As a homeschooling mom, I have to teach my children in all subjects. This includes Math. I detest Math. I know, I use it every day, couldn't live without it, blah blah blah. I am married to a Math teacher. When he tries to explain a problem to me, I get mad and walk away. Stop boring me! Nope, Math and I don't get along.
So, today when I was attempting to teach my son about place value and my daughter about greater than, less than, I sort of snapped. They were trying their hardest to understand what I was attempting to explain but just could not grasp the concepts. I was getting more and more frustrated. I got to the point of yelling a bit. And then, I looked inward, got up, walked away while telling them to give me a few minutes to regroup. I ended Math lessons for the day after that.
When I was in school, I hated Math as much as I hate it now. Sure, I had pretty awesome teachers that took the time to help me, but it was the one area I could not grasp the concepts. I also had some really bad teachers that berated me for my lack of knowledge. And now, I somehow have to pass on a love of Math to my kids. Ugh. I can teach Science! I can teach Language Arts! Just don't ask me to teach Math!
Because I couldn't do this on my own, I turned to time4learning.com. You have to pay to use their website but if it gets my kids enjoying Math, then it is well worth it in my book! I don't want them to hate Math, I don't want them to hate me for getting angry when they don't understand something. Sure, my husband could help out but you have to remember that he is at school all day and only sees the kids for a few hours at night. He does sit down with them to explain hard concepts and he is so much better at it!
So if you find yourself frustrated while helping your child learn a new subject, step away. They aren't failing, and neither are you. You just need help. Don't be afraid to go looking for it.
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