At our house, it is a crime if you don’t like math! No, not really… but I happen to love math. I tutor students from all over in high school math, and I see how difficult it can be to stay on top of it if a student gets a little behind.
I encourage all my homeschooling friends to get their kids grounded in Algebra during the Junior High years. For one, it allows them to get a good foundation before high school requirements begin. I have seen time and time again, if the student stuggles in Algebra I they seem to struggle throughout high school. Getting a solid foundation in Algebra is vital to their high school success.
You can easily accomplish a solid Algebra foundation in Junior High by getting a challenging curriculum for your student. You don’t need anything too advanced, but you do need to find one that presents all the major algebra concepts.
Here is a great FREE online Pre Algebra course
Cool Math presents comprehensive lessons on the major algebra concepts. You could use these in conjunction with a workbook.
Time4Learning has a great algebra curriculum that works very well for Junior High level students.
Sometimes our student can be a math visual learner, if that is the case you’ll need to present Algebra concepts with visual manipulatives. This link is a great article on how you can do that!
There is also Khan Academy which is the rising star of teaching math and science online. They have lessons that teach just about every mathematical concept presented in high school. Definitely something we can’t live without.
