Your family might think you are nuts; Your friends worry about the social skills of your children, and there are so many choices for a curriculum that it is just overwhelming. This is a great adventure you are embarking on. It might seem daunting, but it is not. Embrace the challenge, and know there are some things you can do to make the journey a little less bumpy. 

First,  I would suggest finding a good co-op. A co-op is short for cooperative. This is exactly what it sounds like. Parents come together and share their individual strengths to help each other educate their children. At first, this might sound like more work, but there is a big secret about co-ops: co-ops are not really for your kids but for you! You need someone to cheer you on without questioning your sanity. Plus, those great friends are going to give you ideas of what worked and what did not work with the curriculum. What works for one child may not necessarily work for all your children. The people you meet at co-ops are wonderfully god-fearing, and they give you the ability to keep going on those tough days. Do not discount the importance of a support group during this time. I remember play dates in the park,  amazing field trips, shared laughter, and crying. Most importantly, I remember being strengthened to stay the course.

Second, do not be afraid to ask for advice. I wanted to look like I had it all together. I am sure you do, too, especially if friends and family are doubting your decision to homeschool.  But do you know what? No one actually does have it all together. If you do not feel comfortable teaching a subject, especially as they get older, then share responsibilities. Co-ops are a major part of helping in this department.  So are online classes. There is nothing wrong with seeking help when you need it.  It is worth the risk of seeming incompetent.

Lastly, if you remember that your child doesn’t need to know everything there is to know before they graduate, the pressure is off. Teaching children to love learning, helping them to know how to learn, and leading them by example if far more important than curriculums or knowing gads of facts. Keep in mind the end goal. Keep in mind no education is perfect. When I think of my public school education which graduated me with barely any reading skills, I realize I did the right thing by homeschooling my children. And I loved doing it well most days!

Let us mention the biggest fear you have right now: I might ruin my child’s education. No, you will not. You love them too much. No one cares more about your child’s education than you do. You were made to be their first and best teacher.  The best advice I give newbies is that you just must be smarter than your child by one day. If you are not smarter than them, then go to the park and get smarter that night. We all had that fear, and your children will not understand or appreciate your sacrifice. Even so, all the effort is worth the end result. Treasure this time with your children, and don’t let anyone or anything, especially fear, keep you from it.

For more on homeschooling and help, visit www.hisvesselacademy.com

I began making videos a while ago but didn’t do it consistently.  I was challenged this year to add more videos every week.  If you have problems with a child learning to compare fractions, I have the video for you.  My students never have an issue with this topic after they learn it this way.  https://youtu.be/8KPmMwGcFC4

Looking for an older child and want an ACT tip.  This technique can be used in most of your ACT problems.  https://youtu.be/THWWaXbyfCo

Looking for a site with great math games.  I evaluate one almost every week.  Here is one on Turtlediary.com  https://youtu.be/hebO_RQTq9o

From Elementary to High school, I probably have a video about it. Don’t see a video but want one.  Give me suggestions; I am always making new ones.

In September, I plan on starting a new series called “Math on the go,” and my first stop is the Cincinnati Zoo, where I talk about math and the hippos and rhinos.  Who knew there was so much math with just two animals.

My youtube channel is @marycarroll-mathvideos4883 Subscribe if you think it might be useful.

