My prayers are with you, Clarissa. I totally know how you feel. With my 3 older children I used Saxon for 5 yrs ( with some extra workbooks here and there) because that’s what I used when I was being homeschooled years and years ago. I figured if I knew the material then I could teach it. WRONG! My kids HATE math now…well almost hate it. I recently found the Simply Charlotte Mason Business Math and my 12,13 & 15 yr olds really like that! They even stay up nights working on their “stores”! My 13 yr old is liking this math so much that I have decided not to push anything else on her right now. She is not math minded…more of a writer and artist.
I was going to do Saxon Algebra 1 with my 15yr old. But after the horrible year we had with Saxon 1/2, I changed my mind. Sold my curriculum and bought Jacobs Algebra. We are excited to start this new books this year, but seeing as it’s Algebra 1 & 2 we will be going slow, may take 2 years and I am okay with that! It looks like a more light-hearted math book then Saxon. Has really great homeschool reviews too.
For my younger kids, they have some basic workbooks from last year that they will do as practice. This year, for them (1 ,3 & 6th) I got Making Math Meaningful…I really like the lay out of these books, but they are very teacher intensive and I’m a little worried about that because I have my hands full with teens to babies and all in betweens! (8 of them total)…but I am starting to see that for some kids-maybe most kids- math only makes sense when it’s hands on and they can relate it too real life.
In the book “The Relaxed Homeschooler” by Mary Hood, she said that a teen could learn all the math they would need to start college in about 6 months, even if they had never done any structured math before this. And that when they are ready it will make sense and stick…I’m counting on that! I know that from my own homeschooling experience I only remember the math I taught myself and seeing as I am an artist…that’s just the basics but hey it’s gotten me by and I still made it through 3 yrs of college!
Hope I helped…good luck and happy homeschooling!
