Posted: 10 Nov 2014 07:23 AM PST

When I first decided to homeschool, I asked for a lot of advice from experienced homeschoolers because I was nervous:

Would my son learn to read? How would he make friends? Could I trust my own ability to guide his learning?

The enthusiasm of other parents was encouraging. They told me of chemistry experiments and trips to paleontology museums. Their kids were learning voraciously, and the adults were having fun.

Until it came to math.

"Oh, we just give them some Saxon worksheets," was the most common response to my request for advice on a math program, and the distaste was palpable. Probe a little deeper, and parents told me more:

"I hate math." "I can't add." "I'm horrible at math." For them, math had become the same thing it had been to them as children: something to endure.

Confession: I love math. I want my children to enjoy it, too, and to see a future in it as accessible as becoming a motorcycle mechanic, English professor, farmer, or corporate lawyer.

I also can't add. But math isn't about being good at adding, and an inability to add doesn't mean you can't teach your kids mathematics.

Finding what works

In her book What's Math Got To Do With It? detailing findings from longitudinal studies on math education, Stanford professor Jo Boaler notes that Americans are familiar with two kinds of math: "the strange and boring subject that they encountered in classrooms and an interesting set of ideas that is the math of the world, and is curiously different and surprisingly engaging.

To teach math successfully, parents need to face down the voices in their heads that claim, I'm terrible at math, and experiment with materials that reflect the subject's multi-faceted reality.

Maura Muller, from Rock Hill, N.Y., is one parent who's managed to overcome her childhood experiences. She hated math growing up. "I had a terrifying nun who would slap our hands with a wooden stick when we got an answer wrong and tell us how stupid we were."

She didn't want her son to suffer the same math trauma, so tried to make math fun, reading books like Grapes of Math and The Adventures of Penrose, the Mathematical Cat, and later, as her son got older, The Man Who Counted and The Number Devil.

I spent months looking for an actual curriculum that was both engaging and rigorous. By chance I came across an article about JUMP, a program developed by a Canadian nonprofit. JUMP breaks math concepts down into tiny, digestible steps, meaning that kids can master each step individually without getting overwhelmed by larger concepts all at once — its advantage for homeschoolers is that adults who fear their own math abilities can do the same.

Delores Caesar, who began homeschooling her middle-schooler specifically because of concerns that her daughter was "slipping under the radar" by knowing facts but not understanding concepts in her math classes. This mom, from New York's Hudson Valley region, says she likes JUMP for daily lessons, but Math Mammoth and Critical Learning workbooks for an all-around deeper understanding of concepts.

Grahamsville, N.Y.'s Vikki Siciliano, who was good at math as a kid but never enjoyed it, has been homeschooling for 16 years. Siciliano initially tried Saxon math, which her 5th-grade son hated because "it was so repetitive," but found the colorful, in-depth Scott Foresman program worked well for them. Two of her kids eventually became math majors.

For those who like formalized math lessons couched in more narrative form, Life of Fred has become a popular series. Maura Muller, who, with her husband, has been homeschooling their 13-year-old son for the past 5 years, switched to using Life of Fred after trying Singapore Math, which her family found "dry, boring, and repetitive." When her son moved into learning algebra, Muller picked up Math Doesn't Suck, by Danica McKellar, which is geared to teen girls but "makes us both laugh."

Muller also employs the techniques common with both rigorous and unschooling homeschoolers: using math in everyday life for activities like measuring out their garden, planning for Christmas shopping, cooking, and estimating miles per gallon for car trips.

Practical teaching methods like these can go a long way to answering the question, "What am I ever going to use this for?"

Hands-on learning

"What absolutely did not work," says Delores Caesar, echoing many homeschooling parents, "is any online program. My nine-year-old just shut down looking at the screen."

The limitations of online programs such as Khan Academy and IXL speak to the importance of connecting mathematics to the physical world.

Patrick Honner, who teaches math at public high schools in New York City, says that he would focus on exploring math "through things kids enjoy, like games, puzzles, paradoxes, physical situations."

One successful program that reflects this approach is from Miquon Math Lab. Miquon was developed in the 1960s for use with Cuisenaire rods—wooden sticks in different lengths and colors representing the numbers 1–10.

I like using Cuisenaire rods because my son knows his "math rods" are a school-only activity, and we can break up lessons by letting him build with them.

Vikki Siciliano, who also used Miquon for her kids' early years, says she prefers using Duplo Legos with the program "because they're easier to manipulate."

These tools can make a big difference for a child who thinks three-dimensionally, or who needs to grasp lessons physically before transferring the computations to paper. And blocks, tiles and linking cubes continue to benefit math learning well into middle school.

Reaching outside the home

If the thought of teaching your child math still makes you break out in hives, outsourcing is an option.

Vikki Siciliano says that a homeschooling friend of hers loathes math so much she hired outside tutors because she "was scared of pushing her own feelings about it on to her 14-year-old daughter."

And as the homeschooling student gets older, their abilities can outstrip the mathematics lessons based on worksheets, manipulatives, and gas mileage calculations. This is where parents can really use the support of homeschooling groups and the Internet. Particularly in math, many students learn better if they are solving problems and discovering mathematical questions in groups.

There are many blogs and websites run by mathematicians and teachers posing fascinating higher-level questions you won't find in textbooks. Patrick Honner's website regularly features math in art, as well as interesting mathematical questions and discussions.

Did you know there's more than one kind of infinity? Or that The Simpsons is packed with mathematical references because most of the writers were math majors?