Teaching children in multiple grades and at different stages of development presents challenges in the home classroom. One way to incorporate everyone is to use unit studies. Unit studies take a topic and explore every aspect of that topic. Hands-on activities and experiments compose a large portion of unit studies. I did unit studies when there was no Internet. You can do it if I got it done without an internet connection.
I did not incorporate all topics together, but I tried. My guide was my children’s interests. If one said they wanted to learn about something, then that is what we studied. One of my favorite memories of this was when we studied birds for one full year. Yes, the entire year, we studied birds! We studied the migration patterns of birds and the anatomy of the birds; we collected feathers and identified the birds. Yes, I know about the dangers of feathers now. I did not back then; remember no Internet. We visited many places all over the country collecting feathers.
My favorite story is when we were at Sea World, and my son Chris pointed to the flamingos and said, “Look, Mom, that feather is right there. Can I just jump over the fence and get it?” As a good and responsible mom would, I said, “ Yes, but be quick.” I did not want to get kicked out, so my other children and I became the lookouts. No, I do not suggest you go to that extreme but remember, we were more relaxed in the past; plus, the pens had lower fences.
My point is we enjoyed crazy adventures that my children will remember. They do not remember the homework or the studying, but they remember when mom put away the books to do real-world learning. Everything we did became a class, like doing our laundry or sewing doll clothes.
Another thing I learned was not to study history out of a textbook. It is desperately dull. I tried to make it alive by reading books set in history and doing things the characters did. One time, when we were studying the Oregon Trail, I had the kids make butter the way pioneers traveling the Oregon Trail did it. My daughter remembers this not so fondly. We rolled a jar of heavy whipping cream for over an hour, and it still was not butter! I quickly went to the kitchen, put the cream in the blender, gave it a good whiz, put it back in the jar, and rolled it around for a few more minutes. Amazingly, it became better! Even though the activity didn’t go exactly how I wanted, my daughter vividly remembers it. I am sure she heartily appreciates butter!
When you are teaching subjects, try to make them alive. You do not need much money to travel; just plan simple activities, find places close to home that offer hands-on experiences, pitch a tent in a state or national park, or visit friends and relatives that live in amazing places. Whether you travel or explore the area you are in, there are plenty of things to see in the real world.
Did my children have gaps in learning? Every child in America has gaps in learning. Gaps in learning are inevitable. Think about your learning and how you didn’t know everything when you graduated. It was not because you didn’t learn these things but because you didn’t grasp them. However, unit studies do something more important than teaching children everything there is to know: they give children a hunger for learning! Isn’t that the most important thing a child can learn? So, when considering how to teach your children, give unit studies a chance. You might be surprised how much you learn too!

For more information, visit: https://www.hisvesselacademy.com/

A great way to bring the family together in one fun project.

Many parents are very excited that universities announced that they do not require incoming first-year students to take the ACT or SAT. At first, this was a good idea and a relief to parents and students. However, some problems may arise from not taking one of the two tests. Instead of the traditional ACT/SAT, the schools give placement tests, parents may have to pay for classes that do not count towards their child’s degree, and the students miss out on much-needed scholarships.

Although the schools no longer require the ACT/SAT, they still require a placement test. Placement testing is not new, but in the past, if a student scored high enough on the ACT/SAT, they were exempt from taking a placement test. The placement test and ACT/SAT help schools place students in the correct math and English level. Testing students ensures they are ready for math and not taking classes that are too advanced.

The university wants your child to succeed and will place them in remedial classes until they can handle the upper-level coursework. The remedial class sounds like an excellent idea for some struggling students. Still, these classes cost the parent money to enroll, yet they do not count toward their child’s degree. I know of one parent whose son is taking coursework equivalent to a 6th-grade level. The students can take the math classes as self-paced or in a classroom setting. Either way will take time and motivation to succeed. Many students are in these classes not because they don’t comprehend Algebra and above but because they do not perform well when testing.

Another reason to take the ACT/SAT is that many academic scholarships are based on the ACT/SAT scores. One of my favorite bloggers “Prep Scholar” recently wrote about the scholarships given to students from universities based on their ACT/SAT scores alone. With the rising cost of college, parents cannot afford to leave this money on the table.

You have spent many hours teaching your child, and now they are in high school. You can start exploring colleges and what each one requires. If your child plans to attend a university, you must prepare them for the ACT/SAT. Preparing students for testing may seem daunting at first, but there are many books and materials for free to help prepare your child for the test. Taking prep classes or hiring a private tutor for the ACT/SAT will also give your child their best chance of succeeding.

Your child should take the ACT at least three times to get the best score because the ACT has decided to super-score the test, so colleges only see the highest score for each subject. If your child scores a 25 on English the first time and a 29 on English the second time but takes it a third time and scores a 27, then the college will only see the 29. Super-scoring allows students to focus on one subject at a time. If they score low in one area, they can focus solely on that subject and not worry about preparing for the other parts of the test.

Link to the article from Prep Scholar.
https://blog.prepscholar.com/guaranteed-scholarships-based-on-sat-act-scores

For more information on the ACT/SAT test and to help prepare your student, visit: https://amactprep.wordpress.com

I love the way these three words relate to God and the right triangle: Sin, Cos, and Tan.

