When our family first started getting serious about afterschooling, we knew that workbooks alone weren’t quite what we what we wanted to supplement math. We needed a solution with more depth, but neither hiring a tutor nor taking the kids to a learning center was it. With music lessons, foreign language study, and sports already occupying time outside of their school day, one more thing outside the house just would have been too much.  

     We’ve been using the Khan Academy arithmetic and developmental math videos and practice exercises for almost the entire school year (only on the weekends and long breaks). They provide the organized direct instruction that the kids need and are not getting in their public school’s spiral math program. We plan to use these videos and exercises this summer as insurance that the kids have mastered what they need to know.

     For some background on Khan Academy, please see Khan’s TED presentation here.