Yesterday I shared ideas for choosing a curriculum. I mentioned that most parent’s cannot teach every single subject to their high schooler. Linda has some tips for getting through those difficult subjects, like math!
High school math has to be one of the most dreaded subjects for homeschool moms. Even if you did alright in high school math yourself, if you haven’t used math for many years, it can be intimidating. And if you’re not a math person at all, it can be down right overwhelming.
How to Make It Through High School Math
1. Choose curriculum with an audio/visual component. This isn’t always necessary, but it can be very helpful for your student to see and hear instruction rather than just reading it from a textbook.
2. Be sure the curriculum has a solutions manual. A solutions manual is different than an answer key. It provides step by step solutions to the math problems.
3. Get a tutor. You don’t have to go with “professionals” here, and it doesn’t have to be extremely expensive. Try asking someone you know to tutor your student and offer reasonable compensation . If you know another homeschool mom who is good at math, offer to do her grocery shopping or cook her dinner while she tutors your kid, or whatever would be helpful to her. College students or older high school students are another possibility.
4. Take outside classes. If there are co-op classes or other homeschool programs available to you that offer math classes, that might be a good way to go. Having a teacher who really understands the material can make a big difference.
The 10 Days Series is organized by iHomeschool Network, a collaboration of outstanding homeschool bloggers who connect with each other and with family-friendly companies in mutually beneficial projects.
Linda has three boys and has been homeschooling for over 15 years. Her oldest is now in college, the second graduates this spring, and her youngest is in 10th grade. She blogs about food at The Gluten-Free Homemaker.
Pam says
For both of my kids, we opted for options 3 and 4–outside classes and tutors! Higher math was too long ago in my education, and we found a great tutor that we can afford. Win/win. Son is a junior in college, and daughter is a senior high school homeschooler, so we are finished with math. Yay