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Calculators are used in public schools. Calculators can be used in a homeschool. Calculators are neither evil nor a God-given right. Calculators are a tool that can help students do math faster, much like a computer will help students write faster. Calculators can’t really teach math concepts anymore than a computer can teach a student to write, but they can be a great tool.
When students are very young, the emphasis is on learning how to understand math. Once those concepts are understood, and the student is working in pre-algebra or algebra, calculator use is important.
Without a calculator it can be impossible do complete a high school math assignment within a reasonable amount of time. Even with a calculator, high school math lessons can take one or two hours to complete, so calculator usage is important.
Calculators are used and encouraged on the PSAT, SAT, and ACT tests. A student familiar and comfortable with calculators will score better on those tests than a student who rarely uses a calculator.
Public schools will often have a policy on calculator use. Read the Gadsden City Schools policy: “The broad range of mathematical topics addressed in this document, the problem-solving focus of the mathematics program, and the development of mathematical concepts in a hands-on environment demand that technology use be an integral part of the K-12 program. *Calculators are appropriate for exploratory purposes in Grades K-3 and should be used for problem solving in Grades 4-8. Calculators should be used on a regular basis in all courses and assessments in Grades 9-12. ” Computer use should be integrated with content topics as appropriate.”
It is appropriate to use calculators for math at the middle school and highschool level.
Choosing math is so difficult! I remember wanting to find the “perfect” curriculum for my son Kevin. Nothing seemed quite perfect. Some didn’t have solution manuals, others didn’t have video support, and others were rated poorly. Finally in desperation I had him look over the options for himself. Imagine my surprise when he chose Saxon – the one curriculum choice I felt sure that he would NOT like!
When I was homeschooling high school, Saxon Math and the DIVE CDs were the curriculum we used for math. My son chose it, and he was able to teach himself Algebra 2, Pre-Calculus using the Advance Math book, and Calculus. He had wonderful math preparation for an engineering degree. If you have never considered Saxon before, then consider letting your child look at it. They may think it’s the perfect curriculum – regardless of how you like it yourself!
Saxon Math and DIVE CDs are on sale right now, at Christianbook.com. If you would like more information on how to choose math curriculum, check out my article “For the Love of Math.”
Not everyone loves Apologia. I always encourage parents to use what works for their student, because not all children learn the same way. It’s more important that a curriculum WORKS than if it is popular, inexpensive, or highly rated.
I’m hoping you can help me…….this is my first year to homeschool a high school student. My daughter is now in “9th grade” and I am completely lost with regards to science. I am not into science, don’t really understand it, and don’t have time to learn it, LOL, but need a good curriculum for her. And we don’t have a lot of money to buy something with lots of bells and whistles. And she HATES Apologia, which is what most everyone uses or suggests. I was hoping since you were the expert of all experts, you might be able to point me in the right direction.
Thanking you in advance,
Debbie in OR
The expert of all experts? LOL! No way, Debbie! YOU are the expert on YOUR child! But I’ll be glad to give you some pointers, and ideas to get you started.
You don’t have to buy something expensive. You can piece together a science class using used curriculum. For science, you don’t have to teach a lab portion every year, and biology tends to be the most expensive lab science. If you can’t afford to buy everything, skip the microscope and focus on the biology field experiments or dissections. You might enjoy my blog post on choosing curriculum that is “Latest and Greatest” vs. “Tried and True” as a method to save money.
But if you know that science is your own weak area, then you can take certain steps to make sure you are successful with science. Put that subject FIRST all the time. Make sure you put your money first into science. Make sure you put your time first with science. Every homeschool parent has a subject that they don’t understand, tolerate, like, or remember to teach. When you identify your weak area, then you can do something about it! Once you have identified your weak subject, remember to put that subject FIRST. It’s the first thing your student does in the morning. It’s the one thing you make sure is done every single day. Even when a fabulous opportunity arrives, and all the other homeschool things get put on the shelf, this is the one thing you are sure gets done. It’s the first curriculum that you buy each year, and the thing you are willing to spend the most money on. It’s the only thing you will be SURE to reinvest in if necessary. In other words, if you choose a curriculum and it doesn’t work, this is the area that you will make a second purchase – even within the first couple of months of school.
When you are looking for a high school science course, and Apologia doesn’t fit, look first at HomeTrainingTools. If you can’t bear to even peruse their online catalog, then call and speak to their customer service department at 1-800-860-6272. Make sure to get lots of feedback from your daughter. She may be interested in a science that is slightly off the beaten track. Perhaps she would prefer astronomy, geology, ecology, robotics or equine science. You can choose a different textbook provider, like Bob Jones or Abeka. You can change to an experiment-based model, like TOPS or Rainbow Science. You can join with another homeschool family, and do your science together with that family. You don’t have to have children exactly the same age, and that can be especially helpful for children who enjoy socializing.
