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Hey guys, welcome back to my channel for another video and welcome if you're new here
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My name is Sarah. I'm a homeschooling mom to four kids and I'm also a former high school math teacher
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Today I'm going to chat about some mindset shifts you might need to make about math and teaching it in your homeschool
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It's the subject everyone loves to hate, right? Well, I hope this will be helpful and encouraging to you and stick around until the end because I have a fun giveaway I'm running this month that I don't want you to miss out
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on. Okay, so each night at dinner, our family takes turns sharing our highs and lows for the day
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It's a tradition we started a couple of years ago. One of my fitness boot camp instructors
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used to have us share our highs and lows from the workout at the end of each class, which I hated
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doing, but I really liked doing this with my family. It's a really fun tradition. Well, I remember
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one night, this was a while back, but one of my daughters said that her high for the day
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what had made her feel the best was finishing her homeschool math lesson. I figured she was just
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happy to be done with it because she had struggled with the lesson. But when I asked her to clarify
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she told us how proud she was of herself for figuring everything out and persevering. And I was
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proud of her too, not just because she finally understood some difficult multiplication problems
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but because she was gaining skills she didn't even realize would benefit her across the board
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like that perseverance and that feeling that you get when hard work pays off
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As a former high school math teacher, I can't stress enough the importance of helping
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our kids build a strong foundation in mathematics early on. Not only does it obviously increase their chance of success as they move through algebra
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and beyond, but it can alleviate math anxiety, lead to a greater appreciation for the subject
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and possibly even help them enjoy it. As a teacher, so often, I would see kids barely scrape by, earning a teacher
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passing grade and then struggle in future courses, hating math and believing that they were
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bad at math, which I don't really think was the case. Fortunately, as homeschooling parents
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we have an opportunity to do better. Often though, we need a mindset shift, especially if we think
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that we are bad at math or had a poor math experience in our own education. Sometimes we have to
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change our way of thinking to change how we approach math with our kids. The math lessons aren't
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going to go away. So I want to take a look right now at three ways that we as parents might need
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to adjust our attitudes to better our kids and our own homeschool math experience
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I bet you can get the question I was constantly asked as a math teacher Why do we have to learn this I got asked this at least once a week So why do you teach math in your homeschool Maybe this seems like there is an obvious answer but this answer might be different for every family
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even for every child, depending on your goals, situation, and even worldview. But sometimes math
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can be a struggle for kids because it's hard for them to see the relevance and application of what
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they're doing. So I would encourage you to make this clear to them. Just as you may have a
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homeschool mission and vision statement, think about your why for teaching math
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especially in the day and age where we carry calculators around our pockets on our
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phones what do you want your kids to know and be able to do after they finish
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their curriculum what's the end goal it's a question that can be challenging
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and you may have to wrestle with it a bit but you'll probably be asked it by your
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kids at some point so share your why with them and make sure that what and how
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you were teaching is helping you accomplish your goal when your kids begin to
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struggle with something you'll have a reason to stay encouraged I truly believe that people who say that they are bad at math aren't really bad at math
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There are so many different types of learners, different types of math learners, and different ways
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to approach problem solving that to just throw your hands in the air and claim that you're
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bad at math is selling yourself short. Math is all around us. It's in everything we do. It's
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in art, electronics, engineering, music, sports, video games, you name it. It's much more
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more than simply a worksheet filled with algebra equations. And we have to watch when we make comments like this
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in front of our kids because they can begin to internalize those same thoughts
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They will decide whether or not they are good or bad at math based on one concept they are struggling with
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or by watching a sibling who doesn't seem to struggle with math at all
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and they forget the big picture. Motivation can decline because they begin to believe
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that you're either born good at math or you aren't. However, We want to help promote a growth mindset in our kids and help them realize that intelligence
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is not fixed and that they can overcome things that they struggle with
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And the beauty of homeschooling is that we can come alongside them and figure out the best way
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to help them learn. This takes practice and an intentional focus on our words whenever our kids want to pout
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in a fixed mindset attitude. For example, when one of my kids get frustrated and says, I can't do this
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I like to ask them, what can you do? and how can I help you figure this out? It helps them to see that they do know something and if
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they keep working at it, they absolutely can figure it out. Or I learned once that it can be helpful
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to teach our kids to add on the word yet, as in I can't do this yet. When they say they can't do
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something reply with you can do this yet which reinforces the idea that they will get it and they can do it Another thing I like to do is to have them ask questions instead of just saying I don get it It empowering for our kids to understand what exactly they don understand
