The subject that has my stomach in knots every time is Maths. I remember at secondary school we had the Maths teacher that nobody wanted, to teach us for GCSE. It was definitely enough to put you off the subject for ever. I also know that our primary school never taught us our times tables and I'm ashamed to admit I still struggle with them now. What ever the cause of my phobia it still has an effect on how I teach my children Maths.

We all have stories to tell of childhood experiences that have affected our likes and dislikes. Or we just have preferences that would pull us in one direction or another with regards to what subjects we like to spend more time on. I'm a History and English kind of gal who also for some bizare reason loved Physics. I wasn't so keen on languages and I didn't "do" Art. So I guess now that I have taken on the responsibilty to teach my own little brood I can often feel myself veering to my own favourite subjects.

My oldest daughter really enjoys all things scientific ( oh boy!) and my four year old is showing a distinct liking for numbers ( oh double boy!). So the teacher in our family needs to do some revision, don't you think?

This is where finding a good curriculum comes in. Our children need to have a good all round education even in the early stages of their learning. Primarily I think so that we can discover what they really love to do and what they are not so strong on. For the areas that we find a bit tougher a curriculum will support and enable us to get across the subject in a way that doesn't leave us feeling anxious and worn out. Good workbooks can also be a valuable tool, as can the computer.

We are all human and I'm sure there are very few people who are wizards at all subjects. What would be great is as you read todays blog you may like to leave some good recommendations as comments so that others who may be struggling with certain subjects can benefit from some great teaching ideas.

Deb

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Posted by jayfromcleveland

Hi Deb, I love it -- you say "maths" and we say "math" (since, after all, most of us only take one math course at a time.) Yet, we say "sports" and you say "sport," whether one or more sports are being discussed. Like Shaw said, "England and America are two nations *divided* by a common language." Anyway, when I was in school, I hated maths also -- all of them!

We love Saxon Math for our kids. What we like best is that Saxon begins to introduce elements of algebra in the very early grades, so that concepts like unknown variables aren't a total surprise. Our kids have done very well with this series. Our 12yob is in his second course of algebra.

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