Explain tonight's homework, step by step
Photograph the question and get a plan for talking it through with your child: the steps to take, the questions to ask, what to say when they get stuck.
What you get
A plan for the conversation, not just the answer
Every explanation comes back in the same four parts. Here is what they look like for a real question from the first year of high school.
Algebra, Exercise 4C
8. A rectangle has length (x + 3) cm and width 4 cm. Its area is 36 cm². Find x.
Show your working:
The photo, as the parent takes it. Read in about four seconds.
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What it is practising
Finding an unknown length in a rectangle using area and simple algebra.
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One idea per step, carried by one question
Undo the multiplying firstIf 4 times something is 36, what is that something?
x + 3 = 9 -
The answer, folded away
x = 6, shown only when you open it, so you can check without handing it over.
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Three to try next
Length (x + 2) and width 3 for an area of 21, then (x + 5) by 2 for 22, then (x + 4) by 5 for 65. Same skill, a little harder each time, answers folded.
How it works
Thirty seconds from stuck to started
Photograph one question
Phone camera is fine. Crop to the question and leave out names. You can type it instead, or paste a screenshot.
It reads the question and plans
In a few seconds it works out the level and the skill being practised, then writes the explanation the way a teacher in your country would, in the words your school uses.
Talk it through together
Follow the steps, ask the questions, let your child do the thinking. Check the answer at the end, then try the three practice questions.
Also from AIFERE
Keep the maths going with RocketDigits
Explaining one question gets your child over tonight's hurdle. RocketDigits is for the rest of the week: a maths playground for children aged 5 to 18. Short daily rounds that adapt to the child, with progress parents can actually read.
Ten quick maths questions a day, pitched exactly at your child.
- Ages 5 to 18
- Ten questions a day, adapted to the child
- Progress parents can actually read
- No advertising, ever
Questions
Before you hand over the phone
The things parents ask us most, answered plainly.