Whatever you choose to do together, make sure you plan to do it first thing every day.
Math is a fundamental skill required for college and to attract employers. My friend Don is an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering at Seattle Pacific University. He shares some great insights about the importance of teaching math in high school.
“Math requirements vary by school. You don’t necessarily have to have extra math to get into a college, but you do need it to be well educated. Upper level math can train your mind. Math is a good discipline, and teaches problem solving in a variety of subjects, beyond math.”
Math is an excellent way to learn real-life skills critical to getting a good job. Employers want problem-solving skills, determination,persistence, and hard work. They want job-seakers who will strive until they solve a problem and get the job done. They want workers who know what it’s like to work hard. These soft skills aren’t taught by teachers, by they can be learned through pursuing math and keeping children challenged with their subjects.
“Societal expectations have a lot to do with math achievement. I met a Japanese student going into business, and he actually apologized for ONLY having two years of calculus. In the US, our math expectations are so much lower than the rest of the world. We project those low expectations onto kids even from the grade school level; telling them that math is so hard and it’s no fun. That promotes a negative view of math. It is a cultural issue that trains children to think ‘I can’t do this.’ The only real solution is a cultural shift in the perception of math.”
Colleges are looking for students that have the best math preparation possible for that student. It doesn’t mean you have to teach calculus to every child, but it does mean they want you to work conscientiously on math every year.
Don’t let your own weaknesses in math cause frustration in your children. Not all of us are gourmet cooks, but we can still hand our child a cookbook. Treat math in a matter-of-fact way, without conveying your own anxiety. You can explain that your child needs to learn how to learn math on their own, with great video tutorials, without telling them it’s your anxiety that gets in the way of teaching it yourself.
“Math is fundamental to science and engineering. Right now many of our country’s science and engineering professionals are nearing retirement, yet there are few up-and-coming students able to take those jobs. There are too few people with the math skills necessary to take those jobs. Foreign technical workers are taking those technical jobs, because there are simply too few US students who can do the work. For example, right now there is a deficit of aerospace engineers, and they can’t find people to fill those jobs for defense contracts.”
Because there is a deficit of engineers, and fundamental math skills may be lacking in public school graduates, homeschoolers have the advantage. We can provide the math students need to succeed. Our children can earn grants and scholarships for college based on their math preparation.
“Math is fundamental for all students going into engineering sciences. I have had many students over the years who want to go into engineering but stumble on the math. They may have made good engineers, but they couldn’t take the math. Because this is such a large national problem, the government is working on solutions. Grant money from US government and corporations is promoting science and math curriculum and providing hands-on curriculum for math and science. There needs to be a revolution on how science is taught in grade school and middle school. Portray math as fun and exciting! It can be done!”
Thanks go to Don Peter, M.S., P.E., Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering at Seattle Pacific University for helping me with this blog post. Don and his wife JoAnn homeschooled their two daughters for many years. Don used Saxon math and multi-sensory games for a supplement. His family used unit studies for science. He made it clear that his children were required to complete science and math study, and even required his girls to complete calculus for high school graduation.
To encourage a love of math in the younger grades, as Don Peter recommends, I used the book Family Math. It is filled with fun math games and activities for grades K-8. We played math games frequently during the week, and my children loved it! In middle school I used the book Family Math for Middle School, and Patty Paper Geometry. In the upper levels, I tried to encourage the love of math using Teaching Company lectures like “Calculus Made Clear” and others.
If you have identified that math is a weak area in your homeschool, you may enjoy my blog post called “First Things First” which will teach you how to prioritize math. For more help with math, see my article “For the Love of Math”
Read to what others are saying about The HomeScholar Gold Care Club!
Do the kids have to have Physics or could they take Advance Chemistry instead? My daughter doesn’t have any desire at all to take Physics and would rather take Advance Chemistry instead. She is planning on going to college for Pre-Law so I didn’t see any problem with that, but wasn’t sure what colleges expect. Should I call her top 4 choices for school before getting her book to get her going on it?
~ Anita in IN
Dear Anita,
All children do NOT need to have physics! I didn’t have physics in high school, and I’m a nurse and physics was required in college. NO, you don’t have to take physics. Advanced Chemistry would be great.
