Using DadsWorksheets.com to Teach Math Facts

One of the best predictors of success in math is early mastery of the math facts. Integrating a regular pattern of math facts drills into your homeschool curriculum is something that will pay dividends well into algebra, geometry and more advanced topics later.

There are several great resources for math drills, but one to consider is DadsWorksheets.com. There are math fact drills for all four of the core operations ( Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division), as well as worksheets that delve into more advanced math topics. The timed fact drills are designed to teach math facts incrementally, so the worksheets in a series introduce only a few facts at a time. When your child can complete one of the sets of math facts easily without errors, you move on to the next level until all of the math facts for a given operation are mastered.

There are several versions of each worksheet at each level, so there is no risk of a student memorizing worksheet answers. So for example if your daughter is on Level C in the multiplication worksheets, you just pick one of the worksheets from that level, print it out and turn her lose. You can choose versions that have enough practice problems for one minute or two minute timed tests. There's a fantastic online timer with fun sounds for doing the tests and other support tools like a printable multiplication table if you need reference help as well. And if you are working on fractions, have a look at their fraction worksheets and the color fraction calculator.

So how did all of these math resources wind up on the Internet? We'll let Dad himself answer.

"So I started out with one daughter who was practicing her addition facts at school, and they kept sending home the same worksheet every night for her to practice. And I'd watch her do her homework, and she would go like lightning through the first couple rows of problems, then start finger-counting everything else. I asked her she did so well at the start, but then had to count for the rest and she told me she memorized the answers in the first few rows. I knew instantly we had a problem, so I built some randomized addition worksheets and we practiced with those.

Before I knew it, I had worksheets for all operations, plus lots of parents asking to share, and the site started from that. Now there are worksheets for all the math topics we struggled with, including long division, fractions and anything else that seemed to need extra practice."

Jim (Dad)

There's plenty to explore at DadsWorksheets.com, and it should be a site in every homeschool parent's list of bookmarks. Check it out and be sure to say hello to Dad when you're there!