Beginner Home school Math Mistakes
I began homeschooling in August 2016 using Saxon math. Cherry Pie in Algebra 2, Pumpkin Pie in 8/7, and Peach Pie in 6/5.
I had been given the textbooks my children needed (for free!), and I figured I should use what I had rather than spend money on dreamy manipulative heavy curriculum (MathUSee.) The benefit to using Saxon was (aside from being able to start for free) that it is a respected curriculum. So when friends and family members raised their eyebrows and worried that I was going to be one of those home school moms whose children just played and wasted time, I could say, “I’m using Saxon math,” and they all relaxed and got off my case. However, I second guessed myself more than anyone realized. I worried that I should buy a different program that might be better for my children. I worried that the daily work was too repetitive and boring and took too much time. I worried that Saxon was not helping my kids to see the real beauty that is in math.
By October 2016, I could tell Cherry Pie was definitely struggling. I thought a different program would be the solution for her. I also realized she needed to review Algebra 1, which she had supposedly learned in 8th grade. So I picked up a textbook called EZ Algebra at my favorite used curriculum store. Each chapter was written in story form. This would be fun and interesting, I hoped. A textbook written in story form seemed to fit with what I understood “living books” were (Charlotte Mason method). Reading how the characters solved their math problems might help her understand the “why” behind the math. But many of the homework problems in the new book were tricky and made leaps beyond the instruction that were not intuitive for her or me. If neither Cherry Pie nor I could figure out how to get the answer, we were sunk because the book didn’t have a solutions guide. Also each chapter covered 4-5 concepts at once, which was too much new information all at once! I intended to work with her on every lesson, but I was new to home school and schooling 4 children in 4 different math levels plus keeping the 4-year-old, 2-year-old, and 1-year-old twins happy and out of mischief was a struggle. Most days, Cherry Pie was on her own for math.
I Learn the Secret to Successful Math Learning:
After about 6 more weeks of still seeing her struggle, I pulled out the Saxon Math book again, Algebra 1 this time. I went through a lesson with Cherry Pie. I get so excited about math when I’m teaching the lesson! It’s fun! I realized I have to teach her every day, or math is just not going to work for her or me. I have to teach daily for me because I don’t know what’s going with her if I’m not directly teaching, and I need the review because I haven’t done much Algebra for 20 years. Cherry Pie needs the direct instruction every day because she got none in 7th or 8th grade in public school. She was given an assignment on a computer and told to ask her neighbor if she didn’t understand something. She was left to flounder on her own for far too long. I didn’t know this until later, but now that I know, I understand why she was so lost, and why math was so painful for her.
As I was researching home school, I heard from many moms that they use math as the subject their children are expected to work independently on. Many of the curriculum choices advertise that students can work through their programs independently. But now that I’ve been home schooling for almost 2 years, I can say that my children struggled progress in math on their own. When I began, I thought my 12-year-old and 11-year-old were moving through their Saxon math books by themselves okay, but that was because the concepts were almost all review for them. They weren’t learning anything new, and at the end of each month when I would finally remember to check up on their homework, I would discover that they had completed about 4 lessons for the entire month. (They should have been completing 3-4 lessons per week!)
When I made the decision that I would work with each child each day for math no matter what, something magic happened. No one was bored with math any more, and everyone began to finish their math assignments in a reasonable amount of time.
Here is the big secret to schooling math: More important than which curriculum you choose is YOU, the teacher, working one-on-one with your students each day.
I would even venture to say, that the curriculum you choose does not matter at all as long as you work with your children each day. Choose one that is fun and interesting to you, or at least find one that does some of the thinking for you, because you won’t have time to write lesson plans for every day. But do not think that the shiny curriculum you really want, but can’t afford, is the key and pine for it. Because it really is not the answer. You are the answer. Even if you have your child work through Khan Academy online (which is free except for the cost of good internet speeds), the key to your child moving at a good pace through the math program is you being their with them for 20 minutes of their math time each day.
I discover that Saxon math is pretty cool, after all.
I discovered that in the Saxon book, each of the homework problems has a small number beside it that tells which lesson that concept was taught in. So if neither Cherry Pie nor I can figure it out, I know where to go to review that concept. Not only that, I can use those numbers to notice patterns in which problems Cherry Pie misses, and we can go back and review skills that she consistently makes mistakes on.
Best of all, there is a letter from John Saxon to the students in the beginning of the book. He says algebra isn’t difficult, it’s just different. We have to learn to think differently in algebra. He talked about not being discouraged about making mistakes–that everyone makes lots of mistakes. Mistakes don’t mean that we are bad at math and should give up. We practice each day to develop strategies that will help us avoid making mistakes in the future.
That was a concept I needed, because once I understood that we were developing strategies, my mindset changed. As we went through the lesson together, I was specifically paying attention to how the book showed to solve the equations–looking for strategies to help Cherry Pie. I also payed attention to how I solved the equations. What are my strategies that I developed all those years ago that are now so instinctive I hardly notice what I am doing? I asked Cherry Pie to pay attention to how we solved the problems so she could find her own strategies.
I should never have doubted Saxon. I realized that he totally gets the beauty of algebra. He just knows that algebra takes lots of practice.
Maybe that’s a bit of an allegory for life. We are here on the earth, trying to learn how to think and be like our Heavenly Father. His ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts. We make tons of mistakes. However, we aren’t supposed to be discouraged by our mistakes or quit or just decide that we are no good at life. With the help of the master teacher, we continue to practice. We develop strategies to avoid making those mistakes again. It’s going to take a lifetime of practice, and it can indeed be beautiful.
❤️ Glowworm
Tags: homeschool math, life is like algebra
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