Math. Just the sight of this word makes my head hurt. I knew from the very beginning it would be the most difficult subject for me to teach in our homeschool. In the early grades, math can be fairly easy to teach, but it doesn’t take long for the children to outpace me. I am much more comfortable teaching a high schooler how to write a stunning essay than teaching square roots and polynomials.
Besides that, I don’t have a lot of time on my hands. I’m managing a large family, and that, my friends, takes up a lot of my time. I have meals to cook, laundry to wash, school to teach, cleaning to keep up with – all on a large army-sized scale. Anything that can be streamlined, must be. I’ve written about how I create systems to streamline the household chores, and I knew math needed a system too. (Systems are especially helpful for any task that causes you stress – math definitely fits into that category!)
That’s when I began a dialogue with Teaching Textbooks about trying out their products with my older children. They sent me product for 3 of my children to test out. The results were stunning!
How We Do Teaching Textbooks
I have 3 kids using Teaching Textbooks (my oldest son is in college and my younger kids are in grades that are not available in Teaching Textbooks). My 16 year old is doing Geometry. My 12 year old is doing Math 7, and my newly-turned 11 year old is doing Math 4. The younger two each took a placement exam on the Teaching Textbooks site before I ordered.
We set up Teaching Textbooks on one computer to start out with. Word to the wise – if you have a large family or multiple children using the program, find a way to get a second computer for school. My college kid works in the IT department on campus and got me a smokin’ good deal on a used computer. Best decision ever! Otherwise your kids are waiting on each other to do their math (or any other subjects they may do online or via CD).
You set up each program with the name of the child using the program and a password they can remember. The parent also has a password to be able to check the gradebook.
So, on to the actual lessons. My 16 year old takes notes on her Geometry lecture. Then, she does the practice problems and moves on to the regular problems. If she gets a problem wrong, she tries again and will often use the HINT button. If she gets it wrong a second time, it will give her the correct answer, and often she knows immediately what she did wrong. If she still doesn’t know what she did wrong, she will watch how it is done so she can learn it for next time. An average lesson takes her about an hour. NOTE: If you find your child is consistently taking more than 90 minutes on a lesson, I highly recommend you set a timer and have them stop mid-lesson and pick up the next day by watching the lecture again and starting where they left off.
My 12 year old also follows this method for her Math 7, although she doesn’t really take notes on her lecture and there are questions within her lecture she answers along the way. She does refer back to her book occasionally, and rarely uses the HINT button because she says the hints are things she already knows. An average lesson takes her 45 minutes.
My 11 year old doing Math 4 does the same thing as his sister, but his average lesson only takes 30 minutes tops.
How Teaching Textbooks Fits Into Our School Day
Our school day starts with Bible and Read Aloud. From there, my 12 year old goes to one computer and the 11 year old goes to the other to do Teaching Textbooks. The computers are side by side, so one or both of them wear headphones during their lessons. When my 12 year old is finished, the 16 year old starts her lesson on that same computer. Before it’s her turn, she is usually doing Science in her bedroom. I’ve always liked to put math at the beginning of the school day. We do math every day during our 4 day school week. (You can read more about why we have a 4 day week here.) For graduation, I require Algebra I, II, and Geometry.
How Teaching Textbooks Helped Us Through Difficult Circumstances
I write and speak about homeschooling through difficult circumstances a lot. I’ve been in tough situations many times throughout my homeschooling career, so I know how easy it is to let homeschooling slide when things aren’t going so well. Sometimes this is fine, especially if the trying times you are going through are short lived, but when your difficult circumstance is dragging on and on, you have to find a way to keep school going in some form.
When Mercy was born, I figured we’d be in and out of the hospital in a few days, and I’m usually plenty ready to jump back into school by a couple of weeks postpartum (by the way, this is not typical for most moms – I am so miserable and huge at the end of pregnancy that having the baby makes me feel great!). So, when Mercy was flown to a NICU 4 hours from our home, and we ended up staying there for nearly 6 weeks followed by many doctor’s appointments and another hospital stay and surgery, I realized just how important having this math curriculum was to keeping our homeschool going. Usually math is something the kids cannot do on their own, but with Teaching Textbooks, they have been able to stay with their math when I can’t be there.
I’ll be the first to tell you that no curriculum is truly perfect, but for us, Teaching Textbooks comes close. All 3 of my kids love it, and I love that I have one less thing on my plate! If you have more questions about how we use Teaching Textbooks, feel free to ask me!
Beth says
So, if I buy a set of Math 3 CD’s, can I use it for my oldest child, and then 2 years later use it for my twins?
Holly says
That’s what I was wondering…With 9 children so far, I hate to spend that much on a curriculum I can’t reuse!
Amy says
Yes, it is totally reusable! You just add the next child’s name and password to the list.
