Why Mrs. Algebra?
As a mom, I rediscovered my joy for math through homeschooling. Explaining problems re-ignited the passion I had for it in high school and college. Math has always made sense to me, and I enjoyed talking about the logic behind why it works. Its consistency and logic illustrate to me an orderly world purposely created.
After being invited to teach at a local cottage school, the short time we met each week didn’t allow for the required algebra instruction. I created videos to illustrate the lessons so the burden of explaining all the algebra wouldn’t fall within a single hour each week or on out-of-practice parents at home. Students could pause, rewatch, or rewind as needed to reach an understanding of the material.
It became clear that the video lessons I created could help more than just my immediate students. Parents from across the country began following my videos for Saxon Algebra instruction. At the behest of both students and parents, I added more content, including personalized problem walkthroughs.
Before motherhood, I applied my administration, streamlining, and application creation skills in the corporate world. Through this journey, I realized that my experience in the corporate world had strategically trained me to fill this need. Utilizing those skills, I’ve developed a portal to mastering algebra that is accessible to any student with Wi-Fi or cell service. It is a privilege to help students and families with their mathematics instruction.
Why Saxon?
The spiral methodology of this curriculum constantly asks the students to remember what they previously learned and keep using it in their current skillset. The problem sets for each lesson require maintaining a working memory of all the skills learned to date. No concept is discarded or forgotten; each new concept builds upon the previous. This practice moves the understanding to mastery, from short-term memory to long-term knowledge. It teaches correlation from one skill to another and how to intuit methodology and logically solve problems. This concept is foremost in many homeschool philosophies. Not just teaching to a test and then moving on, but truly knowing, understanding, and mastering, such that retention occurs almost unnoticeably.
John Saxon understood that continually practicing and incorporating skills into daily work wasn’t busy work but a sound method for mastery. Incremental learning with practice each day of previous instruction makes almost any learner capable of mastering mathematics at the secondary level. The adage goes, ‘If you don’t use it, you lose it.’ This is undoubtedly true of mathematics, and Saxon knew it. The slow pace of the curriculum in careful bites is a systematic progression that makes math more straightforward to learn and teach. For over forty years, these texts have successfully illustrated concepts for mathematics mastery. That kind of track record can’t be argued with, and I, for one, am a Saxon mathematics fan all the way!
The only difficulty with the Saxon approach is that it can be out of reach for parents who aren’t math fluent. If you don’t learn the concepts with the student, you may stumble, and learning can be stilted. The other side is that if you know math, there is the temptation to take the lesson a bit further only to find that what you explained will be taught in a future lesson duplicating your effort. Saxon meant for this to be taught by someone who understood math but also understood the process. There are steps skipped in the textbook because they could be explained in person by an instructor. These texts are meant to be taught, not just handed to a student who is expected to “read and complete” them. This process misunderstanding is why some people “hate” Saxon Math.
My Mission
My mission is to lead them to math in a meaningful way. I want to show students that it is constant, dependable, and trustworthy. I want to assure them that there are concrete truths they can depend on to give them self-confidence and determination. With a thorough explanation by someone who understands the process, not just the math, the student’s trust develops, their confidence emerges, and they become better at everything else. Even though the media is video, I engage the students with a warm and genuine approach. When done well, warmth and humor are fine tools for challenging subjects. Occasionally, there’s a terrible math joke and easter eggs as minor mistakes appear for the students to receive great praise for finding. This increases their confidence in their ability to do something difficult. I instruct them, encourage them, and believe in them. I tell them they can do hard things. I’m their math mom, and my mission is to see them grow in truth and knowledge with confidence, ability, and discernment.