
Plus, these apps give students an immediate response while problems are still fresh in their minds.
And they also provide a more objective voice during the tutoring process. Every parent experiences some frustration reviewing their child’s schoolwork, but now providing your student math help yourself doesn’t have to be the case.
Skilled online tutors will be able to provide the patience and enthusiasm parents occasionally (and understandably) can’t.
When you take your child to a learning center, he or she may get one, maybe two, math tutors. And they may or may not even be certified teachers, instead be just starting out in teaching, or from the private sector – knowing math doesn’t mean you can teach it.
With math learning apps, your child gets to learn with the help of qualified, certified instructors who know and love math. The creators of learning apps employ the best educators in their fields in order to provide you and your child with an exceptional learning opportunity. And experience in teaching strategies, in addition to mathematical skills, is critical to your child gaining the most advantage from a program.
So now that you know why a math tutor app trumps tutoring centers and private math instructors, how do you find the right one?
If your child is struggling with mathematics, you need to find a way to motivate him or her while also ensuring that learning is taking place – all without impacting your schedule.
Online tutoring apps do just that.
Look for an app that has game-like play so kids are rewarded for their responses and their success. You also want one that has personalized instruction, rather than just the same questions for every user.
This will ensure that your money and time are well spent.
Thinkster is a math tutor app that connects your child with certified coaches, provides instruction at the point of learning, and gives them proven tutoring and math practice in a convenient, rewarding platform that moves at your child’s pace, not slower and not so fast the child can’t keep up.
You’ll gain all 10 of these benefits for your child, watch as math scores and confidence increase, and avoid the hassle of heading to the tutoring center at fixed times – making your life revolve around the center.
Visit Thinkster Math to learn more about the app and how it can make a difference in your child’s learning.