The only thing that truly intimidates me about homeschooling is math instruction. I did OK in math throughout my school career. I even got an A in Educational Statistics a few years back when I was working on my masters. It is the teaching of math that scares me. And, as you can tell from the title of the post, I really am not fond of math.
Hopefully, however, all of that is changing! Last year my daughter did very well with the Horizons math materials sent in our Sonlight Newcomer package. It is, admittedly, a very rigorous math program with a sprial approach. I love the way things are reviewed constantly, and new concepts introduced so subtly the student never even realizes they learned something new. The teachers guide is thorough and left no questions in my mind. If I had a question about something I just Googled it, asked my husband, or went to Math is Fun for a little help. Since we began homeschooling last December, we are just halfway through the Horizons 3 math program and will pick up where we left off in just a couple weeks.
For my Kindergarten son math is going to be interesting. He already adds, subtracts, tells time - in fact, he is obsessed with the clock. "Mom, my swimming lesson is at 2:00. It is 1:15 now. We need to leave in 35 minutes." I have some math games and books on hand to use with him once we start our official schooling. I also found some great books (can't remember who suggested them) in a series called MathStart. They are cute storybooks that each illustrate a math concept. For him, math right now isn't a subject in school, it's just something fun that occurs every day in many different situations, so I'd like to keep it that way for him. AND, I'd like my daughter to get a little more of the games and fun aspect of math, too.
As time progresses I will share some of the math ideas we use in our homeschool, and I'll be searching for new ways to make math meaningful and NOT have it be the necessary evil in our homeschool!
