So parenting is not always easy. Only a couple months into school and my daughter has had 3 math teachers already. This is advanced algebra math class, and we all know that every day builds on another and for the first time she is struggling. We are silently proud as she has sought out a tutor on her own. But as a parent I am doing all I can to bite my lip. supposedly a new full-time teacher will be in this coming week at some point.
She has always been a fast learner and holding back as a parent to watch her stumble and claw through this without intervening is tough. But I see two lessons here. One as a parent sometimes it is harder to step aside even though she is struggling to watch her grow and fight through circumstances that are not her own making. This is not hers or her whole classes issue but the whole class is in this situation. I hate she is falling behind in math of all things, but we are patiently watching and waiting as best we can.
Math teachers are so hard to find, and a good one is worth their weight in gold. I am hoping the 4th one is just that.
I think math is taught horribly in this country and in hindsight I wish I had someone, especially a parent, step in and try to help me understand parts of it. I eventually figured it out on my own, but I think it was made much harder than it needed to be and I don't think that extra difficulty helped me really at all.
I don't have kids, but I've sat down with my nephews a few times and tried to show them some of the math things I learned the hard way. They're young enough that I don't know if it'll click just yet but as they continue through school hopefully there will be a moment where they think "Oh hey, my uncle made this easy for me to understand!".
Yeah sometimes they get the cart before the horse and such for sure. I am in one of those situations where as a parent I am upset that not but a couple months into school and she has already had 3 different math teachers. Now I can’t blame the school 100% because it is not like they have not tried to hire one full time. Yeah I set her down and show her things but I try not to until she has it the teachers way first. Because I have some different approach that might not make sense in the next fazes she learns and I rely that the teacher is building those steps in a way and order for a reason. But if it continues to go this way I will most definitely step in. Hire a tutor myself to teach her.
Because I have some different approach that might not make sense in the next fazes
Well, maybe it's a thing of the past now a days but there never seemed to be any continuity of thought from one math class to the next the entire time I was in school. Each teacher showed you one way, probably their preferred way, to skin the cat, and then it was on to the next thing.
That's probably my single biggest complaint about how math is taught is that the student DOESN'T get to see multiple ways to work a problem. So I think you might actually be doing your daughter a disservice by not showing her one of the million other ways.
But again, not a parent so what do I know.
