high school math

Do you get cold sweats just thinking about teaching your teen high school math? Did your last exposure to trigonometry leave you covered in hives? If so, you are not alone! Every homeschool parent "loses it" at some point during high school math.&nbs...

So, a question many high school homeschool families ask when planning for teaching math is, what is the correct math sequence for high school? For most students, what comes first doesn't matter. The most important thing is that your child is learning math consistently each year.

There are two typical math sequences for high school :

Algebra 1 > Geometry > Algebra 2

OR

Algebra 1 > Algebra 2 > Geometry

Some textbooks follow one way, and some follow the other way. They all try to convince you their way is the right way!  Mathematically, it doesn't matter which one comes first, Geometry or Algebra 2, to be honest. However, your child might benefit if they take geometry before 11th grade, to prepare for the PSAT and SAT.

With most math textbooks, it's easy to name your class for the homeschool transcript. "Algebra 1" on the textbook means the class title is "Algebra 1". Easy peasy, done! ​ But, sometimes, the question comes from how do I give grades and credits. My c...

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Dry Your Tears! Help for Teaching High School Math is Here!

What are you using for math next year? Do you get cold sweats just thinking about teaching your teen high school math? Did your last exposure to trigonometry leave you covered in hives? If so, you are not alone! Every homeschool parent "loses it" at some point during high school math.

This brand new Kindle Book will help you discover curriculum options, learn how to keep great math records, and get beyond mere good intentions to actually get the job done in your homeschool. There's even a special section on how to teach any particularly nerdy kids that might be living under your roof.  In this book, you will learn how to teach high school math with the correct sequence, curriculum, attitude, and speed.

As a part of the Coffee Break Series, my books are designed especially for parents who don’t want to spend hours and hours reading a 400-page book on homeschooling high school! You will get simple strategies, resources, and tools at your fingertips, along with proven strategies to not just survive but thrive while teaching high school math.

Never overwhelming, always accessible and manageable, each book in the series will give parents the tools they need to tackle the tasks of homeschooling high school, one warm sip at a time.

This is the 30th book in my Coffee Break Book Series. Can you believe it? THIRTY books! If you are looking forward to reading them all, maybe now is a good time to buy yourself a Kindle. If you do, I suggest this one.

Please take a moment to download High School Math The Easy Way for free, through June 5!  It's a short, fun book with simple strategies for homeschool parents in over their heads.

I also have two large and detailed books when you are doing the heavy lifting of homeschooling high school. Although they are also available on Kindle, these two read best in paperback.
College Admission and Scholarships
Setting the Records Straight

When you are done with the book, please leave a review on Amazon too!  We really count on your reviews - thank you so much for taking a moment to let me know what you think of this new book.

Everyone has their own opinion on book formats. Do you prefer print books or e-books?

Teaching Math the Right Way Tip #5
Choose the Correct Supplements

There are so many great supplements for math it would be impossible to list them all!  Here are some ideas to get the creative juices flowing.

If you have a child who 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 really 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!!

Math games and supplements:

• 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 great explanation of calculus concepts


• Khan Academy has video math lessons and extra practice problems.


• For extra practice, look at the “Keys to” series and test prep workbooks


• Once you get past calculus, find higher level math classes from MIT Open Courseware

Learn how to create records of your homeschool that will attract the attention of your dream college, and open doors to admission and great scholarships.  Get the Total Transcript Solution!

Teaching Math the Right Way Tip #4

Choose the Correct Speed

Whatever level you are facing, teach math at their level, and continue moving forward. Complete 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, do 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, and 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 in the long run.

What is required is that your student is reasonably successful in math, and understands 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 at the end 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.



Learn how to translate all those great homeschool high school classes into the words and numbers that colleges will understand.  Get the Total Transcript Solution!

There is a new twist to Saxon Math these days.  They have started to offer a video course to complement their textbook.  It appear that there goal was to take the best of DIVE CDs, which utilizes the Saxon spiral approach.  They blend that with the best of Teaching Textbooks, which provides a step by step solution to every single problem.  They also offer a toll free number, if your student still has problems.  Because they ARE the publisher of Saxon, they don't have sticky issues like "copyrights" and things.  That means they will provide the opportunity to reprint tests for those times you need to repeat a section.  You can see a demo from this website:

Remember to always have your CHILD view the sample lesson.  Teenagers are annoyed by the strangest things sometimes.  You don't want their aversion to a particular program to affect their ability to learn.  Have the video tutorial match the student's learning needs, not your own.



Looking for Saxon Math, you can purchase it from the Sonlight or Rock Solid!