Mathematics is not everyone's favorite subject. Some do love it, but on the whole, most do not. That is a shame, but it is the reality. Many a parent finds themselves in the position of trying to provide homework help for their child at home.
There are many options for getting help with math, including free after school programs, private tutoring, or professional services from a company specializing in math education. There is also the "help yourself" approach that involves using videos and books.
Help Your Kids With Math is a book that claims to be a unique step-by-step visual guide aimed at parents (although it could just as easily be used by a motivated student) who want to help their child with their homework. It is certainly "unique" and definitely "visual," but how helpful it would actually be is another question.
Learn Math Visually
The publishers are not kidding about the visual aspect of his book. It is visual to the point of distraction. Every page is jam packed with vibrantly colored diagrams, arrows pointing here and there, and photo-realistic images interspersed with bits of short explanatory text in varying shades of gray. There are learners who appreciate and can really use this approach, but it is unlikely to be the best approach for most parents, who are likely to be geared toward more straight forward ways of explaining things.
On any given page one is overwhelmed with the color and implied motion of all the arrows and the graphically illustrated attempts at attaching the mathematics to real world examples. There is way too much going on, and it could be more clearly presented without so much fireworks.
Math Help or Math Confusion?
Okay, let's say this approach is really up the alley of a particular kind of student. A parent and a child studying middle and introductory high school mathematics (prealgebra, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, probability and statistics) can certainly find many of the basic ideas briefly explained with an example or two. There is also a pretty good reference section and glossary at the back. There are no practice problems for users to attempt to see if they are "getting it."
The math is obscured by so much graphical wizardry that it renders the book of limited practicality to all but a small and highly specialized kind of learner. Just because kids like video games, doesn't make it a good idea to create a math book that tries to look like one.
References
Help Your Kids With Math; Carol Vorderman, Barry Lewis, Andrew Jeffrey and Marcus Weeks; DK Publishing; New York, NY: 2010
Philip McIntosh - The author holds a B.Sc. in Botany and Chemistry and an M.A in Biology and he has thirty + years of experience in science and industry.
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