Valerie d. says
Yes! And when your twins are done, if you have no youngers coming up that will need it, Teaching Textbooks generous licensing allows you to resale it! 🙂
Evelyn says
I’m doing this with one of my daughters and love it too. I would like to start my son too but he needs to be more diligent and less silly not purposely typing the wrong answers in!! So nice to see you using this!
Katie says
I’m curious to know what your family uses before Teaching Textbooks to prepare them for the 1st level. Thank you for all you do!
Amy says
We use Horizons from Alpha Omega.
Nola says
I used Math U See for Gr 1 (Alpha) and Gr 2 (Beta) and Gr 3 (Gamma) and then went to Teaching textbooks 4 where I found my daughter placed about half way through that year. I might try only Alpha and Beta before going to TT 3 for my next child.
Chandra says
I use this, but have been hesitant to move computers cause I don’t want to lose scores and progress. Is it stored on the computer, or does it move with the cd? Thanks!
Amy says
That was the one bad thing about moving computers. I chose to only move the youngest child. However, I think they are looking toward going web-based where you wouldn’t lose that info.
Tabitha says
When our old computer nearly died, teaching textbooks support was able to help us move the data file to the right spot in the new computer. This meant no lost data progress. They had really great support when we used TT about 4 years ago.
miranda says
We’ve been using Teaching Textbooks for the last 2 years now and it has been such a great fit for our family! I currently only have 1 child using it as the younger children are still too young. She is going through #4. Most of the time she opts to do her lesson in the coiled book instead of on the computer as it is easier to work things out on paper. Even this way she is very independent in her math which frees me up to be helping the younger kids with their work.
Serenity says
We have been using Teaching Textbooks for years and LOVE IT!!!! Before switching I would spend a large chunk of time helping everyone with Math. This cuts that down tremendously. One feature I wish I had used sooner was the edit button. You can delete missed problems and have your child redo them. I love this because it seems to help them master tough concepts quicker. TT is truly a huge blessing!!!!
Rebecca says
Is this only for Math? Or do you use it for other subjects? We are doing 3rd/4th grade math right now but I am trying to get ideas for the not so distant future when my skills will be worthless…like with middle school math. Thanks!
Amy says
Yes, this is just math. 🙂
Nola says
We love teaching textbooks as well. I deal with both chronic health issues as well as not-so-great math skills past a certain point. So I am in a similar situation as you. We love teaching textbooks. I also love how I can re-use it with other children unlike some programs I have looked at online or with video teaching. I have used Gr. 4, 5 and 6 so far. I am ordering Gr. 7 for next year.
Nola says
Amy have you written elsewhere about strategies/curriculum/adapting your homeschool to account for chronic health issues or long-term/long season of health issues? I don’t really know what I would search for on your blog to find this kind of thing. Thanks!
Amy says
I’m currently working on a book that *might* help with this, but I also have this post –> https://raisingarrows.net/2010/04/homeschooling-when-mommy-isnt-well/
I left it up to my readers to help each other out, so read the comments. 🙂
Nola says
thank you!
Jennifer says
We switched our struggling 9th grader from Saxon to Teaching Textbooks and haven’t looked back. I have since switched all my kids to TT. Two have graduated using their program, two are still in it and 3 more will eventually be ready for TT. I just found your blog through one of Jamerrill’s vlogs. I’m glad I stopped by.
Rachel O says
I’m looking into teaching textbooks for the future. I am curious if the spiral bound book follows exactly along with the CDs. What I mean is, do the problems for practice come up in the same order or is it mixed up?
Amy says
The problems are all in the same order, but the lecture is sometimes a bit different (my girls say it is better on the computer).
Shalyn McPherson says
Do you use the workbooks?
Amy says
The only time we have had to use the workbook was when someone misplaced a CD.
Joy wheeler says
Hey! I love reading/watching your journey! I purchased TT for Alg. 1 and Alg. 2. for VERY cheap! But what I didn’t realize was its old version so it doesn’t check the work not even sure it has hint button! My question is have used the older versions like this? If so do you have any tips or would you recommend me order new!
Thanks bunches
Amy says
No, I have not used a version that old. Sorry!
Mary says
Hi
I really like what you had to say about taking something off of your plate! I’m very overwhelmed in our homeschool, which is leading to a real lack of peace on my part
My question is, how do you help the student if they are really stuck when you haven’t kept up with the math yourself? I am currently using Saxon and I give each child a lesson and so I abreast of how they are teaching the concepts and therefore know how to help my kids when they need it.
Amy says
I have no problem jumping in with my younger kids because the concepts are easy. For my older kids, I let them google math problems online that show them step by step or I ask a friend of ours who is a math whiz to take a look at their notes to see where they went wrong (she lets me text a photo of their page and then she can quickly see what the issue is). Sometimes a child actually needs to hear something explained in a new way to really get it. So far, it has worked well for us.