House of Math, Norway’s leading math-learning platform with more than 2.5 million registered users, just launched its new MIND AI Dynamic Learning Engine in the U.S. The platform is designed to identify each learner’s hidden knowledge gaps and deliver a personalized, gamified path to mastery. Internal data shows students can progress through the equivalent of two weeks of traditional classroom content in about two hours on the platform.
The timing is significant: the U.S. is grappling with a math crisis, families are spending heavily on tutoring and edtech, and nearly every state reports shortages of qualified math teachers, with burnout accelerating departures. House of Math’s pitch is that better personalization can help students build confidence and momentum, while also reducing teacher workload by automating learning-path tailoring and giving teachers clear insight into student understanding.I had a chance to interview founder and CEO Vibeke “The Math Woman” Faengsrud to learn more.
What’s the problem with the phrase “I’m not a math person,” especially for adults raising children?
The problem is that it labels you for life, and it is the wrong label.
The moment you say “I’m not a math person,” you are quietly closing doors to education, career opportunities, and skills that help you support your children. More importantly, you are telling yourself a story that simply is not true, that you are not capable, that you cannot learn, and that there are limits on what you can do.
That mindset erodes self confidence and self esteem, and children absorb it instantly. When parents believe they are “bad at math,” children learn to believe the same about themselves.
Math is not a talent reserved for a few. Math is not a code to crack — it’s a recipe to follow. When you follow the steps in the right order, it works for everyone.
How can families reduce frustration when it comes to math instruction?
By addressing the real issue, learning gaps.
Most math frustration is not about the current topic. It is about gaps that have accumulated over years. When foundational concepts are missing, new material becomes overwhelming. You cannot build the third floor of a building without the two floors underneath it.
To reduce frustration, families need to stop pushing forward blindly and instead identify and fill those gaps. That process is almost impossible to do alone. Parents do not have a map of a twelve year curriculum in their heads, and teachers are often stretched too thin to provide truly individualized support.
That is why tools like House of Math exist, to map those gaps precisely and guide students through exactly what they need, in the right order, so they can finally move forward with confidence instead of frustration.
Why is targeted intervention so important for students?
Because without it, progress simply is not possible.
If you do not fill the gaps, you cannot move forward, and most students do not even know where those gaps are. Targeted intervention solves the core problem by identifying missing prerequisites and addressing them systematically.
For example, to solve a seventh grade equation, a student may need mastery of multiplying variables, times tables, adding and subtracting variables and numbers, division, fractions, and sign rules. Expecting parents or students to identify all of those prerequisites across thousands of topics is unrealistic unless they are trained math teachers.
Add homework battles, emotional stress, and the familiar phrase “that’s not how we learned math,” and frustration skyrockets.
Targeted intervention removes the guesswork. It restores structure, clarity, and most importantly, belief. When students understand why something works and feel capable again, everything changes.
The problem is that it labels you for life, and it is the wrong label.
The moment you say “I’m not a math person,” you are quietly closing doors to education, career opportunities, and skills that help you support your children. More importantly, you are telling yourself a story that simply is not true, that you are not capable, that you cannot learn, and that there are limits on what you can do.
That mindset erodes self confidence and self esteem, and children absorb it instantly. When parents believe they are “bad at math,” children learn to believe the same about themselves.
Math is not a talent reserved for a few. Math is not a code to crack — it’s a recipe to follow. When you follow the steps in the right order, it works for everyone.
How can families reduce frustration when it comes to math instruction?
By addressing the real issue, learning gaps.
Most math frustration is not about the current topic. It is about gaps that have accumulated over years. When foundational concepts are missing, new material becomes overwhelming. You cannot build the third floor of a building without the two floors underneath it.
To reduce frustration, families need to stop pushing forward blindly and instead identify and fill those gaps. That process is almost impossible to do alone. Parents do not have a map of a twelve year curriculum in their heads, and teachers are often stretched too thin to provide truly individualized support.
That is why tools like House of Math exist, to map those gaps precisely and guide students through exactly what they need, in the right order, so they can finally move forward with confidence instead of frustration.
Why is targeted intervention so important for students?
Because without it, progress simply is not possible.
If you do not fill the gaps, you cannot move forward, and most students do not even know where those gaps are. Targeted intervention solves the core problem by identifying missing prerequisites and addressing them systematically.
For example, to solve a seventh grade equation, a student may need mastery of multiplying variables, times tables, adding and subtracting variables and numbers, division, fractions, and sign rules. Expecting parents or students to identify all of those prerequisites across thousands of topics is unrealistic unless they are trained math teachers.
Add homework battles, emotional stress, and the familiar phrase “that’s not how we learned math,” and frustration skyrockets.
Targeted intervention removes the guesswork. It restores structure, clarity, and most importantly, belief. When students understand why something works and feel capable again, everything changes.
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