Not just for homeschooling families, these resources offer all families the chance to think "out of the old-school box" when it comes to math.

Changing your perspective

"Parents, especially mothers of girls, should never, ever say, 'I was hopeless at math!'" says Jo Boaler. Doing so "is a very damaging message, especially for young girls."

Boaler is sympathetic to parents who hate math, but she notes that many of the puzzles, games, books, and methods that make math learning fun and effective can work for parents, too. In short, you've got a chance to start your own math education over again.

"At the heart of it, math is about the study of structure," says Kate Owens, who teaches undergraduate mathematics classes at the College of Charleston. "Most elementary school math is devoted toward studying the structure of rational numbers. But this is just one of many different structures that mathematicians study."

Whether that structure is used to figure out how many miles you can drive on a tank of gas, decipher mortgage applications, or build a foundation for later work on the Higgs-Boson particle, it is essential that the homeschooling teacher, or any parent who wants to support his or her child's math education, presents it as a subject worthy of enthusiasm.

If you give it a chance, you might find you're not so terrible at math after all. Even if you still can't add.

Freelance writer Antonia Malchik has a BA in mathematics from Macalester College. She can be reached through her website, antoniamalchik.com.

Why Should I Study Mathematics - Tips Study Mathematics ...

Posted: 11 Oct 2014 07:48 AM PDT

$taking-math-in-college$ By Dr. Tiffany DePriter
Mathematics Instructor, American Public University

Many people think mathematics is difficult to learn. It involves complex formulas and procedures and has little to no relevance to our daily lives. The truth is that mathematics goes well beyond complicated number crunching and serves as a foundation for many academic disciplines.

We all need mathematics skills

Have you ever considered purchasing a house, investing for retirement, or taking out a vacation loan? If so, then you've encountered mathematics. Have you made home repairs, like tiling a floor or planting a garden? If so, then you've used mathematics. While these examples highlight the practical use of mathematics, there is also underlying conceptual knowledge that extends beyond the mathematics classroom as well as the backyard garden.

Mathematics helps us to think critically and logically. It develops our problem solving skills, forcing us to think through a problem from beginning to end, methodically work through steps to solve the problem, and then check our work for accuracy. Being able to think and work in such a way is beneficial to any field.

Critical thinking skills are highly sought after by employers. Also, mathematician was recently ranked as one of the best career options. So whether you want to learn to be a better problem solver or move into a career that relies on having a sound mathematical framework, mathematics is a field that should be considered.

Learning math is like learning a language

Would you ever enroll in Spanish III if you haven't taken Spanish I or II? Could you have a conversation in Arabic without first having studied the language? Similar to a foreign language, mathematics is a language unto itself. First we learn the numeration system, then basic computation notation, and move to more advanced concepts. Learning to "speak" math takes time and practice, just like learning to speak a foreign language.

In a college mathematics program, a student might start with algebra, geometry, or trigonometry; move through the calculus sequence; and then tackle higher level mathematics such as real analysis and differential equations. Each of these courses builds on the previous courses. Students cannot master advanced concepts if the basics are not first learned and mastered.

We know that once language is learned and developed, it becomes second nature to speak, write, and communicate. The same is true of mathematics. While at first it might seem difficult to understand the rules of mathematics, with practice they too become second nature and will be your new language.

About the Author:

Dr. Tiffany DePriter is an Associate Professor of Mathematics in the School of Science and Technology at American Public University. She has a bachelor's degree in mathematics, a master's in distance education, and holds a Doctor of Education degree in Mathematics Education. Dr. DePriter has been teaching mathematics online for the past five years with American Public University.

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5 tips for Solving Mathematics Problems | OneClass Magazine

Posted: 19 Jun 2014 12:00 AM PDT

Every student has had to study mathematics some point in their lives time. Some students love it and some students absolutely hate it. Regardless of what you are studying, it is important to understand the basics of mathematics.

7 tips for solving maths problems

1. We are talking about practice! Maths is not a game!

In order to properly study maths, you must get down and do as many practice problems as you possibly can. The more maths questions you do, the better your understand will be. Each maths problems has its own rules and it is important to know those rules before writing your maths tests and exams. provides students with practice problems – check it out!

2. Double loop learning – Don't make the same mistakes twice!

Let's face it. When you are solving practice maths problems, you are going to make mistakes. The great thing about making mistakes is that you are able to review these mistakes and learn from them so that you don't make the same errors on your maths tests and exams. Make sure you understand where you went wrong and ingrain that error into your head.

3. Unlock the key concepts

The last thing you want to do when you are studying maths is memorizing the exact processes. It is much more productive if you focus on understand that process and the logic that is associated with the process. Because maths is a sequential subject, it is important to understand the basics. If you are having difficulties solving complex problems, first try solving easier problems that focus more on the basics. You can review key concepts with Exam Video tutorials.

4. Understand your frustration points

Maths can be extremely frustrating at some points. Some concepts are extremely difficult and can leave yourself questioning "should I just quit?" It is very important to understand your points of frustration. You don't need to master every question. Move on to the next question, or go back to questions that you understand to help re-build your confidence. Absolutely do not give up!

If you find it helps, study with a friend so that you can talk to one another when you get stuck. It is also terrific practice if you are able to explain concepts to another person to help perfect your understanding.

5. Find the perfect study spot

Students need to be able to concentrate wen studying maths. It is crucial for you to find a study area that is a distraction free zone. Music can help when studying, but make sure that it is not distracting you.

Last updated by John Tan at Aug 12, 2014.

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