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and helps them realize that they can find the answer. On the same note, when they come to you for help
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instead of just working out the problem for them or showing them how to do it, assist them in figuring it out on their own by asking guided questions
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Overall, try to incorporate different activities and strategies in your math lessons because
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if there's a concept your kids are struggling with, it doesn't mean they can't do it
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They just might need the material presented in a different way. I have one child who aces pretty much all of his assignments and another who will frequently
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get everything wrong on the first go round. Now, I am not a perfect homeschool parent
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I hate to admit that there are occasions that I get upset when every single problem is wrong
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Like, were you even paying attention to me at all during your lesson? It can be really frustrating
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But you can guess how this ends when I act this way. Never well, usually with tears
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And almost always with me eating my words and having to go back and apologize
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And when I stay calm, slow down, and actually take the time to ask her to explain how she got the answer she did, I can help her figure out where she went wrong
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We don't want our kids to fear being wrong. We have to recognize that even when answers are seemingly wrong, there's more to learning math
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than just getting the right answer the first time every time. That being said, I would encourage
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you to give careful thought to how you grade math assignments in your homeschool. Remember that we
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have the opportunity in homeschooling to not just end the lesson with a page of wrong answers
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marking down a bad grade and being done with it. When I go through an assignment the first time
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I like to circle answers my kids need to take a closer look at, then give it back to them
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to work on until they get it right. Sometimes I do need to re-teach, approach the problem in a new way
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or have them explain their thinking to me, but all of these are valuable and empowering ways for
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our kids to learn from their mistakes. I will also recommend a book to you. This is the book
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Teach by Dennis DeNoya. You might know him as Mr. D. Math. This book offers some great
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strategies that I've adopted in my homeschooling regarding how I grade some of our math
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assignments. If you were interested in helping your kids become great mathematical thinkers, rather
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than just focusing on getting the right answer or getting something wrong, I definitely recommend
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checking this out. Now, yes, there is a time in place where answers need to be precise and
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correct the first time through when getting the right answer is important. But it's not when
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every math lesson ends with everyone wanting to pull their hair out or run and hide in a closet All right help your kids build confidence in their abilities early on appreciate the learning process and the rest will follow when the time comes
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Okay, I know I said there were only three mindset shifts, but you get a bonus. If nothing else
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soaks in from what I said, let this be it. Your relationship with your kids matters more
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than the math assignment. This is the mindset that we need to embrace, not just about math
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but about every subject we teach our kids. It's when we truly realize this that we
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We are able to stay calm during those days our kids are frustrated. It allows us the flexibility to realize when something isn't working that it's okay to change
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and try something new and it allows us to give our kids grace when they get all of those answers
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wrong or they really weren't paying attention to the lesson. Okay, so no matter what your thoughts about teaching math are, I hope that these tips will
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help you build that happier math experience in your homeschool. And to help one of you with this even more, I'm really excited to be partnering with
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Mr. D. Math to give away a copy of his book Teach this month. So I briefly mentioned it already
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but this is a book that I think will empower you, change how you homeschool, and help your kids
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take confident control of their learning. Dennis, or Mr. D. Math, is known in the homeschool world
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for his online curriculum and classes, which cover math topics, life skills, test prep, and more
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So not just math, like you might think. There are a lot of great options for courses at Mr
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math. Dennis is a former teacher as well who left his career in a system that
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failed to help develop what he calls independently responsible learners. And so he
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turned his effort to the homeschool market and private tutoring to teach kids how to
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learn, which is so important and probably one of your goals in homeschooling to
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teach your kids how to learn and love learning. So this book is a result of the
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discoveries that Dennis made over a years of experience working with kids, showing them how to take control of their learning
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So you are going to learn great strategies that you can use and implement right away
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to foster a love of learning in your homeschool, help your kids set goals, and give them valuable skills
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that transfer to many areas of their lives. Entering the giveaway is super easy
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Simply hit the like button, the thumbs up on this video, subscribe to my channel
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and leave a comment below sharing your biggest takeaway from this video
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or something you have learned in teaching math to your kids in your homeschool. This giveaway is going to run through April and I will draw a winner from the
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comments at the end of the month. And I'm leaving a link to the Mr. D Math website in the description
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below. Make sure to go check it out so you can either purchase a copy of his book or take a look
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at some of the other courses that are offered. Thank you so much for watching, friends. Good luck
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I can't wait to see who wins a copy of this book and I will see you next time
