How I Grew Confidence in teaching my Children Math

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I am not a teacher. I am just a mom who is passionate about education.

When I decided to homeschool my children I was taking on a huge responsibility. I am not a teacher, I have no business teaching my children from home. I don’t have any certification or qualifications, in fact, I have a ton of issues that would make me not the right fit for the job.

Where should I begin?

Well, I guess I should begin at Isabella’s first year of homeschooling and filling out our Individualized Home Instruction Plan. The fear that enveloped me as I had to decide how I will teach my child who is “gifted” math.

My history with Math

Math is a subject I wish I understood and enjoyed. It is something that gives me anxiety practically every day. You see, I don’t have a good foundation in Math. Yes, I made it through elementary school, I made it through high school there were even some honors in there, I was on deans list in college and even made it through that dreaded statistics class. Even though I made it through and even excelled at some of these classes there is still a deep anxiety that comes over me when I have to do math, even basic math.

Where it stems from

I think it all stems from elementary school when in the middle of an exam I was struggling and my teacher flat out called me stupid. I already felt stupid because I just didn’t understand, I never mastered the basics and I was drowning in algebra. I felt stupid and I didn’t need my teacher to announce it. I felt like everyone could see it.

Anyway, this stuck with me, even till today. I get nervous when I have to do any kind of math. I over-think and stress out. I didn’t want my children to have a negative experience when it came to learning math and I wanted to make sure they can master it.

Finding an answer

I researched products and have tried a few. One product I was really excited about was Math- U- See. I loved how it has a tactile element with its math manipulatives. It has plenty of resources to help me teach including an instructional DVD and a teacher’s manual. It offers tons of practice pages for the student in the student workbook and test book which is just additional practice pages.

Why else did I get so excited about Math-U-See?

Well, I loved the fact that it is mastery based, students can start at any level and levels aren’t based on grade level, it is based on skill. If you look at their curriculum you will notice the Greek alphabet to show levels based on a sequence of concepts. Each level builds on previously learned skills to prepare a solid foundation. Something I wish I had.

Math-U-See is more than a great math curriculum. It has given me the tools and confidence to teach my children while building up my own math skills right alongside with them.

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