Meadowlark Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 Math is not my strong suit at ALL. We use BJU which I love because it literally teaches me, and then I teach him word for word if I need to. I'm considering TT for 4th only because if something needs to be off my plate, I think I'd rather it be math. But I'm nervous because what happens when he doesn't understand something, even after watching the explanation? What happens when he comes to me with his book and I don't know how the program taught that particular concept? What if I can't help him? At least if I'm the one teaching it, I know that I'll be able to help him through it. Can you tell me of your experience if you're not particularly "mathy"? Could you still help your child? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EndOfOrdinary Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 (edited) Is there a reason you have to teach it their way? I mean, if he doesn't understand their way, why continue to teach it in that manner? This is an honest question because there really could be a reason. Anytime my son asks something I do not know, we YouTube it. I just tell him I don't know. We used to Google it, but as Ds has gotten older the filters in YouTube and Pinterest have become helpful. :) By searching together, he has learned a lot about keywords, research, and accessing information. It has also demystified me. I am no longer the Keeper of Knowledge. I am still learning. This means that learning is a lifelong process and not just something that happens until college is over. Edited March 23, 2016 by EndOfOrdinary 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shinyhappypeople Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 Yup, YouTube is your friend :). So is Khan Academy for your own self-education. I'm okay at math but there's a LOT I forgot (I mean, seriously, who divides fractions in everyday life? That fell out of my brain ages ago) so I did the Arithmetic course and it has been invaluable in terms of helping me help my kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanaqui Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 I mean, seriously, who divides fractions in everyday life? Anybody who cooks and bakes, I should think. That's when I most often need to divide fractions. It sometimes comes up when gardening as well, or when doing simple construction, or when making quilts.... actually, I do this a lot! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jess4879 Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 I am the exact same way with math. Even when I know how to do something, I have a very tough time explaining it in a way that makes sense. My younger two use BJU, my oldest uses TT. I love both. We started TT with the Grade 4 book and are just finishing the Grade 6. I haven't had to help her often, but when I do, I find that the TT explanations really click with me and I am able to help better than I expected. We've occasionally googled and watched a Khan video or found a worksheet for extra practice, but overall TT has really worked amazingly well. My middle kiddo is probably switching from BJU to TT next year. She wants to work solo and BJU definitely isn't set up for that. Oh, and according to another thread -- TT offers free over-the-phone tutoring if your kiddo gets stuck on a concept. I think that's pretty cool! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FawnsFunnyFarm Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 If I need to watch the lesson (or a few lessons) to refresh my memory, I do. Simple as that. TT teaches math the way I was taught growing up, so it's usually like riding a bike and I quickly remember how to do it. If there was something that neither kiddo or I could figure out then we would hit Khan and Youtube and figure it out. Not a big deal. I will tell you this, you can not let TT take you mostly out of math!!!! I promise you, you will be one of those people who claim it's no good, didn't teach your kids, etc. within a year or so! Learn from my mistake. Luckily, my mistake is one of those super mathy kind of kids and there was no lasting damage (he passed the Keystones which is a state high school exit exam here in PA in 7th grade when he returned to PS). I let TT take me out of math, I was sick of the struggle with that kiddo and felt it was a good place to give me a break. He learned quickly to "work the system" and even though his grades were good when I looked, he wasn't doing the work. You need to have your kiddo watch the lesson, then do the work on paper (we use the workbook), then I check their work... I do not use the answer key, I work through the problems myself so that I know the kids worked it right (you do not need to do this, you can go into the computer even make a name for yourself if you want, and watch the solution.. it shows you step by step how it works out). I have the kids fix their mistakes and I check again... this continues until it's all correct. Then they get to enter their answers into the computer. I promise you, my younger kids "get it". 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shinyhappypeople Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 Anybody who cooks and bakes, I should think. That's when I most often need to divide fractions. It sometimes comes up when gardening as well, or when doing simple construction, or when making quilts.... actually, I do this a lot! I cook and bake. No dividing fractions. It was just an example of something I forgot that was easily refreshed :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanaqui Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 I cook and bake. No dividing fractions. Don't you ever need to adapt recipes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haiku Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 Occasionally my son doesn't like the way TT explains something. He either develops his own method, based on what he knows, or he asks me for help and I explain it to him in a way that makes sense to me. It's never been a problem. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollyhock Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 I'm not sure if the lower levels of TT are like this, but we're using Algebra 1 and all the teaching is in the text, plus every problem in the problem set has a number below it in brackets, which is the number of the lesson where it was first taught. So if my son needs help and I don't know how to help, it's easy to flip back in the book to whatever lesson it says and read it over. Saves a lot of time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shinyhappypeople Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 Don't you ever need to adapt recipes? Yes, in my head (doubling/halving). But do I ever divide 10/17 by 15/45? Nope. Never. It's just an example of something that I forgot. We all have stuff that has fallen out of our brains from lack of practical use. That's my example. My point is that refreshing arithmetic (or any math skill) is easy to accomplish. