Wondering what your high schooler needs for math?
For the average homeschooling parent, teaching high school can be a bit intimidating. Mention homeschooling the high school maths like Algebra, Geometry, and Trigonometry and you see their eyes begin to glaze over. Sure, not everyone enjoys math, but homeschoolers take heart… even math haters can homeschool their children successfully.
Homeschooling math has been made so much easier over the past decade by the numerous high-quality resources that are designed specifically for homeschoolers with little or no math background. With that in mind, let’s look at how to homeschool high school math.
Tips for how to homeschool high school math include:
- Find high school math curriculum examples to discover a good fit
- Use supplemental videos to help you teach high school math
- Discover great math resources for high school
- Read our related high school articles
High School Math Curriculum Examples
The suggested course of study for college preparatory high school math typically begins with Algebra I and then proceeds to Geometry, Algebra II, Trigonometry, and Pre-Calculus. For those that know they will not be attending college, two of their typical four required math credits can be math of a more practical nature such as discreet math or accounting.
There are several ways to go about teaching math in the high school homeschool. Each family has their own experience and training, and therefore each will also have different needs when it comes to curriculum. The following is a list of various methods that can be used to teach math in the homeschool high school.
- Teaching Textbooks — Teaching Textbooks curriculum is a favorite by many homeschoolers and also has coordinating video lessons. Their lessons are presented in an easy-to-understand format and the content is comprehensive. This and Math-U-See are often used for students who struggle with math.
- Saxon Math — Saxon math is also another homeschooler favorite. However, the textbooks present scattered topics instead of grouping and teaching them in broader, connected categories. It is a good curriculum, but it may not present as it will be studied in college.
- However, these courses are typically ready for the student to jump right in as independent study, and therefore require very little help from the parent. Five stars for making it easy on the parent with little or no math background!
- Curriculum subscriptions — These can be purchased by subscription or as a set and are usually pretty easy to implement in the homeschool. Aleks math, Tablet class, ABKEA video program, and even Thinkwell Homeschool, to name a few.
- Khan Academy – This website has recently extended its supplemental videos to have a free online course component. I’ve used this and have found it to be great as a stand-alone math course.
Supplemental Videos for High School Math
The wealth of information in video resources on free or affordable websites is another amazing resource from the last few years. Choose a high school math textbook and pair it with videos for a multimodal learning method.
Here are a few suggestions:
| Curriculum | Interactive Resources |
| Glencoe Math | Khan Academy |
| Foerster Maths | HippoCampus |
| WebMath | Saylor Academy |
| Houghton Mifflin Math | MathHelp |
| Time4Learning High School Math | BrightStorm |
| Easy Peasy Math | FiveAble |
- You could go with a completely online textbook. Kinetic books Algebra I is a good example of this.
- You could use a textbook that you like, and hire a math tutor. This is exactly what I do for homeschoolers in our area. They typically come to me once a week and I teach them the lessons that will be covered during the week. They then do the drill and practice problems each day until we have class again the next week. I will send home any tests and quizzes to be proctored by the parent, or taken online using Schoology.
- You could also enroll your high school student in a local college basic algebra course.
- There are numerous other online sources for helping your high school student learn algebra AND pass an exam to earn college credit. A great source for study help is the Math 101: College Algebra site (see below). Some call this dual enrollment or dual study course. Either way, students review these tutorials to prepare to take the College Board’s College Algebra CLEP exam. If passed, your student could earn inexpensive college credit.
Great Math Resources for High School
The typical high school math requirement for most states in the U.S. is 4 math credits. This often needs to include Algebra I and II and Geometry along with the student’s choice of Advanced Math or a practical math option like Accounting or Consumer Math.
Homeschooling high school math is possible, and you CAN do it!
