By guest author Antoniette LaGrossa

Research shows over 7% of students experience severe learning disabilities in math. Countless more struggle because of the way the language of math is spoken to them. You might as well be speaking Greek. My goal is to make math understandable for every child with hands-on, exploratory learning — learning by doing.

Is your child struggling with math or would you like to avoid your child having math problems in the first place? The decimal material (also known as base ten blocks) paired with Montessori number cards are a game-changer for students young and old. I wonder how many parents, who themselves struggled with math as children, would have had an easier time learning (and even loving) math if they had worked with these tools.

by guest author Julianna Dotten

Step into an average homeschool family’s day, and you’ll notice a definite difference in the routine, subjects, and teaching methods between one family and the next. Every family’s personality and goals are different, but much of what makes up a homeschool is the educational method. Let’s face it: even if we are unaware of the homeschool methods out there, or simply call ourselves “eclectic homeschoolers,” we’re inevitably following some type of method we’ve learned, either from other homeschool moms, our own parents, or the school system we grew up with.

Understanding the philosophy behind each homeschool method helps us to deliberately choose a system that integrates into our family’s culture, beliefs, and goals for the education of our children. In addition, a one-size-fits all approach (or simply trying to recreate your public school experience at home) doesn’t work for many students, and will leave them behind in their education. Carefully researching each model and deciding on an overall method with which to teach your children will help you create a holistic, thorough approach to your homeschool. However, keep in mind that certain methods may work better than others for each child’s particular learning style.