Sin is opposite to God’s will, but as Christians, we still have Jesus as our foundation.  Sin x = opposite/hypotenuse.

Cos is when we are in God’s will. We are “co” working together to create the angle.  Cos x = adjacent/hypotenuse.

Tan, God, in His infinite grace toward us, takes our sin and our willingness to work with Him (do His will) and creates a right angle. Tan x = opposite/adjacent.

When you look at the Sin function, you will notice it is opposite angle B. It doesn’t touch the angle. When we sin, we are opposite God’s will.

🞂God’s directions are all in math. He has order to all things. Sin separates us from God; we are the opposite of His will. We don’t create fellowship with Him when we sin; we break it. When you look at the sin of an angle, it is the opposite over the hypotenuse. As Christians, we have God as our foundation, but when we sin, we are opposite His will.

When you look at the Cos function, you will notice it is working with the hypotenuse to create angle B.

Cosine (cos): We are adjacent to God’s will. You are creating the angle as you do God’s will. This is like the perfect will of God. For us to be used by Him to create something of our lives.

🞂The ‘co’ in cosine is a prefix. This prefix means together, mutually in common. Is there a better way to think of our lives without sin as being together with Jesus? So when you realize you are mutually creating an angle with the adjacent side and with the foundation (hypotenuse), you have found cosine.

Tangent (tan) is opposite over adjacent. Jesus takes our sin and uses it for good with our willingness together (cos) to create a right angle with God. Jesus died on the cross so we could be right (a right angle) with God.

🞂He takes what the enemy meant for evil, and He turns it for good.

You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. Genesis 50:20

When I homeschooled my kids (when the dinosaurs were around, lol), I found there was little offered in the way of godly math. In fact, it was very disappointing. Homeschool curricula can be costly and confusing. But there are some simple ways to add God into your math curriculum that you chose this year. Every math class requires you to add and subtract. Use this to teach your children how God wants our lives to be centered around Him. We add things to our lives like watching TV, playing with friends, reading, or playing video games. We need to add things to our lives that are worthwhile. Adding can be fun; add a TV show that uplifts your family and its values or read something that is encouraging to read. Add a fun time out with friends and family. We had sunny days instead of snow days when I homeschooled. These adding things can be explained as God’s time for us to have fun.

What about subtracting things? Sometimes children see subtraction as a negative thing and hate it. How about if we make it fun? Have them subtract something for a day they hate doing. Yes, it could be a chore, but they can only subtract it for one day.   Tell them God wants us to subtract in our lives too. He wants our lives to be simple. Talk about how you can subtract things that are not important so we can add things to your daily life that are important: like spending time with Him as a family in devotions. As homeschoolers, we get so caught up in math, English, reading, etc., that we forget to add God’s word into our lives. If we can add math and the Bible, we have a win-win situation.

So, next time you teach math and have to add and subtract, talk about how God uses these operations to simplify our lives and bring us closer to Him.

As a math teacher, I am often asked whether mastery is better than spiral learning. My response is, “why do I have to choose one over the other?”  Let’s think about how you learned English. Did you, as a  mom, say, “oh, let’s only say one word all day and see if my child can say that word back and master it?”  And then say, “Great, he/she mastered it, so I never have to teach or use that word again.”  Math is like learning English; it is a building block. I cringe when I have parents say we are still doing fractions in the 7th grade because my child hasn’t mastered it. Let me inform you, they never will. Mastery is when you learn to apply what you learned. How boring would life be if we only did one thing and one thing very well? When I teach math, I bring previous knowledge into the new material. This way, they are doing fractions, but with equations, expressions, percentages, decimals, and the list goes on. This is spiral learning with a twist of mastery. They will always see fractions in math. A recipe has fractions, reading a clock, and gas prices (Next time you are at the pump, look). Many careers use fractions: a nurse or doctor; there are fractions in medicine. When looking for a math curriculum that fits your child, look for variety. The end of the book should be more challenging than the beginning of the book. When I homeschooled my children, selecting curricula was my most demanding job (although when I did it, I had less to choose from), but when you find the right fit, it is just as rewarding for you as it is for your child. Don’t give up! Don’t be afraid to ask God to direct you.

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