This week's topic is "Math."  Many parents fear homeschooling through high school precisely because of math.  This article is for them.  My youngest son, Nathan (who turned 16 last week), has agreed to help me with it.  Here he is...

"A quadratic equation is something like this: X equals negative-B plus or minus the square root of B- squared minus 4AC OVER 2A."

Well, there you have it.  Thank you, Nathan! 

"You're welcome!" 

OK, homeschooling moms and dads...is your brain hurting like mine is?  Truth be told, my brain really isn't hurting.  Not because I have any idea of what a quadratic equation is or does or why it even exists, but because I don't really have to!  (Just to clarify...I knew this stuff once upon a time, but I graduated from high school in 1978, so it is long forgotten!) 

Back to Nathan: "Well, Mom, what if you have the equation, X-squared plus 2X plus 1 equals 0?  Then you can plug in the numbers to solve for X!" 

OK, Nathan...um, thanks??! 

My point in bringing Nathan's wonderful assistance to this article is just this: homeschooling high school math does NOT require the parent to know everything.  As I told my sons over and over again, "I will teach you how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide; all of math is just various combinations of these operations.  You will, when you reach high school, begin to teach the combinations to yourselves, with the aid of your math texts, video instruction, and online help programs."  And that is exactly what they have done.

If you are the parent of an elementary or junior high student, and you are looking at the high school years as something that you "just cannot do, because of the math and science," and are considering depositing your homeschooled students into the morass of the public school system for high school, I would beg you to reconsider.  Your fears of high school math and science are common, sadly, but unfounded. 

Wonderful curricula abound for these subjects!   By the high school years, your students will not be sitting at a desk in front of a white board while you stand and "lecture" anymore!  The beauty and strength of homeschooling lies in the fact that the well-prepared homeschool student has learned how to learn.  They haven't learned everything there is to know; they haven't learned 10 useless, disjointed factoids about a thousand things.  They've learned how, when the need or desire arises, to teach themselves, in depth, that which they are called or called upon to know. 

In the earlier years, I worked very hard at making sure they could rapidly and accurately add, subract, multiply, and divide without having to think about it.  Drill work was boring for them, yes, but critically important in their preparatory years.  "Just wait...it'll get more interesting," I would tell them! 

Do I teach algebra?  No.  I leave that up to Videotext.  (We used the D.I.V.E. CD's for our junior high school Saxon years, which we ended after Pre-Algebra...either Math 8/7 OR Algebra 1/2).   The "teacher book" for our algebra course isn't a "teaching guide."  Rather, it's the answers to the quizzes and tests, worked out in step-by-step detail, so if they miss a question, I can show them the book and they can see how the problem should have been worked.  They work at their own pace, and I require a "B" (80%) or better on a quiz/test in order to pass and move on to the next unit.  Both of my sons are doing really well in math. 

A couple we know who homeschool their 4 sons started a homeschool math team which competes in math tournaments with the public and private high schools.  They do not teach math to the team...they just provide practice problems and practice tests for them to take, and keep track of the copious paperwork required in order to participate in the competitions.  The kids teach themselves the math and teach one another during team practice each week.  No surprise, these kids have taken 1st in the state in a number of areas!  These aren't "super-gifted" kids...they just know how to learn, as opposed to requiring information to be "spoon-fed" to them.  They have a good work ethic, and are willing to put in the effort to get the extra math work done.  Win or lose, they enjoy being together, doing math together, and encouraging one another to do their best...whatever level that happens to be.  Nathan was part of that team last year, and will join again next year, Lord willing (his schedule is too busy for the extra math work this year). 

Homeschooling moms and dads, your children will do the math.  You continue to focus on keeping their heartstrings tied to yours, and the development of their Christian character and their relationship with Christ.  Keep them, as Paul and Gena Suarez say, "home where they belong."  

 If you would like more encouragement in the area of homeschooling the high school math and sciences, please enjoy these articles:  

Homeschooling Through High School: An Interview with Jay Wile, Ph.D.

VideoText Interactive Mathematics--"It Just Doesn't Have To Be That Hard!"

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