Lemonmath
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Why learn maths with printed sheets?

Every Lemonmath lesson has an A4 self-study sheet you can print. Not because screens are bad, but because a sheet of paper makes it easy to do exactly what memory research shows works best: recall on your own, write every step, and come back a few days later.

Three reasons backed by research

1. Recalling beats re-reading. In a well-known experiment (Roediger and Karpicke, 2006), one group of students re-read a text while another read it once and then wrote down what they remembered. After 5 minutes the re-reading group remembered slightly more (81% against 75%). But after one week the recall group kept 56%, while the re-reading group was down to 42%. The self-study sheet asks you to work without looking at the solutions: that is recall.

2. Spaced practice makes it last. A synthesis of 317 experiments (Cepeda and colleagues, 2006) found that spreading review over several sessions beats cramming it into one, and the longer you want to remember, the longer the gaps should be. That is why every sheet ends with redo after 1 day, 3 days, 7 days.

3. Reading on paper has a small edge. A meta-analysis of 54 studies with more than 171,000 readers (Delgado and colleagues, 2018) found slightly better comprehension on paper than on screens. The difference was clearer for informational texts (like lessons) and when reading time was limited.

Easier to focus

A sheet of paper has no notifications, no other tabs, no videos that play by themselves. There is only the problem, a pen and your own thinking. Any parent who has sat next to a child doing homework knows the difference when the phone is out of reach.

An honest note

Some say handwritten notes are always better than typed ones. The evidence here is mixed: a 2014 study found an advantage for handwriting, but other researchers who repeated the experiment (Morehead and colleagues, 2019) did not find a clear difference. What is better established is this: work it out yourself, write every step, and come back a few days later. Paper simply makes that easier.

How to use the self-study sheet

  1. Read the Remember box, then turn the sheet over and try to say the main ideas yourself.
  2. Do each exercise in the space given, writing every step. Look at the Hints at the end only when you are really stuck.
  3. Scan the QR code to check the worked solutions on Lemonmath.com.
  4. Fill in the self-check and plan when to redo the exercises you missed.

Tips for parents

  • 20–30 minutes a day is enough; regular practice matters more than a lot at once.
  • Let your child try first. When they are stuck, ask "What does the problem tell us? What does it ask?" instead of solving it for them.
  • Ask your child to explain one step to you: if they can explain it, they understand it.
  • Praise effort and method, not only marks.

The sheets are free to print for learning, at home or in class. Please keep the name Lemonmath.com on them.

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