Homeschooling your child in math has many advantages, from focusing on areas not cov- ered well in school, to choosing
aids that are best for your kids. Here are
some tips on how to do it right from a math
coach mother.
Having supplemented my child’s math
education for the past seven years, I can
see many advantages to homeschooling
your child in math. In this article, I’d like
to share my suggestions from a perspec-
tive of a public school parent—and long-
time parent volunteer—as well as former
math lecturer. From having the freedom
to choose focus areas, to optimizing the
teaching materials you use, you have the
tools to give your child the best shot at
developing both strong math skills and a
deep appreciation for math.
We know that math is a subject much
maligned by many children, and I think a
careful choice of mathematical topics, as
well as the order in which they are presented, can make a huge difference in a child’s
appreciation of math. Let me share a personal experience to illustrate this. My worst
subject has always been history. I lacked
motivation to learn history, and I struggled
with sequencing historical events. When
my daughter asks me questions about
history, I am often unable to help her.
However, I’ve always been interested in
music. So when my daughter was learning
to play the piece “The Two Grenadiers” by
Robert Schumann on the violin, I took a
great deal of interest in researching the historical events that formed the basis for this
work. Here’s how you can apply this idea to
homeschooling in math. Is your child more
interested in geometry than algebra? Or is
he more interested in building robots than
in math? Or maybe your daughter is interested in music, the formal study of which
involves a lot of mathematical thinking. Try
to find a passageway to math through the
subject that your son and daughter is most
motivated to learn.
STEM Math
by Yana Mohanty Photos of kids using Geometiles courtesy of Yana Mohanty
Spatial reasoning
turns out to be a key
predictor of future
success in a broad
range of STEM
disciplines.
Benefits of Homeschool
Math and Tips to Make
It All Add Up
