Math. It brings anxiety, tears, and frustration to a large swath of this country. I’m no stranger to these emotions – we’ve experienced them in our homeschool, also. One thing I see fairly consistently amongst struggling math students is a vicious case of perfectionism. An expectation by the student is that the math must be done without error or all is lost. Conclusion: “I’m terrible at math.”
Continue reading “Math and Perfectionism”
So, if you already feel yourself mounting a reaction to the title, this post isn’t for you. Like anything you’re good at, you can’t imagine that other people can’t “become” good at it too… if they only had a better attitude, different curriculum, a better teacher, etc. STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) are all the rage – most universities have watched their STEM-majors double in the past few years, so there is a ton of emphasis on not only high school math, but college-level math in high school. Sure, with 10,000 hours it’s possible to become an expert in anything. This is not that.
Continue reading “Math Success 4 Math Averse”
So, if you already feel yourself mounting a reaction to the title, this post isn’t for you. Like anything you’re good at, you can’t imagine that other people can’t “become” good at it too… if they only had a better attitude, different curriculum, a better teacher, etc. STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) are all the rage – most universities have watched their STEM-majors double in the past few years, so there is a ton of emphasis on not only high school math, but college-level math in high school. Sure, with 10,000 hours it’s possible to become an expert in anything. This is not that. Continue reading “Math Success 4 Math Averse”