Unless kids are going into science or engineering fields, you don’t need to cover biology, chemistry and physics. Colleges DO expect three years of science, but there are a wide variety of sciences to choose from. If she liked chemistry the first time, then advanced chemistry is a good choice. if she hated chemistry, then astronomy, geology, or botany might be a better choice.
It’s always good to check with her favorite colleges. Some college can have some truly bizarre preferences, so do make sure you check with them. But in general, physics is a fairly unusual science class to take in high school, and it’s often recommended only for children who intend to major in sciences in college. Pre-Law students often major in humanities areas before going to law school. Political Science, History, English, and other majors don’t require physics.
Law school is difficult, but it’s also a long way away. You can’t begin law school until after you have completed a 4 year bachelor’s degree, so high school science shouldn’t have much of an impact.
I hope that helps!
Click here to read more about why teaching your high schooler is highly overrated.
Budding engineers, listen up! Engineering is a LOT fun, but a future in engineering requires some math and science.
My 14 year old will be participating in the First Lego League in which he will 1) Build and program a small robot to accomplish challenges and 2) investigate a research topic then prepare a presentation. Both activities culminate in a competition with other teams at a regional tournament. This is to build build science, engineering and technology skills.
My question is what exact subjects do I categorize this into: obviously science, but which science exactly and since he will be researching and speaking, would it be considered English or Social Studies as well? And how will this look on his transcripts?
Thank you for your help.
~Esther in Washington
Dear Esther,
My son did a class much like that as an Introduction to Engineering. He took the class in COLLEGE
I would call the class an Introduction to Engineering class. Use all of the experiences within that league as one single class to make it a big, beefy credit. At the end, estimate how many hours he spent with it. 120-180 hours is one high school credit. All the papers and speaking will all be part of his science credit.
One word of warning. When kids like engineering, they do need to cover the basics of biology, chemistry, and physics while they are in high school, so eventually he will need to cover those things as well. This is sort of an elective-science, but he will also need the regular sciences in order to do well in college engineering. Science, engineering, and technology degrees also require a lot of math. Make sure you are working consistently on math every day during the school year, so a lack of math doesn’t become an impediment later on.
How did they teach themselves Biology? Did they do dissections and was it a lab course? I am planning to teach them Apologia Biology this year, but it’s the one subject I didn’t think they could teach themselves, even though they’re waaay more gifted in science than I am. Did you just give them the book and a schedule and let them go for it? I would really love to know, as I’m feeling very intimidated by the time requirements of Biology! Thanks so much! ~ Lisa
Dear Lisa,
Learning to be independent is a process, and biology usually comes along pretty early in that process. I’ve seen children successfully learn biology on their own, but we were just beginning the process of independence at that point. I’ll be glad to share how we did it – just remember that every child and family is unique.
We used Apologia Biology as well. I did have a list of assignments that told them what pages to read or what lab or test to complete. I prepared that during the summer months. It was in a checklist format, so I could easily see if it was checked off each day.
With biology we had a morning meeting like I described in a earlier blog post: Homeschool Accountability – Try a “Morning Meeting”. During that meeting, I went over their vocabulary words, and would sometimes ask them questions found in the book (not very often – I didn’t have it all together that much!) They were responsible for reading the chapter on their own. I think going over the vocabulary helped the most. That’s a tip I read in a book about college success; if you know the vocabulary words you can pass most college tests.
The labs were a little different. I’m a nurse, and I love biology. I loved every dissection and every microscopy lab. Sometimes I had trouble giving the microscope to my children to use, but I don’t believe I taught them anything. I was present in the room when they did their experiments. With biology labs kids are either working with expensive microscope equipment or are wielding sharp dissection tools. Not wanting them to get hurt, I was always in the room. They read the labs on their own. They followed the directions, and I watched – usually while getting some laundry folded.
Once complete, I would leave them alone to complete the lab write-ups. I asked them for a paragraph of what they did and learned, and a drawing, graph or chart explaining the lab. At the end of the day I would look at their lab report to make sure they truly had a paragraph (not a sentence) and they had some sort of chart or drawing. If those things were present and I understood from their lab report the purpose of the experiment and what happened, then I gave them 100%.
When it was time for a test, I simply handed them the test, confiscated the solution manual and walked away. I corrected the tests when they were working on their next course. I gave them the grade, and wrote it on a piece of notebook paper I kept in their binder. Then had them correct their answers.
I suppose you could say they were learning independently. They did all the reading, and I didn’t lecture (except about how expensive the microscope was. ) They did the experiments with an adult standing by. Perhaps I did try to teach them how fun and exciting biology is, because I remember I did a lot of squealing, but it didn’t work. Of all the sciences, they liked biology the least.
