Do I really have to relearn math with my DS?

[lewelma]

Ok, I am lucky, I am a mathy type and have done well homeschooling my older mathy boy. DS(11) has been self-teaching AoPS Intro Algebra for 1.5 years and is starting Ch 14 tomorrow. When he asks me a question (a few times a week), I can usually wing it. Read the question, perhaps look at the solutions, and give him a few hints as to how to solve it. BUT I see a day very soon that I will need to have looked at this kind of math more recently than 30 years ago (yes, showing my age). Do I really have to spend time doing the problems in the AoPS books before he does them? Yikes! This will take me an age. I know the stuff, but cannot give him an answer in 30 seconds because it takes my old brain a few minutes to remember, and even longer to come up to AoPS speed if you know what I mean. What have you done, those who have BTDT? Can you give me a short cut?

 

By the way, I failed the last math exam I ever took as an undergrad (calc 3). Then, I audited 8 statistics classes in grad school -- so statistics I can handle, but Advanced Algebra and Calculus may be more problematic. I am guessing I need to spend 2 hours every weekend playing with the book.

 

Thanks for any advice,

 

Ruth in NZ

[Nan in Mass]

The short answer is yes, you have to relearn the math unless you are planning on outsourcing it and have somebody who can help when the your children need extra help. However, even if you are fluffheaded like me and can never remember anything, you probably can get away with just reading the chapter and working through the example problems, if you knew the math at one time. Mine were not capable of learning math with just the book, or even just the book and some videos. They needed somebody to make sure they hadn't made any wrong assumptions. I was incapable of consistently making myself sit down and do a few hours of math on the weekends, so instead, I did math every day with my children. I sat on the sofa next to them with the book on our laps between us and read the book aloud and wrote out the example problems as we came to them. Then I ticked which problems I wanted them to solve (usually the odds) and they went off and solved them. They checked their answers against the answers in the back of the book. Any they got wrong, they tried again. The next day, before we read the chapter, I looked at the problems to see if they were writing out the steps properly and did any they couldn't figure out. Sometimes that meant I bumbled around trying various things until I got the right answer. I talked a lot as I tried. I think it was good for them to watch the process. GRIN Mine certainly never had the idea that math was simply a matter of do this then this and there is your answer. Anyway, I never had to solve the problem sets. I was able to help them because kept up with them on a daily basis. I went through the math books twice, once with the older one and once with the younger one. I'm so fluff-headed that I forgot between one and the other. I did this with them from the time they began homeschooling. We used Singapore math because it explained math in a way *I* understood. If I understood it, I could re-explain it to my sons.

HTH

Nan

[Guest Barb B]

Ah yes, you do. . . Now for Algebra 1 this year with dd - no I don't. We grade the previous days work (for me the solution manual is all I need) and read the chapter together (so I can catch what she doesn't get and what I need to provide extra explanations for). Ds is now in college - did the same for algebra 1 for him. For him in Algebra 2 I read the chapter with him as well - then I did 1/2 the problems myself; for dd (since they are 5 years apart) I will probably just read through the solutions manual before we grade together. For ds - saxon advanced math (trig, Alg. 4 and geom and precalc) I did all the problems. When we get there I probably will do the same for dd - it really helps when I can say - oh yes, I remember doing that problem - when we grade together. And ds did calculus last year - I not only read but did ALL problems . . .

Barb

[choirfarm]

How in the world do you find time to do this??????? I am sort of reteaching myself for Geometry to help my middle son. I can do that. But precalculus for my oldest... I don't even remember any of this stuff that I "might" have taken back in...gulp 1983. It would seriously take me several hours a day "IF" I could understand it. I have enough time reading Great Expectations, preparing for my lit analysis class and teaching everything to my 4th grader!!!!

 

Christine

[8filltheheart]

How in the world do you find time to do this??????? I am sort of reteaching myself for Geometry to help my middle son. I can do that. But precalculus for my oldest... I don't even remember any of this stuff that I "might" have taken back in...gulp 1983. It would seriously take me several hours a day "IF" I could understand it. I have enough time reading Great Expectations, preparing for my lit analysis class and teaching everything to my 4th grader!!!!

