High School Math at Home

Four years of high school math is important because it’s required for graduation in every state. It’s also important because almost all colleges require a full four years of high school math. However, that doesn’t mean your child has to do four years of upper level math, including calculus. It just means they should continue to work at their own level and keep moving forward every year. Yes, it’s wonderful to complete calculus in high school, but not everyone is going to get there. Just because they don’t get to calculus doesn’t mean they can’t get into college!

Sometimes parents wonder what the “correct sequence” for math is, and stress about making sure they’re doing it “right.” The good news is that in the grand scheme of things, there is no “right” sequence to do high school math. There is a "typical” sequence, which usually has two flavors:

algebra 1 – geometry – algebra 2 – trigonometry/pre-calculus – calculus

Or

algebra 1 – algebra 2 – geometry – trigonometry/pre-calculus – calculus

Some homeschool math curriculum providers will try to tell you that one way is “best” but it doesn’t matter which order you choose. It’s best to complete geometry before 11th grade if possible; that’s when students take the PSAT/NMSQT®, and that test includes geometry. Completing the class before 11th grade can improve the score on that test.

Geometry is completely different from algebra, but it does review some algebra concepts. For that reason, if your child struggled with algebra 1, taking geometry next can firm up their algebraic understanding before they go into the more difficult algebra 2 concepts.

If they didn’t like algebra, then geometry can give them a bit of a break before they have to tackle it again as algebra 2. But for many people, the sequence of math isn’t terribly important; the most important thing is that your child learns high school math consistently each year.

After algebra 2, some parents branch out to consumer math, business math, or statistics.  Personal finance is usually not considered a math class, but might be a wonderful elective. Some colleges may even accept general lifestyle "quantitative analysis" over a traditional mathematics textbook, and are looking for daily interaction with numbers: measuring, calculating, number-crunching in real life. 

They say attitude is everything. It's so true, especially for math! Try not to instill or encourage a fear of math. Do what you can to make it enjoyable or tolerable. Don't label yourself or your children as math-haters. Another saying is "fake it till you make it." Also true in math! For best results, try to convey a matter-or-fact attitude, rather than horror about daily work.

If math still seems overwhelming for you, and you find yourself never getting around to covering it, you’re not alone. Every homeschool parent has at least one subject they simply don’t like, understand, tolerate, enjoy, or remember to do each day. If math is the weak area, the best way to make sure you cover it every day is to put it first on the list of things to do. Your weak area becomes your homeschool priority each day.

Make it the first subject you do in the morning, the thing you cover every day. Even if a fabulous opportunity comes your way, get math done before doing the fun stuff. Even if you are offered free tickets to a play, or even the Super bowl, get math done first (unless the Seahawks are playing, of course)! Never leave the house until that one thing is done. Make sure you put it first each day, and your child does it first in the morning when you are both fresh.

Make it the first curriculum you buy each year, and the one you’re most willing to spend money on. Be willing to spend more money on math than any other subject. It’s a great investment with math particularly, but it's worth it for any weak area. If the math curriculum you buy isn’t working, purchase a new one that does work, because this is your weak area and you need to invest in it.

These strategies will help you compensate for your weakness in this area, and will greatly increase your chances for success!

Teach math at your child's level, and continue moving forward. Assign your child one lesson every day; never miss a day. If your child understands a concept, skip the lesson and move on. It's extremely helpful with math-reluctant kids to include math during the summer, so they maintain their understanding. If possible, cover a math section during the summer, unless you are traveling. Most kids lose 3 months’ worth of progress over each summer, and then they need 3 months of review each fall to catch up again. You can see that doing math in the summer can REALLY speed things up!

Don’t go backward, trying to achieve the impossible "perfection" in math. Consider your own checkbook for a moment. Like you, I have mastery over math; I can add, subtract, multiply and divide as well as any 6th grader. But my checkbook? I don't always exhibit perfection in math, and I regularly make math mistakes in my checkbook! So if you are waiting for perfection before moving on, it will be frustrating to everyone.

Your student needs to be reasonably successful in math, and understand it reasonably well. Four years of math is required. For some, that means a daily struggle over four years that will end in Algebra 1 in the final year of high school. Sure, it's not optimal, but it does happen. For other kids, four years of math can leave mom or dad in the dust, and the child pushes forward into calculus and differential equations.

Below are brief overviews of the most popular math curricula. You can find video samples online for most, so your child can compare the programs and give feedback. Another benefit of letting them help choose is that they might have more ownership of the course and won’t complain so much! (Caution: actual results may vary.)

Saxon

This is the most popular homeschool math curriculum, top rated by math experts. There is nothing but math problems on the page, so it thrilled my math-loving son and he chose these books for that reason!

DIVE CDs Video for Saxon

These are the original videos that coordinate with Saxon books, and intended for use by Christian homeschoolers. This is what I used, and I loved them. DIVE into Math Video Example

Saxon Teacher Video

Created by Saxon textbooks, these video lessons go through every problem in the text and the tests. Saxon Teacher Video

Homeschool With Saxon Video

Another tutorial for Saxon math, this is a video of a live instructor, and was intended for a wide variety of classroom and homeschool settings, so it may have a classroom feel. Homeschool with Saxon

Teaching Textbooks

Teaching Textbooks is very popular, and created by Harvard graduates. Each level includes videos for lessons and answers, and demonstrates every problem in the book. Video Examples and Information

VideoText

This has been around for years, and uses interactive video-based strategies. Video Example

 Thinkwell

Thinkwell has been around a long time. It only allows you to take a test once, which can be frustrating. Video Example

Abeka

Abeka uses a classroom setting in their video. I have watched HOURS of these videos when I was placed next to them in a convention, and the classroom setting drove me crazy! Video Example

Bob Jones

This is a Christian curriculum intended for homeschoolers. They offer an online class for high school math that seems very much like a school environment, so it's not my favorite. Video Example

Math-U-See

I have heard that this program does a good job with hands-on learners. Video Example

Ask Dr. Callahan

This video works with the Harold Jacobs Algebra book, which was the book we used and loved. Ask Dr. Callahan

ALEKS Math

This is a video-aided instruction program for independent learners that many homeschoolers love. It’s web-based, so it does not include a textbook. ALEKS Homepage

Life of Fred

This is a literature-based curriculum. It may require additional practice problems for students to be completely comfortable with math concepts. Life of Fred

If your child loves literature but hates numbers, it may be helpful to supplement a math program with books. One option is the book Algebra the Easy Way by Douglas Downing (who happens to be my son’s economics mentor)! Another is Living Math, a website (livingmath.net) with a variety of links for literature lovers, including a long book list!

For kids who will benefit from some hands-on supplements, try Family Math for Middle School, which we used as a supplement for algebra. Patty Paper Geometry is great for hands-on exploration of geometric proofs. We also supplemented pre-calculus and calculus with the videos Change and Motion: Calculus Made Clear, which my children loved so much, they watched them twice!!

• LivingMath.net lists fun math readers, primarily for early grades
• Algebra the Easy Way is literature-based math for high school
• Family Math has a wide variety of math games to do at home
• Patty Paper Geometry provides hands-on experiments with geometry
• Great Courses: Calculus Made Clear provides great explanations of calculus concepts
• Khan Academy offers video math lessons
• For extra practice, check out the “Key to” series and the test prep workbooks I suggest in my 6 Top Tips on Tests article
• Once you get past calculus, find higher level math classes from MIT Open Courseware