I know other successful mothers who took a much more hands-on approach. Dealing with learning challenges, they may read the entire chapter, or carefully assist them in following directions for labs. It’s important to remember to do what works for YOUR family. Some parents may want to judge others, and call it “spoon-feeding.” I think it’s important to remember that some students will learn and thrive with one-on-one tutoring because of challenges that others don’t understand, so do what works for your student,
regardless of what others say or think.
In the four years of high school I became less involved each year. The following year I found that chemistry didn’t require as much help, so we didn’t include it in our morning meeting. The labs were rarely dangerous, so many times I would just peak in. With physics I felt completely overwhelmed, and I didn’t understand any of it. They worked completely independently with that science.
I hope that helps! Learning to become independent is a process that has to start somewhere and then build.
Although I took calculus in college…. OK, that’s not completely true. I actually took calculus TWICE in college because I failed it the first time!
Allow me to start again…
Although I have taken calculus repeatedly, I don’t actually know any calculus now. In fact, from the time my kids were in Algebra 2, I was completely lost. My boys both used Saxon Math with DIVE CD’s for Advanced Math and Calculus, and we supplemented that with The Teaching Company course called “Calculus Made Clear”. The boys managed to learn calculus without me. I watched them do the assignments. I smiled when they told me about complex concepts. I nodded wisely as they would work out tough problems, I observed them use the solution manual to work out each problem. I did everything supportive I could … except teach.
I primarily added value by confiscating the answer key when I gave them tests, but they did great on the tests even without it. The hardest part was correcting their tests. I didn’t even know what the symbols meant! Using skills I had mastered in Kindergarten, I just made sure their answers looked exactly like the answer key. They basically taught themselves Calculus! Unbelievable!
The upper subjects like Calculus and Physics can be very intimidating, but it IS possible. If you are facing an obstacle, whether it’s upper math or whatever, be brave! You will be amazed at what your kids can learn! Give them the opportunity and see if they can fly!
Saxon does a fine job with math. My nephew is a high school calculus instructor, and he is a HUGE fan of Saxon math. If Saxon is a fit for your child, it’s a great curriculum. I do have an article on choosing math which may help decide on a math curriculum: For the Love of Math.
Here is a link for a great sale on Saxon math. It runs now through August 31.
Do you like getting this sort of help for homeschooling high school? Gold Care Club members get extended answers to their most challenging high school issues.
“Do you have a recommendation for a high school statistics curriculum?”
Cheri
Dear Cheri,
The programs I’m most familiar with are usually used as electives, rather than a standard math course.
I love the Teaching Company Course called Statistics Made Clear. It’s best for visual learners, or when you don’t need it as a math class I also like Statistics the Easy Way, by my son’s mentor Dr. Doug Downing.
It’s best for kids that learn through literature, and again, it’s not a perfect math class.
That would be fun for a child that enjoys politics and current events. Life of Fred Statistics is another literary book, but a fuller math class. Since it covers a whole year of college statistics, sometimes it’s a little bit too much.
Some textbooks do it one way, and some do it the other way. They all try to convince you that THEIR way is the RIGHT way! It doesn’t matter mathematically which one comes first, to be honest.
High school children might benefit if they have geometry before 11th grade, for purposes of the PSAT and SAT.
There is quite a bit of geometry on the PSAT. In order to get the National Merit Scholarship, you have to have completed geometry by 10th grade. But you know, the National Merit Scholarship is only ONE reason to take the PSAT. Very, VERY few people get the scholarship. You have to be in the top 1/2 of 1 percent in the nation (in general.) The other purpose for taking the PSAT is just for the practice needed for the SAT. It gives kids practice with sitting in a large group and filling out bubbles, it gives them practice with a test where they can’t know all the answers, and it gives them practice with the format of the SAT. In other words, the PSAT has two purposes; for fun, and for profit. Here is an article that can clarify it a bit more.
Taking geometry FIRST when kids are in 10th grade makes sense. It can increase your test scores, thereby increasing financial aid from colleges. Geometry and algebra are quite different skills. But geometry includes some algebra 1 skills, so it’s sort of a nice year-long review of algebra, giving kids a chance to really digest and “become one” with algebra 1 concepts.
For most people, what comes first doesn’t matter. The most important think is that your child is learning math consistently each year.
I have a new homeschool high school Twitter site. Get all the homeschool posts of parents homeschooling high school by joining my Twibe.
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