Why Homeschool Math Programs Don’t Work For My Daughter…And What Does!

There are a few things that can make you feel like a complete failure as a mom.

That make you feel helpless. Frustrated beyond control. Stuck.

A child crying her heart out over a school program is one of them.

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Math is not a favorite subject. I’ve admitted to how my fear of Math stressed me out as a homeschooling mom.

After all, how do you teach something you don’t understand?

As time went by I thought I had it under control.

The beauty of technology is you can teach anything by getting the homeschooling program, curriculum or resources and using those to help you out. A quick google search and you will be flooded with the “right program for your child.”

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A few questions later and voilà you’ve weeded out all the “won’t work” and zeroed in on what will.

Yay…right?

Until you come home…

And the child is crying. Those big heartbreaking sobs. 🙁

Math Programs Don’t Work

A friend recently told me, “a mom is only as happy as her unhappiest child”.

I’m not sure who said this originally but it is SO true.

My daughter was crying over our favorite Math Program.

And it wasn’t for the lack of hunting for real solutions to our homeschool math problems. We’ve tested a lot of programs!

We’d been using Singapore math from the beginning and LOVED it. It worked. She got it. And I was relieved. Supermom!

Until it didn’t work. It didn’t connect. It didn’t make sense.

We moved on to Easy Peasy Math because it was easy to use, online, included videos to explain what I couldn’t. Oh, and was free.

A few months in and we were back to the drawing board. She couldn’t get it. Tears. Frustration.

For both of us!

She said they jumped around assuming you understood it.

…and when she didn’t understand, she felt like a failure.

We tried IXL. She didn’t like it. It moved on before she was ready.

Splash math worked for a while but then she aged out.

Khan Academy worked for my son so we tested it.

Nope. You had to get 5 right in a row or you failed. The pressure was too much.

Life of Fred but she hated the stories.

Round and round we go! Where it stops nobody knows! -I’m not sure where that came from but that is how I feel with math programs and my little girl. 

We bounced around trying program after program. Curriculum after curriculum.

Can I just say how much I value trial periods? They are a great way to test programs without investing in the whole shebang!

As concerned as I was about finding something that worked I was more worried and stressed about what it was doing to her self-esteem.

She was now in tears before she sat down. She would mutter about how stupid she was.

“I can’t do this!!”

She was SO focused on “not failing” that she couldn’t focus on “understanding the math”.

We all struggle enough with self-worth. This was killing me.

She was smart at math she just didn’t see it.

What IS Working!

My daughter LOVES to bake. Loves it.

Almost every day she comes to me to ask if she can make something.

My job? To say YES. And I do 99% of the time.

This has even saved my butt a time or two, like the Pinwheel Sugar Cookie Recipe. 

She researches what she wants to make. Prints out the recipe. She makes sure we have the ingredients. She measures, mixes, doubles or splits the recipe as needed.

Yeah, I know. Math. Shhh, don’t tell her. 😉

She amazes me. Every. Time.

See these cookies here?

They are Almond Snowball Cookies. Don’t they look great?

You can get the original recipe here, turns out they were called Walnut Snowball Cookies! 

Here Is The Magic

She knew what she wanted to make and overcame the challenges on her own to get there. 

• She didn’t have walnuts so she used almonds.
• She couldn’t get them chopped up so she used a food processor, which she is terrified of. She overcame her fear to reach a goal.
• She couldn’t get them to stay in the circle shape so she cut them in half.
• Then she couldn’t roll them, so she powdered them instead.

She ended up with these cute cookies and she was pretty proud of herself.

This child.

Baking helps her feel empowered. Builds her confidence. Overcome challenges and “do the hard stuff”.

Vs. math programs that make her feel dumb and stupid.

Not A Math Program But Still Math

I don’t bake. For baking you need to measure. To be exact. And I don’t cook that way.

However, I made sure she had access to the kitchen when she wanted it.

And I gave her the tools to help her get there.

Remember that “google search and get all the answers” thing? Turns out that totally works 😉

Plus friends are awesome!

Speaking of, a friend told me about Kids Cook Real Food cooking classes. It’s a self-paced cooking course that teaches your child to cook. Online, with videos and such.

The right way, not the throw it all in and hope for the best way, lol! 

Most people purchase the All Level VIP because it is the best value for your money. You can check it out here: Kids Cook Real Food. 

OR read my full review that includes not only what I think of the program but what my kids thought too! Read: Homeschool Cooking Curriculum We Love – Our Experience With the Kids Cook Real Food Program

But I didn’t. I started with the knife skills course because I didn’t want to spend the money on a full course if I didn’t like it or it didn’t work for my kids.

Also, I figured knowing how to cut things properly would come in pretty handy in their lives.

A great life skill for them, less stress for me! 😉

Turns out, we loved it. I got the knife skills on sale for 65% off, at $7 and it was worth every cent!

We are also really loving the Instant Pot and Slow Cooker Lessons.

Confession: I might be a little obsessed with my Instant Pot since it saves me so much time and money. Plus with this course, I don’t even have to cook dinner every night, yay! 

As awesome as it is when she takes over dinner, best part is seeing her beam when she figures it out!

My Daughter Can Do The Math

She can add up costs of ingredients, divide recipes and figure out how to convert measurements.

She knows how to research what she isn’t sure how to figure out.

She knows how to take notes she can reference for cooking, as shown above.

BUT…Put her in front of a math program and it all goes away.

Right now she is using CTC Math which works, for now. We will use it until it doesn’t.

Note: We also did some math tutoring through Thinkster Math. You can watch an interview here to learn more and grab the FREE Trial while you are there.

In the meantime, I am saying YES more to the cooking, baking, and chopping. We ended up with the full cooking course after all, because it works.

I get more smiles…more happy dances.

And more cookies!

What about you? Which subjects do you (or your children) struggle with most – and what workarounds have you come up with?

Leave a comment below, let’s chat!

Take care,

Jen

PS. We’ve been using cooking as a way to build my kids confidence, learn new skills and help us out for a while now. We are really enjoying the Kids Cook Real Food program for a great video course.

If you want to test it out first like I did I highly recommend the Knife Skills course, click here to check that out! Although most people buy the All Level VIP because it is the Best Value for your dollar. You can check that out here! 

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