The Dreaded Subject

Math. The word alone strikes fear into the hearts of my children. Fear, and an incesent desire to moan about how much they hate math. I don't understand what it is about math and my children. (In all fairness, however, I guess it seems that many children groan about math.) No matter. My husband and I both were fairly decent at math and we don't have horrible memories of it, so why do our children dread the subject??

To that end, I have always tried to find a math program that would work for us. I have tried quite a few of them over the years: MCP, various levels of Saxon - with and without the D.I.V.E. cds, Abeka, Math U See and my current favorite - the Life of Fred math series. No matter which one I try, I get the same response, "I hate math" *pout, cry, whine*. I now have quite a reputation in my family. They are never surpised when I come home from a homeschool conference with a new math series.

I do have to give my eldest daughter credit, however. Around April of her freshman year, after completing almost 3/4 of her Algebra I book with a program that I was less than impressed with, I came home with a new Algebra I book and told her she would have to do it all over again. She didn't pout, cry or whine. Instead she worked through the summer to finish the new math book. In fact, since then she has finished two of the books and has started on the third, and she seems to be enjoying them.

The new series she is doing is the "Life of Fred" series. It is great. It is hard. It is challenging, especially when she comes to me in the middle of the book with a question. By the grace of God, I have been able to work with her through all but two problems. One of them my math major friend couldn't figure out either, so I didn't feel too bad. For the other problem, we emailed the author and he gladly gave us enough information to figure out the problem. I love this series because it is giving her a great math education - whether she wants one or not - and it is written in a story format so it is very interesting. The problems are relevant to every day life, which makes it extra enjoyable. The author even throws in information from other subjects!

Anyhow, even though we've gotten through most of the problems so far, we are always on the look out for a good math website that can help us when we get stuck. The other day my daughter found this site and, not only did it contain helpful information, it gave us a good laugh. How often do you get to have a good laugh while solving math problems?? (I was just about to end this post when I came across this page of math bloopers. My husband and I were in tears!!!) Well, hope this helps any of you who might be struggling with math. If nothing else, you'll get a good laugh.

God Bless!