 

Christine

 

I sit and do the math at the same time as my older kids through alg 2. By the 2nd 1/2 of alg 2 (even though I have done it more than once now!) my brain power gives out and they have to explain it to me (but, hey, that works to b/c explaining something means understanding it.) But.....beyond there, no, I haven't been able to re-learn it. I have to have someone else teach at that pt or like my 15 yos this yr w/cal, self-teach using AoPS.

 

But on their own for all high school level material.....no, I don't think that would be an optimal plan.:tongue_smilie:

[Tullia]

IME, you either need to keep up or outsource. Like Nan, what worked best for me was working daily alongside my son. My sanity could not have survived schoolwork on weekends. Eventually we outsourced, though. Khan Academy is a great way to refresh your memory or explain concepts you aren't familiar with.

 

I was in a similar situation; when my son was in high school my most recent math course (stats) was 20+ years past and my most recent algebra course even further back. The stuff I'd learned but forgotten came back pretty easily, but eventually it got to be too much so we opted for a community college course. In retrospect, we should have outsourced a year sooner.

 

My opinion has been confirmed by a friend who is a semi-retired engineer who homeschools her children and has tutored lots of students both while she was in college and later through her homeschool support group.

[Lang Syne Boardie]

In my very humble opinion, every student deserves access to an adult who knows what they're doing in math.

 

I am not confident above Algebra I, so I don't teach past that. We use DVD instruction for daily lessons, and my (very qualified) husband goes over the homework with my son in the evening.

 

There's no substitute for one-on-one coaching through problems when the kid just really needs it explained another way, or explained over and over, or given a similar problem to try again...and the coach needs to be able to easily see where the student is going wrong, as well.

 

Math is discipline. The disciple needs a teacher. It doesn't have to be you! But it does have to be someone.

 

If I had it to do over, I would have caught myself up on high school math when my children were babies. I didn't know to do that. I can't do it now, while I'm homeschooling a large family for 9-10 hours per day, cooking, cleaning, being a wife, and being a part of my community. No way. My kids would be short-changed, and that's the opposite of why I'm homeschooling.

[Julie in MN]

I study on an as-needed basis.

 

If I'm correcting & my child makes an error, then I go back as far as I need to to understand why -- maybe just looking at the problem and answer will do, but I might need to go back to the lesson.

 

If my child asks me a question, I try to model how I would figure out the answer, rather than trying to know the answer off the top of my head. I think it actually does him more good that way.

 

Julie

[FaithManor]

Uhm, yes. With my current high schooler, I spend about 1 hr. a day supervising math. With dd who was a natural born mathematician and required less direct instruction, about 30 minutes. When she hit pre-calc, ds took over since I had three littles all homeschooling as well and would have had no break because I would have spent two hours every evening prepping for pre-calc. His bachelor's degree is in mathematics. My plan is to do this again.

 

Now, with the next youngest ds, he is a visual learner. If he has an example and a written explanation - he's good to go. He's in algebra and I have yet to actually instruct him and he's keeping a high grade. I'm not certain when I will need to get involved. The youngest boy is an auditory learner but yet also the most mathematical of all my children. So, I verbally talk through an example and then he completes his pre-algebra assignment without further assistance. But, without that auditory walk through, he would be frustrated. It's the same in science. He is very tuned into lectures. He reading comp is high, it's just not his learning style per se. I often wonder if he'll need texts on tape in college or if he will grow out of it since he's only 11.

 

Overall, yep...you'll need to relearn it or farm it out because you need to be comfortable solving the problems and talking through the examples. Otherwise, the student's confidence is shot, even if mom gets the right answer in the end, if mom doesn't appear to be fairly adept with the material. So, don't ask me about chemistry prep. Thank goodness DD was 90% of the time NOT in need of instruction. Those other 10% situations were killers. I'm pretty much oriented to astronomy and physics. Chem stretched me.

 

Geometry was the most fun. I loved prepping for it and teaching it.

 

Faith