Why Do I Have to Learn Algebra?

• Alternative Algebra Textbooks
• Supplemental Online Algebra Resources
• Other Algebra Resources

Math instruction can be an especially tangled web for many homeschool moms. Depending on your age, you may have grown up in that era where teachers still believed math was for boys. Or, you may have attended a school were straight rote memorization was taught, rather than concepts.

Lack of encouragement and poor instruction easily create math phobias. In either case, many adults have grown up believing they just aren't good at math.

Without thinking, parents can pass on bad attitudes about math to their kids. You can unschool fractions all day in the kitchen, but how exactly do you naturally learn long division?

Kids pick up when math intimidation sets in for the parent. Instead of finding joy in numbers, they learn to avoid the whole subject.

Of course, some kids just don't like math - plain and simple. Their gifts lie in other areas and math becomes one of those homeschool arguments everyone tries to avoid.

Do Homeschoolers Have to Teach Algebra?

If you use a packaged curriculum with a homeschool service provider who will issue a high school diploma, then the answer is yes. Your child will be expected to complete at least Algebra 1 during their homeschool career.

If your child intends on going to a 4-year college, then their transcript will need to reflect at least three years of math, including algebra 1 and geometry. Depending upon your child's intended major, you may be able to substitute statistics for other higher level math courses.

If community college is your child's next educational step, then you can leave algebra till then. The same is true for many technical and vocational schools. While your homeschool child's application will require a high school transcript, they are generally used for advising purposes, not admission decisions. Students who have not taken Algebra 1 yet, can expect to take it during their first year of classes.

Homeschoolers interested in the military will need to take the ASVAB Test. The ASVAB is a nine-part timed test. Mathematical Reasoning has 30 word problems. Mathematics Knowledge is made up of 25 math questions. While neither section is going to be terribly hard, test takers should be prepared to complete problems involving ratios, unit conversions, rates, and other algebraic concepts.

As for homeschoolers who choose to enter straight into the workforce, algebra becomes one of those subject dilemmas. Parents can find ample advice online insisting that homeschoolers do not have to teach algebra. Families may opt for Consumer Math, instead. While knowing how to balance a checkbook and calculate a tip are critical life skills, don't discount the value of algebra just yet. Before you toss the idea of homeschooling algebra out, consider some of the following alternative textbooks and materials for your family.

Alternative Algebra Textbooks

• Algebra Survival Guide: A Conversational Handbook for the Thoroughly Befuddled
  A Parent's Choice award winner, this book will not just talk you through algebra, but also give you practice problems to work on.
• Teach Yourself VISUALLY Algebra
  A textbook designed with the visual-spatial learner in mind that makes liberal use of color and illustration.
• Classical Algebra: Its Nature, Origins, and Uses
  Truly an alternative way to cover math with a child who loves to learn, but whose strengths and passions lie in reading and history.
• Practical Algebra: A Self-Teaching Guide
  If you've already tried teaching algebra once, this might be a good choice for your second go-around.
• Real World Algebra
  Using cartoons and drawings, algebra is explained in easy-to-understnad language and paired up with everyday topics. Chapter questions are broken down into easy, challenging, and "Einstein" level.
• Painless Algebra
  Part of educational publisher's Barron's Painless series.
• Dr. Math Explains Algebra: Learning Algebra Is Easy! Just Ask Dr. Math!
  Written by the authors of the popular online Math Forum, you'll get lots of hints and shortcuts that will help you learn algebra.
• Real World Math: Educating Students through Global Issues (Foundational Algebra & Geometry) (Student Workbook)
  A set of 15 lessons that use real-world data to solve problems relating to global issues such as climate change, population, and financial literacy.
• Make It Real Learning, written by a college math professor, has 110 ready-made lessons that apply algebra in real-life situations. You can download a free sampler set of activities.

Free Online Supplemental Algebra Resources

• Purple Math offers free online lessons with visuals, animations, and step-by-step problem solving examples.
• Already working with a textbook but don't have a complete answer manual? Algebra.help has free online calculators that allow you to input an algebraic equation and get step-by-step instructions on how to solve the problem. You'll also get online worksheets (with answers) and extra explanations for understanding FOIL, graphing, and more.
• Math TV provides you with hundreds of short video clips that take you step-by-step through the process of solving individual problems, such as slope and logarithms. A bonus with Math TV is that you can pick if you want your instructor to be male, female, or Spanish speaking.
• Algebra Class offers a series of free online lessons written in a conversational style.
• Not enough to be a full curriculum on its own, AlgeBasics offers free Flash tutorials that can be used to supplement mom-instruction. Their step-by-step demonstrations for solving problems are best used after a topic has already been introduced.
• The Math Page - Skill in Algebra is pretty much a straight text website that may be better used as a source for practice problems than for instruction. But, it does come as an iPhone app.

Other Algebra Resources

• Borenson's Hands-On Equations Learning System
  A hands-on kit that literally shows you how to balance an algebraic equation.
• Don't let the name scare you off, Virtual Nerd is a dynamic online whiteboard math class where kids can ask questions during a lecture. This one costs money to use, but once you see the technology, you may be convinced of its value.
• Math Fiction Reading List
  Take a literature approach to learning math with this list of algebra-themed books.
• Homeschool Math Curriculum
  Find over 25 more traditional algebra options you can use with your homeschooler.