Math class should build confidence, creativity, and flexible thinking — but too often, it does the opposite. When worksheets are filled with rigid problems, when speed is valued over sense-making, and when only one method is accepted, students start to believe they are the problem.

Take a common assignment like 38.7 ÷ 4.5. For many kids, the only path offered is the long division algorithm with decimals — a frustrating, unrealistic exercise that doesn’t connect to real life. No recipe calls for 38.7 cups of flour split into 4.5 batches! Problems like this train students to follow procedures on nonsense numbers instead of preparing them for real-world reasoning.

But there’s another way. When students explore problems through ratio tables, double number lines, estimation, and authentic contexts, they build true number sense and see themselves as capable mathematicians.

In this post, we’ll help you recognize when math class design itself is the problem — and share concrete ways you can support your child’s deeper learning at home.

✨ What if beading, playing games, and talking about feelings were exactly what your child needed to become a better mathematician?

At Girlmath, we don’t separate precision from play, or logic from emotion. We go deep — because learning math is vulnerable, and beautiful, and brave.

Here’s what I’d say to the skeptics… or anyone curious enough to look closer. 💭

Middle school girls are already doing high-level academic work all day—so what should math look like after school? In this post, I share the thinking behind Beadology and Girlmath Games, two after-school math classes built to meet girls where they are at 4 PM: snack in hand, a little tired, and still full of ideas.