Voleta Fatoumata February 22, 2021 worksheets
Homeschool worksheets have pros and cons that depend on the type of material the worksheet deals with. One advantage is that worksheets are very handy if you want to give your child something to do. Some types of worksheets are very easy to grade and can be completed without much input from you. Worksheets can also give you a good idea of how much your child was able to understand of the subject matter. While worksheets for homeschool can assist in home schooling, they cannot take the place of a proper homeschool curriculum. One disadvantage they have is that they often focus on one subject area only, without integrating the whole curriculum. They can also be simplistic and give the impression that the student understands more than he actually does. Free homeschool worksheets that you can print are available online. Some of them may be excellent, but you will have to make sure that they are accurate and suitable for your curriculum or child.
2. To Pay or Not to Pay? There are hundreds if not thousands of free printable worksheets available online. These are ideal for filling time or keeping the kids busy on a rainy day, but few of them offer a systematic set of worksheets with activities designed to teach your children a specific set of skills. If education is your aim, you may have to spend a little to get useful, comprehensive worksheets that actually help your child to learn. 3. Quality vs Quantity. Some free worksheets are not good quality – the pictures are fuzzy, backgrounds print grey or speckled – and children tend to notice these things. If you are using the worksheets to educate your child, you may want to choose good quality worksheets that encourage your child to produce good quality work. After all, it’s a little difficult to ask your child to color within the lines and work neatly when the worksheet they are filling in hasn’t done the same.
No matter what materials you choose, it is most important that you supervise your child constantly so that mistakes get caught rather than practiced. I learned this particular lesson the hard way. When my daughter was young, she did something that needed ”attention.” I no longer remember what it was that she did, but I told her to write the sentence ”I will not disobey my parents again” 50 times. I should have known better, but I didn’t check on her at the beginning and then I got busy. So, sometime later, she brought me 50 sentences of ”I will not disobey my parents agen.” She had just practiced misspelling ”again” as ”agen” — 50 times! I’m not certain that we ever really got that fixed. This issue of NOT practicing mistakes is extremely important. Parents shouldn’t give worksheets as busy work and teachers should only use them if you are going to have a non-math teacher substitute. White boards with supervision are always a better way to practice skills. If you need some time to do chores, your child will get much more benefit by helping you with the chores. And maybe you can work in a little discussion of numbers or counting while you do chores together.
Planning Worksheets for Kids. Before creating the worksheet for children, it is important to understand why the worksheet is being made. Is there a message to be conveyed? Can students record information that can be understood later? Is it being created to just teach a basic concept to little children? A well designed worksheet will make its objective clear. The different aspects that should influence the design of the worksheet are the age, ability and motivation of the students. A young child may not be able to write or read more than a few words. Worksheets should be created keeping these factors in mind. When you buy worksheets for your children, look for how the concept is explained. Is it pictorial or is it just a collection of words? A pictorial worksheet will hold the attention of a child more than just a combination of words. Another thing to look out for is what the pupil will need to solve the worksheets? Does the worksheet require the use of crayons? Does it require other things like a pair of scissors, glue and so on? Before you buy worksheets, make sure to check if they have been created to suit the geographical location that you reside in. The language and usage of words differs from country to country. It is no point buying a worksheet which is designed for children in the US for children residing in India. Also see if the worksheets involve just one way of teaching or multiple ways. Do the worksheets involve short assessments? Does it have some activity built in; does it involve elements from the child’s surroundings?
2. Math worksheets don’t promote critical thinking. Math worksheets rarely ask students to think critically or creatively. They usually present multiple examples of the same problem type with the hope of reinforcing a skill or procedure. They do not challenge students to use higher order thinking skills such as comparing, analyzing, deducing, and synthesizing. These skills are built through activities in which students discover concepts, explore ideas, test a hypothesis, solve a problem, and discuss their thinking with their peers. Exploring concepts and problems in many different ways builds interest and promotes critical thinking. 3. Math worksheets don’t promote communication and collaboration. Math worksheets are often assigned as an independent activity, however research indicates that communication and discourse are needed to build a deep understanding of math topics. Students need opportunities to explore mathematical ideas in different ways and to build their own connections. This involves communicating their ideas, listening to the ideas of others, arguing a viewpoint, describing, and explaining. Math worksheets are rarely used as a catalyst for conversation. Instead of assigning worksheets, find activities that encourage discourse, such as ”number talks,” or collaborative group work. During the session, be sure to require students to explain their thinking and listen to the strategies and thinking of their peers. If you are fortunate enough to have an interactive whiteboard in your classroom, using it with interactive math software creates many opportunities for group discussion and student participation. Teachers can can begin by posing problems and modeling approaches, and then ask students to work together to find solutions. Then have them come to the board to demonstrate their solutions in front of the class. These days, many examples of how to teach math concepts on an interactive whiteboard can be found online in the various whiteboard community sites, educational sites, YouTube, etc.
Here are five reasons why math worksheets don’t work if you want students to understand math, enjoy math, and think mathematically. 1. Math worksheets are not engaging. Numerous research studies have found that when students are actively engaged with the content, they have a much better chance of understanding and remembering what they have learned. Unfortunately, math worksheets tend to bore most students, especially those who need the most help in math. Engagement entails much more than rote repetition of a procedure. Math worksheets tend to present very similar problem types over and over, leading to mundane practice of disassociated skills. For students who understand the material and successfully complete an assignment, another worksheet becomes meaningless. On the other hand, for the students who don’t understand the material, an alternative method of instruction is what’s needed. Another worksheet simply adds to the student’s frustration, or worse, contributes to a belief that ”I’ll never understand math.” A cute image or a ”fill-in-the-blanks” riddle does nothing to increase engagement or learning (and let’s face it, those riddles are not funny!). Instead, teachers need to increase engagement by providing students with exercises in which they discover patterns and relationships, solve problems, or think creatively about math relationships.
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