Who does what: parent, student and teacher
A lot of homework conflict comes from blurred roles. A parent starts by checking in, ends up explaining, and before long is holding the pencil. Being clear about who owns what makes the evening calmer and the learning better.
Your child owns the thinking
They read the question, attempt it, show their working and decide when to ask for help. In secondary school the working is often marked, so the method needs to be theirs.
You own the conditions
A time, a place, a phone that is somewhere else, and an agreed stopping point. You also own encouragement, and noticing when the same problem keeps coming back.
The teacher owns the teaching
If a whole method has not landed, re-teaching it is the teacher’s job, and they need to know. Homework that is quietly fixed at home hides the gap from the person best placed to close it.
None of this means stepping back completely. Students whose parents show steady interest in their schoolwork tend to take it more seriously. The point is to show interest without taking over.
A nightly maths homework routine that holds up
Routines beat willpower, for teenagers and for parents. A short, predictable session most nights is easier to keep than a long one that depends on mood.
- Same time, same placePick a time that fits your household, ideally not straight after a long day of sport or right before bed. A table works better than a bed or couch.
- Agree the finish lineDecide before starting what “done” means: a set of questions, or a set time. Open-ended homework drags, and a clear end makes it easier to start.
- Two-minute check-inAsk what the homework is and which part looks hardest. You are not checking answers yet, just helping them plan.
- Work, then wrap upYour child works on their own. At the end, ask them to show you one question they found hard and how they solved it, or where they got stuck.
Keep the phone out of the room during the work block, not just face down. If your child uses a device for homework, agree which apps are part of the work. Short breaks are fine. A break that turns into an hour of scrolling is usually the real reason homework runs late.
Keep the time bound even on bad nights. If the agreed time is up and a question is still unsolved, it goes on the “ask the teacher” list rather than becoming a late-night battle. That one rule removes a lot of the conflict.
The support ladder: what to do when they are stuck
When your child says “I don’t get it”, work up these rungs in order and stop as soon as they can carry on alone. The pencil stays in their hand the whole way.
- Explain the question to meAsk them to read it aloud and say what it is asking in their own words. A surprising number of “stuck” moments end here, because the issue was reading, not maths.
- Show me what you triedLook at the working, not just the answer. Where did it stop making sense? Even a wrong start tells you something.
- One prompt or one resourceOffer a single nudge: “Is there a similar example in your book?”, “What did you do in the last question?” or a worked solution to a similar question. Then step back.
- Park it and flag itStill stuck? Mark the question, move on, and add it to a short note for the teacher. Stuck is information, not failure.
Questions that help (and ones that do not)
- Helpful: “What is the question asking you to find?”, “What do you already know?”, “Can you check that answer another way?”, “Can you teach me how you did that one?”
- Less helpful: “It’s easy, just…”, “That’s not how I learnt it”, or taking the pencil to show them.
Asking your child to teach you a method is one of the most useful things you can do, especially if you have forgotten the maths. Explaining a step out loud is a strong way to learn it, and it puts them in the expert role.
Watch what you say about maths
“I was never good at maths either” is meant kindly, but it tells a teenager that maths ability is fixed and that struggling is normal for your family. Try instead: “This is hard right now, and it will get easier with practice.” Praise the effort and the strategy (“you checked your answer, that’s why you caught the sign error”) rather than being “smart”.
When to stop and write to the teacher
One hard night is normal. A pattern is worth a short message. Contact the teacher when you notice any of these:
- The same topic is stuck on several nights. If the support ladder runs out on the same kind of question more than once, the method has not landed and needs re-teaching.
- Homework is regularly taking far longer than intended. The teacher may not know, and may adjust the load or the support.
- Your child cannot start the homework at all. Not knowing where to begin often means an earlier skill is missing.
- Marks have dropped on a topic test. Ask which skills cost the marks and what to focus on next.
- Worry about maths is getting bigger. Tears, avoidance or not wanting to go to maths class are worth raising early.
What maths homework looks like from Year 7 to Year 10
Knowing what topic your child is on makes it easier to ask good questions and find the right practice. Each year guide has a full topic map and free worksheets.
Year 7
Negative numbers, fraction and percentage calculations, and the first algebra. Homework is often about setting out working clearly, a habit worth building now.
Year 8
Expanding brackets, equations with several steps, and often Pythagoras. Algebra slips start to cost marks across topics.
Year 9
Index laws, quadratics and right-angled trigonometry. Many students need a reminder to use a calculator in degree mode.
Year 10
Quadratics, simultaneous equations and, for 10A students, surds and logarithms. Homework loads are heavier and earlier gaps show up quickly.
Topic order follows the Australian Curriculum v9 and the Victorian Curriculum 2.0. NSW and individual schools sequence topics differently, so check your child’s course outline. Year 7 and Year 9 students also sit NAPLAN Numeracy.
Where Tuterly fits in the homework routine
The hardest moment in homework is the wrong answer: your child is frustrated, you are not sure how to help, and the question usually gets abandoned. Tuterly is built for that moment.
- Snap itYour child photographs the question they got wrong or could not finish.
- See the methodIt is saved with a step-by-step worked solution, so the “one resource” rung of the ladder is already there.
- Try a fresh oneTuterly gives a new question on the same skill to try without looking, which is where the learning happens.
- Bring it back before the testSaved questions return until they are mastered. Fix my mistakes drills them with fresh versions, and your child can test themselves on any topic before an assessment.
An app does not replace the routine, the encouragement, or the note to the teacher. It works best when your child is roughly keeping up and needs more practice on specific skills. If a whole topic has not made sense, the teacher, or sometimes a tutor, needs to re-teach it first. Our guide to choosing between a maths app and a tutor covers how to tell the difference.
Tuterly covers the same Years 7 to 10 maths as the Australian Curriculum and is designed by Australian educators at Bayside Academics. See how snap a question works.