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meadowlark Posted March 23, 2016 Author Share Posted March 23, 2016 Is there a reason you have to teach it their way? I mean, if he doesn't understand their way, why continue to teach it in that manner? This is an honest question because there really could be a reason. Anytime my son asks something I do not know, we YouTube it. I just tell him I don't know. We used to Google it, but as Ds has gotten older the filters in YouTube and Pinterest have become helpful. :) By searching together, he has learned a lot about keywords, research, and accessing information. It has also demystified me. I am no longer the Keeper of Knowledge. I am still learning. This means that learning is a lifelong process and not just something that happens until college is over. My oldest is in 3rd and so there hasn't been anything too complicated yet. But yes, of course I naturally use any means I can to get him to understand a concept. But I do like to see the way the curriculum presents it first, so that I at least try that way first. I worry with TT that I'll just be so far removed.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meadowlark Posted March 23, 2016 Author Share Posted March 23, 2016 If I need to watch the lesson (or a few lessons) to refresh my memory, I do. Simple as that. TT teaches math the way I was taught growing up, so it's usually like riding a bike and I quickly remember how to do it. If there was something that neither kiddo or I could figure out then we would hit Khan and Youtube and figure it out. Not a big deal. I will tell you this, you can not let TT take you mostly out of math!!!! I promise you, you will be one of those people who claim it's no good, didn't teach your kids, etc. within a year or so! Learn from my mistake. Luckily, my mistake is one of those super mathy kind of kids and there was no lasting damage (he passed the Keystones which is a state high school exit exam here in PA in 7th grade when he returned to PS). I let TT take me out of math, I was sick of the struggle with that kiddo and felt it was a good place to give me a break. He learned quickly to "work the system" and even though his grades were good when I looked, he wasn't doing the work. You need to have your kiddo watch the lesson, then do the work on paper (we use the workbook), then I check their work... I do not use the answer key, I work through the problems myself so that I know the kids worked it right (you do not need to do this, you can go into the computer even make a name for yourself if you want, and watch the solution.. it shows you step by step how it works out). I have the kids fix their mistakes and I check again... this continues until it's all correct. Then they get to enter their answers into the computer. I promise you, my younger kids "get it". Thanks for the words of wisdom. What do you mean when you say he "worked the system"? The one I'm considering this for has a way of working things to his advantage and I'm worried about that. Do you just mean showing the work on paper? Do you recommend the workbook? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................... Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 (edited) You should be ok up to about Algebra at least. At those levels even if you really can't recall, a quick Khan Academy video will refresh you enough so that you can explain it. After that, see what life brings. There's Chalkdust, which has all those videos and helps. There's Foersters which has all the videos and also tutoring for $30 per half hour if you get stuck. There are more and more two-day-per-week online classes now such as Landry and TPS. There is Khan Academy to supplement or help when your child gets stuck. And if all else fails you can hire a private tutor. So for now feel free to use TT but I agree you really have to keep and eye, check your child's written work, watch that he is learning fo write down and align his work properly and that he doesn't just gloss over what he's missing. You have to be involved. Sorry for that bad news :) Edited March 23, 2016 by Calming Tea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loowit Posted March 24, 2016 Share Posted March 24, 2016 We have been using TT this year and I haven't had any problems. Youngest needed me to explain something in a different way than the disk once, but that was pretty easy. If DD has problems, which isn't often, she asks her dad or DH's friend who is a high school math teacher. She also looks up things at khan academy sometimes and that helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted March 24, 2016 Share Posted March 24, 2016 My 2 cents.... I think math is the one thing you should heavily consider not taking off your plate in terms of involvement. Not because a different method might be taught, but because it's so easy to get rusty. That snow balls. By 6th/7th you might feel completely lost and be unable to help/facilitate/teach math. Yet if you stay involved, you can learn these things along with your kids. I can wing a lot of things (probably most people can). Math isn't one of them. I really threw myself into it and kept up and it has paid off big time. And I started off as math being a very weak subject for me as well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EndOfOrdinary Posted March 24, 2016 Share Posted March 24, 2016 My oldest is in 3rd and so there hasn't been anything too complicated yet. But yes, of course I naturally use any means I can to get him to understand a concept. But I do like to see the way the curriculum presents it first, so that I at least try that way first. I worry with TT that I'll just be so far removed.... That totally makes sense. TT is pretty traditional. It teaches standard algorithms. Nothing even remotely proof based. More than likely you will find it pretty darn close to what you once were taught in a very similar manner if you went to a standard American public school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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