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How My Daughter Graduated Homeschool High School Using Only Mr. D for Math
You may be wondering why the topic of graduating from homeschool high school math is worthy of an entire blog post. But, stick with me because I know many other homeschool families face the same math problems as ours. If you (or your children) have ever experienced tears, fighting, and plenty of frustration while trying to complete a high school (or middle school) math lesson, this is for you!
Here is a bit of backstory information about our homeschool family for context. We have homeschooled from the beginning, and my daughter has never attended public school. We sailed through all of elementary math without too many issues, an occasional emotional breakdown from my daughter over long division maybe. But, other than that, I thought we were doing ok. Until…Pre-Algebra.
Yep. Once we hit pre-algebra, things significantly changed in our homeschool. My daughter dreaded doing math each day, so much so that we butted heads a lot over homeschooling. A lot.
Does Any Of This Sound Like Your Family When It Comes To Homeschool High School Math?
Here is some evidence that indicates homeschool math was causing havoc in our home. Are any of these familiar to you as well?
- You find yourselves arguing over how to do particular equations
- You and your children are butting heads over completing math each day
- Your student is constantly complaining about the math teacher or the homeschool math curriculum you are using
- The relationship between you and your teen is strained, and math is a big part of that
- Your student has resorted to cheating or skipping math lessons
- Math is taking up most of your homeschool day
- Math is a greater struggle than you anticipated because your student finds math more challenging than other subjects
- You barely got through high school math, and teaching it to another person is no easy task
If you can identify with any of those, please keep reading. Because I was there, honestly, I felt like I was failing my daughter. She struggled with math, and I thought she was just being lazy. I would get so frustrated and didn’t understand why she couldn’t understand what I was trying to teach her. That eventually led her to tears and me to raise my voice or say something insensitive. This was the miserable cycle we had created. Until…Mr. D Math, when everything changed.
Mr. D Math for the Win! Our Homeschool Math Solution for High School (and Middle School) Level Math
So, one day I got an opportunity to sit in on a Mr. D Math live class for pre-algebra with my daughter. We were desperate at that point; we had switched our math curriculum a few times by then. I figured we had nothing to lose. We logged in, not knowing what to expect, and there was Mr. D himself—witty, comical, and fun. I had a lot of thoughts as we sat through this class. Like, what? Who teaches math like this? And how do we get into this class permanently?
I can’t tell you how refreshing introducing my daughter to Mr. D Math was. We watched in awe as all the students in the class were engaged and seemingly having a fantastic time doing math. It was something I had never witnessed before, and neither had my daughter. So we did what any sane person would do next; we signed up for Mr. D Math Pre-Algebra.
When a teacher is passionate about a particular topic or subject, the teaching takes on a more meaningful impact. Mr. D, or Dennis DiNoia, is passionate not just about math or homeschooling but education as a whole. He recently wrote an entire book about his education philosophies and teaching experience. You can read more about Mr. D and grab his book TEACH Creating Independently Responsible Learners here.
We never looked back after that day. We signed up for live pre-algebra classes that first year, and that is when I became hands-off when teaching upper-level math. It was freeing for us both. I was no longer the primary homeschool math teacher; she completed the course. After Pre-Algebra, my daughter zipped through Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II – all from Mr. D Math. She is a senior this year and completed all of her math credits early, so we didn’t have a math class this year. She was thrilled to be done early since she isn’t pursuing a career that is math based.
So, if you are curious about how I became a hands-off homeschool math and how my daughter, who hates math, completed it so easily – let me introduce you to Mr. D Math!
Homeschool High School Math Done Differently at Mr. D Math
Here are just some of the things that we loved about switching our math needs over to Mr. D Math.
- Flexible online classes. You can decide what avenue will fit your family best, live or self-paced math classes. We were blessed by both options in various seasons, but my daughter enjoyed the engaging classroom aspect of participating in live classes. There are plenty of days and times to choose from when you sign up for Mr. D Math, and if you can’t find a live class time that works for your family, self-paced classes can be super handy. Self-paced courses work perfectly for families that travel or need more flexibility in their homeschool routine. Or if you have a student that needs to work alone and at their own pace, the self-paced option is a wonderful fit.
- Engaging teachers. Mr. D and all of his staff are top-notch educators passionate about helping our students learn. The teachers are engaging and committed to making sure your student gets it when it comes to math. That goes a long way, especially for many children struggling with math. The entire Mr. D team is professional, friendly, and always willing to help.
- Extra help for students is available. Mr. D Math offers a weekly (sometimes more) tutoring session called live extra-help sessions in the evenings to give your student a chance to get live help. Your child can log into the scheduled session and, in a smaller setting, receive 1:1 support when called on. They can submit the question or problems they are struggling with and get help in real time. Those sessions were what helped me become utterly hands-off from teaching math. And for us, it was better that way. If my daughter were struggling, she would attend these sessions until she could understand. That was such a valuable resource for us.
- Affordable outsourcing. As a homeschool consultant, I always tell parents they don’t have to teach every subject. In cases like mine, I recommend outsourcing to a teacher other than mom. But there are many reasons and benefits to outsourcing various classes, especially in the high school years. Luckily, outsourcing to Mr. D is relatively inexpensive, considering you are getting one of the best homeschool math programs available. We benefitted so much more from Mr. D Math than if we would have continued our math journey the way we had been. So it was worth every penny in our case.
- Course offerings. Mr. D Math offers math courses from Pre-Algebra to Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, Pre-Calculus with Trigonometry, and Calculus I. In addition to all those math courses for homeschooling, they also offer economics, ASL, Test Prep, and more. See the entire course catalog here. I liked that we could begin and complete all of my daughter’s high school math-required courses from the same teacher throughout high school.
- High school credits. Yes! Of course, these homeschool math classes for high school are real credits you can log on your high school transcript. You can choose from a full-year math course equivalent to one full math credit, or if you have a student that needs to acquire a full math credit in less time, try the fast-paced option. Your child can zip through a year’s worth of math skills in one semester with Mr. D Math’s help and receive one full math credit.
Mr. D., thank you! If you happen to read this! You will never know how much you helped our homeschool over the past few years. I can’t imagine our homeschool high school years without Mr. D Math. But, with your help, she did it!