Parents seeking 5th grade math help have numerous options. Determining what works best for your family in terms of cost, convenience, and effectiveness is crucial to maximizing results. Below we compare four resources for fifth-grade math help:
Workbooks
Dozens of workbooks and other printed materials offering 5th grade math help are available from bookstores, teaching stores, and homeschooling websites. For parents looking for some quick, extra help, workbooks can be an adequate complement.
Cost: Though some materials might cost more money, many workbooks can be purchased for under $20.
Convenience: Workbooks are portable—no wi-fi connections or tutors needed, so you child can work just about anyplace.
Pros: For a simple math resource for additional help or enrichment, a workbook can provide a cost-effective, easily accessible solution.
Cons: A workbook might not always complement what your child is learning in school. Also, you may have to rely on the material’s written explanation to teach a topic, which not all kids respond to. Plus, parents will be responsible for grading the workbook, which becomes even more of a task if no answer key is included.
Tutoring Centers
Brick-and-mortar commercial tutoring centers such as Kumon or Mathnasium have become increasingly popular over the past decade. They often provide a quality educational experience and will help focus on areas where the child is less proficient.
Cost: Expensive—depending on how often you go, a tutoring center can cost from $150 to $500 a month.
Convenience: If you live near a tutoring center and aren’t involved in too many afterschool activities, attending sessions might be free of stress. On the other hand, if you live across town and are battling rush-hour traffic to get math help for your child… well, good luck.
Pros: Without expending the energy of seeking out, interviewing, and hiring a private tutor, these commercial centers offer one-on-one interaction with a qualified instructor to provide the fifth-grade math help your student specifically needs.
Cons: Even after the high cost and low convenience, some tutoring centers will still send worksheets home for students to solve and parents to grade.
Math Websites
Many websites are available that offer 5th grade math help. The experience is interactive—kids may feel like they are playing a video game while learning math.
Cost: Some math websites are free and provide a wide range of activities. Others require some sort of subscription, but these are inexpensive when compared with a private or commercial tutor and offer a more in-depth learning experience. Also, some schools and teachers subscribe to math sites for their classes, thus allowing kids to work on programs at school or at home.
Pros: No doubt that many math websites are fun. Advanced programs employ teachers who track students’ progress and advance them accordingly.
Cons: Sometimes, math websites can be too much fun, which can obscure the learning objective. Plus, little feedback is provided for students who are struggling.
Online Tutoring Services
Innovative, tablet-based tutoring services have emerged as a viable math option for families. These programs provide interactive instruction that helps students thrive.
Cost: While a little more expensive than buying a workbook, online math tutoring costs far less than a private or commercial tutor.
Convenience: Because it’s tablet-based, kids can work on their math skills wherever and whenever they like.
Pros: Instructors review their students’ work and interact with both kids and parents to chart the best course of learning. Children respond to the advanced technology and are eager to work and earn rewards.
Cons: Not every family owns a tablet, but with the cost of devices coming down, more children will have access to the technology upon which online tutoring excels.
