How to turn Resistant Learners into Math Lovers

It is such an interesting experience, to go through the entire homeschool process from start to finish.  You think you finally have a handle on the different subjects, and feel comfortable with your choices.  Then, a new child comes up into your homeschool, and what once worked isn’t working quite the same anymore.  There is a resistance that you didn’t expect.  That is exactly how it happened in our homeschool. 

Don’t forget to enter the giveaway at the bottom of this post!

I have always loved Math.  In fact, I loved it so much that I majored in Economics in college and then became an accountant after college.  And honestly, when I started homeschooling, I thought that math would be the easiest thing for me to teach, because I loved it and understood it.  However, that wasn’t actually the case.  I realized that knowing math and teaching math were two completely different beasts to tangle with.

Imagine my surprise when my math-grumbling child asked me to start Teaching Textbooks last year.  It was not the plan at that time, we were using something different, but when she saw her siblings using Teaching Textbooks, she wanted to try it.  And so we did.

https://youtu.be/yN1Dpm4rzI4

Make sure you try it out for yourself! The first 15 lessons in every level are free to try!

What is Teaching Textbooks?

Teaching Textbooks is a completely online math curriculum that does all of the teaching and grading for you. It is app based, and you can use it offline for a period of time (just make sure you connect your device to the internet every 6 lessons to update!), which is perfect for travel or when you are doing a lot of car-schooling.  There is a short video lesson, followed by several practice problems and then your set of exercises for that particular lesson. 

The student gets instant feedback on whether or not a problem is answered correctly, and when they finish the lesson they are able to see their grade in the gradebook.  The parent also has access to a parent portal that keeps them up to date on the student’s progress.

Confidence through Practice

One of the most important parts of learning math is the practice.  It is like riding a bike.  Sometimes you fall off, but you have to get back on and try again.  Practice is needed. A supportive environment helps your student to get back on the bike and try again.  Teaching Textbooks gives the student the encouragement to keep on trying. 

One of the things that drew all of my kids to Teaching Textbooks are the colorful and fun aspects it brings to learning. The animations, stickers, and wallpapers that you can choose are all bright and fun.  It engages your student through visual appeal first, so that they want to do math.  That is exactly what caused my student to ask to do Teaching Textbooks this past year.  And honestly, when a child asks to do math, are you going to refuse them?  Absolutely not!

Another feature that is incredibly helpful is the hints feature.  This is a feature that you, the parent, can turn off and on based on your child’s needs.  But, my kids have always appreciated having the option for a hint.  It also helps me because I don’t need to keep going back and forth in order to give my own hints about the problems they are working on.

There is also an option for a second chance on problems they get wrong.  Not only is there immediate feedback when a student answers a question incorrectly, but then they are able to go back and re-do the problem.  This helps to build confidence by the student problem-solving on their own. If they really don’t understand the problem and cannot get it correct, Teaching Textbooks has a video walkthrough of every single problem in each of their levels. This is an amazing feature because each student is unique and may struggle with different concepts.

Building Confidence Without Judgement

I love that Teaching Textbooks gives my kids autonomy with homeschool.  Since Teaching Textbooks is doing all of the teaching and grading, the hints and second chances, there isn’t as much of a need for mom to be sitting right there while the student goes through the lesson.  It creates a supportive environment for learning without the student feeling as though mom is looking over their shoulder while they work.

The animations and stickers and bright colors all draw my kids in, and then the ability for them to work through the material independently is what helps them build confidence in their math skills.  As they progress through the level, and go into new levels, there are new stickers and animations that are unlocked.  Your student can see which ones are unlocked and where there are more to be unlocked in the future.

Each morning, she will login and then choose a different buddy and change the wallpaper. That helps draw her in each day, she gets to change things as she sees fit. It gives her some excitement, and a bit of control over her lesson for the day.

Parent Features

If your student is struggling with some of the problems, you have the option to go into the parent portal and delete those particular problems so they can try again.  Or, you can even have them re-do the entire lesson.  But, if your student continues to struggle, Teaching Textbooks offers free tutoring to all of their customers.  This is a feature that is a huge benefit for a math curriculum. And I especially appreciate it in the upper math levels.  It is completely free, and included in your digital course.

You also have the option to turn off and on all of these fun features.  You control the animations, the second chances, the hints, all of it.  So, if your student is becoming distracted, you can certainly turn off specific features as you see fit.

The Bottom Line

When we started our homeschool year last year, I was honestly a little worried about math.  But, once my student decided she wanted to try Teaching Textbooks, it seemed to alleviate the struggle we had each morning.  It was the first thing she wanted to do to start school. That was such a change from previous years.  Teaching Textbooks gave me so much encouragement to be able to see her blossom.  It wasn’t that she was bad at math, instead she needed a different approach than what we had previously done.

Turning resistant learners into math lovers is so much easier when you have a tool like Teaching Textbooks to guide the process. 

Giveaway!

I am so excited to be partnering with Teaching Textbooks to give three different winners one Teaching Textbooks digital course level of their choice. All you need to do is enter using the rafflecopter form below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you to Teaching Textbooks for sponsoring this post. As always, all opinions are my own.