Your child can work out a percentage when the teacher names the topic. They can add and subtract decimals. They may even solve an equation when it appears on its own.
Then a homework question combines two or three of those skills, and they stare at the page.
“I know how to do the maths,” they tell you. “I just don’t know what the question wants.”
For parents with children in middle school in the United States, this can be puzzling. You see that your child has learned the calculations, yet their test or homework results do not reflect it.
The difficulty may lie in planning the steps: understanding the situation, deciding what must be found first and keeping track of what each answer means. The good news is that you can investigate that skill directly instead of giving your child another long sheet of calculations.
Why a Multi-Step Problem Is Harder Than Two Calculations
Compare these tasks:
Find 25% of $80.
Subtract $20 from $80.
A child may complete both correctly.
Now consider:
A jacket costs $80. The shop reduces the price by 25%. An 8% sales tax is then applied to the discounted price. What is the final cost?
The arithmetic is manageable, but the child must make several decisions:
- Find the discount amount: 25% of $80 is $20.
- Find the discounted price: $80 − $20 = $60.
- Find the tax on that price: 8% of $60 is $4.80.
- Find the final cost: $60 + $4.80 = $64.80.
The tax rule is stated in this illustrative question; actual tax rules differ by location and purchase. The Maths lesson is about reading which amount each percentage applies to.
A student who finds $20 and stops may understand percentages but answer only the first step. Another who calculates 8% of $80 may miss the phrase “discounted price.” Those errors need more than percentage drills.
First, Find the Step Where Your Child Becomes Stuck
When a problem goes wrong, ask your child to show you the last part they understood.
Then ask:
- What is the question asking for at the end?
- Which facts have you been given?
- What do you need to know before you can find the final answer?
- What does the number you have calculated represent?
Listen to their explanation before showing a solution. You are trying to distinguish three difficulties:
Reading the problem: They lose track of what the words mean.
Planning the Maths: They understand the story but cannot decide which quantity to find first.
Doing the calculation: They choose sensible steps but make errors with decimals, fractions or operations.
More than one difficulty can be present. Finding the first one gives you a place to begin.
Teach Your Child to Work Backward From the Question
A useful strategy is to start with what the question asks for and work backward to the information needed.
In the jacket example, the final cost requires the discounted price plus tax. To calculate tax, the child first needs the discounted price. To calculate the discounted price, they first need the discount amount.
That gives a short plan:
Discount → discounted price → tax → final cost
Your child can jot down a plan like this before calculating. It need not be a long written explanation. A few words, a table or a sketch may be enough to prevent them from mixing up the quantities.
After solving, ask them to check the story: the final cost of $64.80 should be less than the original $80 because the discount is larger than the tax added in this example.
Use Labels to Prevent “Right Calculation, Wrong Answer”
A child may correctly calculate 0.25×80=200.25\times80=20 and write $20 as the final answer. The calculation is correct; the label is wrong. That $20 is the discount, not the amount paid.
Encourage your child to write a few words beside each intermediate answer:
- Discount: $20
- Price after discount: $60
- Tax: $4.80
- Final cost: $64.80
Labels help the child see whether the answer matches the question. They also make it easier for a teacher or tutor to understand where the reasoning went wrong.
Watch Out for Keyword Tricks
Some learners are taught that “altogether” means add and “left” means subtract. These words can be clues, but a single word does not always determine the correct method.
For example:
Maya had some money. Her aunt gave her $15 more, and she then had $42. How much did Maya have at first?
Although the story says “more,” the starting amount is 42−15=$2742-15=\$27.
Ask your child to describe what happened before choosing an operation. An equation can also help: x+15=42x+15=42, where xx is the starting amount.
A Routine Your Child Can Use Without You
Practise the same five steps with different kinds of school problems:
- Retell the situation. What is happening?
- Identify the final question. What answer, with what unit, is required?
- List the missing steps. What must be found first?
- Calculate and label. What does each result mean?
- Check the answer. Does it make sense in the original situation?
At first, you might ask the questions aloud. Gradually, let your child use the routine independently. The goal is for them to know how to begin when nobody is beside them.
What If Your Child Can Solve It After a Hint?
That is useful information. Notice which hint helped.
If asking “What does the question want?” was enough, your child may need to pause and identify the final goal before calculating. If drawing a diagram helped, they may benefit from representing relationships visually. If you had to reteach how percentages work, there is an earlier concept to strengthen.
Next time, give the smallest possible prompt. Over several practice sessions, see whether your child needs fewer hints on new problems. Completing the same corrected homework question again is less convincing evidence of progress.
Speak to the Teacher With Specific Examples
US schools and districts can organise middle school Maths differently. Ask your child’s teacher which current classroom skills are involved and whether the same difficulty appears during independent work.
Instead of saying only, “My child is bad at word problems,” share two examples:
“She calculated the percentage discount correctly but applied tax to the original price. She seems to lose track of which amount the second step uses. Have you noticed this in class?”
That gives the teacher something concrete to investigate. Ask for one priority to practise at home and when you should check back.
When Might a Tutor Help?
One-to-one support may help if your child repeatedly solves direct calculations but cannot start mixed problems independently, or if homework is becoming a source of distress.
A tutor should look at the child’s written steps, not only the final mark. They can determine whether the main need is reading the problem, representing relationships, choosing operations or strengthening an earlier calculation skill.
A specific goal could be:
“Plan and solve two-step percentage problems, label each intermediate amount and explain why the final answer fits the question.”
Progress means your child can do this with a different problem and fewer prompts.
Online Middle School Math Support in the US
Glareminds provides one-to-one online academic support for learners in the United States, including children who need help with middle school Maths reasoning and problem solving. We can review current schoolwork, identify the point where a child becomes stuck and build lessons around that skill.
If your child can calculate but struggles with multi-step problems, book an academic consultation with Glareminds. Bring one or two homework questions or marked assessments. We can discuss what your child already understands and what to work on next.
Book an academic consultation with Glareminds
Frequently Asked Questions
Why can my child do calculations but not word problems?
They may understand individual operations but struggle to interpret the story, decide which calculation comes first or keep track of what an intermediate answer represents.
Should I make my child practise more worksheets?
Targeted practice can help once you know the difficulty. First review a few actual mistakes. If the child cannot plan the steps, more pages of direct calculations may not address the problem.
Do all US middle schools teach the same Maths topics at the same time?
No. Ask your child’s teacher about their current course and expectations. Use their classroom work to choose appropriate practice.
How can I tell if my child is improving?
Give them a new multi-step problem from a topic they have studied. Check whether they can explain the situation, plan the steps, label the quantities and solve it with less help.