Home School Online

While most homeschool  moms are thrilled to be teaching literature, they aren’t necessarily so excited about teaching math to their homeschooled students.

For many students, math produces feelings of dread and anxiety. In the classroom and on tests, kids fear being humiliated if they come up with the wrong answer or don’t know how to solve a math problem. They feel pressured by their teachers, parents, peers, and time constraints. Math anxiety is a common and sometimes serious problem: it causes students’ minds to go blank and their reasoning skills to be blocked by anxiety or even panic.

Use Technology to Overcome Math Anxiety

One way to present math in a non-threatening way is by using the computer. Time4Learning offers computer-based instruction that can help reduce or solve math anxiety.

Specifically:

• Lessons are student-paced, allowing students to repeat lessons as many times as they want until they’ve mastered a skill.
• Lessons are presented in a sequential order in small chunks. Each lesson within a chapter builds on the last, which helps reinforce skills.
• Students have access to one grade above and one grade below, allowing them to flip back to lessons from the previous year if they don’t fully understand a concept.
• Lessons are taught by animated characters in a highly visual, interactive manner. This helps bring the material to life and lets students engage with the material instead of memorizing it.
• Activities provide alternative explanations, so if a student answers a question incorrectly the first time, the activity then will explain it in a different way.

Technology can open doors in a way that textbooks can’t, by creating an interactive learning experience that brings the material to life. And since computers have endless patience and don’t judge, fear of humiliation becomes less of an issue, and a can-do state of mind replaces resistance.

eady to end math anxiety?

When your kids develop a solid math foundation, you’ll be amazed to see the grades improve and the stress disappear. You might even hear that math is fun!

But, when a student has weak math basic skills, math appears confusing and difficult. You’ll likely hear no enthusiasm to learn math or that math is boring. You might even notice that your child starts to develop “math anxiety” and their confidence suffers.

Time4Learning.com is the answer. Build confidence and success in core reading and math skills for kids, PreSchool to Eighth Grade.

Mary has done it again.  She is one of my most favorite homeschool columnists. I  highly recommend this column about Getting The MOST Out Of Your State Homeschool Convention !

Here’s a teaser of her thoughts on homeschool curriculum fairs and conventions: 

Two weeks ago Florida had it’s big FPEA Convention. It is the largest (population wise) in the United States. I look forward to this event all year long. I have to tell you though that I was a bit of a rebel the first nine years I homeschooled. I didn’t go because I felt like I could use that money to buy more curriculum and couldn’t justify the expense of the annual convention. I had no idea what I was missing out on. It is so much more than curriculum…, SO MUCH MORE!

I heard a women say the other day that there was no difference at the preschool level between homeschoolers and the rest of the population.  It was a passing remark which I overheard so I don’t know really what she meant.  But I’ve been thinking about it.

Do we all take responsibility and have a high level of involvement with our children in a common way prior to kindergarten?  I know lots of homeschoolers and non-homeschoolers who participate in the same activities with their preschool kids.  And I know plenty of preschool coops and mommie-and-me and other preschool programs in which there is a common approach.

Most parents have a mix of totally informal and somewhat structured activities that they do with their preschool students. For instance, there are books, story times, playground groups, gym activities, nature walks, and online preschool homeschool activities which are used by everyone.

 What do think?