Math Resources and Ramblings

Today I came upon an entry in someone else's homeschooling blog where she was just wondering whether or not to get tutoring help for math. Ahhh, makes me feel better. It's good to know that I'm not alone in struggling with teaching math. Of course, sometimes one can afford tutoring and sometimes one can't. I don't just mean different families, but also different stages in a family's life.

Now, I do have one advantage. My husband is a mathemetician by college degree and by profession. However, since he works a lot of hours, we did hire a tutor one year. Ha, that's one year out of twenty-plus. (You see how I love math. I never want to figure out what comes after the twenty in our homeschooling years.) Well, he has helped a lot of kids through a lot of high school math...but sometimes he's just way too busy at work, and sometimes the kids just don't think to ask him for help when evening rolls around.

So I'm always on the lookout for math programs that will work better for us. I'm glad Saxon works well for so many homeschoolers. For good or for ill, we made the decision many years ago to no longer use Saxon. What my high schooler is using this year is yet another experiment on our part: Algebra II by Teaching Textbooks. I bought the books this past summer...only the books, although the accompanying CDs are recommended. This month - with hubby working into the night - I finally bought the CDs to go with them, so that my son can use the CD Solutions Manual if he gets stuck. (The CDs have lectures, not just a Solutions Manual, but it was the solutions my son wanted for those times when he couldn't figure it out.) So far he hasn't complained much about this book, and seems to be progressing well with it!

For Peter, my son who is visually impaired, I love using workbooks for math, since he does his math under the CCTV (video magnifier) and can only see a little bit at a time. Toggling back and forth between an over-sized textbook and a spiral notebook would be more challenging for him. So, through the years we've been using Mathematics, Skills, Concepts, Problems Solving by Continental Press. I haven't been as excited about this book now that we've gotten into more algebraic concepts in the eighth grade, but for grade school I loved the series! (Considering that eighth grade is where my own math weaknesses begin, I wonder if this says something about the explanations in the book. The kids and I sometimes say that we think it's maybe supposed to be used as a workbook to accompany a textbook...but it has kept him on target through the grade school years.)

What I'm considering now for Peter for high school is an Algebra worktext I came upon the other day on the web. If anyone is reading this post who has experience with this series, please get in touch with me. It's called Algebra 1: A Fresh Approach by Christy Walters, and is available from A+ Education Services. We read a review of it, and it looks good to me, and even looked good (from the review) to my husband! When it comes to math, he's not an easy sell.

Last, but very definitely not least, the other day I found a blog by a homeschooling Mom who loves Math and shares her knowledge with us! Some of the entries are over my head...or I don't have time. But she has lots of valuable ideas and resources! So, if you like math...or if, on the other hand, you have math phobia, like I do, check it out!

Where's the School in Homeschool?

As I was browsing homeschool blogs this evening, a thought occurred to me. I share about our home life, but I don't say much about our schooling. You might begin to wonder if we really ARE homeschoolers. Yep, bona fide, card-carrying members of both Home School Legal Defense Association and our local umbrella school. Sometimes we even do schoolwork. Ha. Just kidding about that last. We do schoolwork every day! We do religion every day, we do math every day, and well, you get the picture...

We might do it a little differently, though. Certainly we do some things differently than I did twenty years ago. Because we live in an apartment, if the boys occasionally want to use their spending money to walk to the pop machine, I figure the exercise balances out the calories. And the treat (as well as the caffeine) boosts everyone's mood and production level. Ironically, I heard that soda pop has been banned in Baltimore County Public Schools, a decision I would undoubtedly have applauded a very short time ago. (And some of you may be shaking your heads at me.)

We do math a little differently, too. Robert (16) works on his own math, then looks up to see what Peter and I need help with. Math is not my strong suit and I tend to get through seventh grade math before struggling. (Peter is in eighth.) I always thought I'd learn upper level math right along with my kids, but there was always something else...babies and toddlers, and so on. Just when I thought I'd be able to learn math along with the youngest, I decided to work on learning Braille with him instead.

And of course, that's another thing we do differently. Almost every day Peter reads in three different "modes", as I call it. He listens to books on tape, reads to me in Braille, and reads to himself a few pages of a book under the video magnifier.

This isn't a picture of our whole schoolday, but just some snippets to let you know that yes, Virginia, there really is a homeschool here.