The Internet is ideal for all kinds of mathematical discovery, research and learning. Children and teenagers can explore at their own pace, learning concepts as they are ready. For parents who want to provide more structured maths teaching, there are many worksheets and clear explanations from the basic through to advanced and complex maths. Below is a selection of sites with suitable maths resources for home educators.
BBC skillwise: maths – excellent study-guides and worksheets for many aspects of primary and secondary school maths (approx age 4-11). This site includes subjects such as negative numbers, simple fractions, percentages, rounding and times tables.
Cool math for kids – bright colours and creative ideas. This site has lots of resources and interesting ways to play around with maths concepts.
Mathschase – a simple quiz site for children who like to test themselves on simple arithmetic. Questions in the four basic operations, particularly focussing on multiplication.
10 ticks – this is a comprehensive site designed by a maths teacher in the UK. It has worksheets and games for all levels.
Winwood maths – this site contains video lessons, worksheets and answers for the full GCSE curriculum. It also has some resources for A level Maths, Further Maths and the International Baccalaureate.
Maths primary resources – extensive printable games and activities for younger primary children. Membership is required to download resources, but it’s free.
eMathHelp – a site for students of algebra, geometry and trigonometry. Not for teaching the concepts, but for solving problems with step-by-step explanations.
John and Betty’s journey into complex numbers – don’t be put off by the very basic first few pages of this online book! John and Betty, the cartoon characters, quickly devise irrational numbers (such as the square root of three). Then they form imaginary and complex numbers, which they play around with to make further discoveries. This site provides an excellent introduction to an advanced subject. It is suitable for interested children of any age, although younger ones may struggle with the later pages.
Math Cats – an imaginative site for children to explore. It gives suggestions for maths investigations, competitions and maths crafts. It also offers a mathematical art gallery.
AAA math – extensive resource with hundreds of pages of maths skills and concepts, for children and younger teenagers. Several pages of text with clear explanations, followed by online quizzes to test understanding.
Math Worksheet Land – a thorough site with printable explanations and worksheets covering many areas of maths. Note that they are from the US, so deal in dollars and cents, and are quite formal in style, but may be useful to anyone wanting some extra practice, or to study a particular topic in some depth.
Primary resources: maths – wide range of printable worksheets covering UK National Curriculum maths at primary school level. Ideal for children who want a more structured approach, or parents who like to cover topics studied in schools.
A+ games – online games for arithmetic, using the ideas behind bingo, concentration, or uncovering pictures.
Visual fractions – examples and quizzes looking at all aspects of fractions visually. Uses lines or circles with examples from simple identification through to arithmetic manipulation of fractions. Each quiz question has the option of an explanation. Suitable for children from approx ages 7-14, or for anyone who struggles with these concepts.
Maths Centre – an extensive look at many topics in maths, from arithmetic to complex numbers (and a great deal more) presented by topic, in pdf form, with some flash exercises. More for revision and practice than teaching from scratch, but useful at many levels.
Math Goodies – clear explanations of topics such as simple geometry, pre-algebra, basic probability and statistics, etc, most appropriate for older primary children (roughly age 8-11). Each page has several examples and some interactive questions at the end.
Cut the knot – an excellent site with a miscellany of mathematical oddities, inspirations and puzzles. Suitable for all ages – ideal for those who like to learn in their own style without structure or worksheets.
Understanding algebra – online version of a complete algebra text-book, starting from basic definitions, though to roughly GCSE level. Probably most suitable for about age 11-16 as there is a lot of text. But younger children keen on algebra may also find some of this useful – as may parents wanting some revision!
Maths GCSE guide – thorough resources for all topics included in the British GCSE maths exams (taken about age 16). Six main subject divisions, each with sub-sections: clear explanations and examples are given.
You might also like to look at some articles I’ve written including introducing maths to young children.
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