Why does Math make me want to rip my hair out???

      I am completely confident that I can teach my children anything... but Math. It is not that I can't teach them math but I am definitely less than confident. I do not worry about any other subject near as much. I can teach History with a joy in my heart. I can teach Literature with enthusiasm. I can teach Language Arts with confidence. I can teach Science with a fake smile on my face. I don't love Science, but I can teach it. 

     When it comes to Math I am so worried that I will mess things up. I know, I know I have said this all before. The only reason I am saying it again is that I have been staring at a computer screen for days trying to decide what to do next year. I mean OMG, we are going to begin multiplication!!!!!! 

AAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

     As you may know I am incredibly frugal when it comes to educating my kids. It's not that I don't think they are worth it, because they are priceless to me, but we are not exactly millionaires. If we were, I would hire a private tutor and a personal trainer but we are poor and I am fat. 

     As many of you already know I have been using The Head of the Class for Math this year and I like it very much. It had everything I needed. I was able to teach the lessons right from my Kindle. Unfortunately when I printed out the curriculum for second grade there was only 56 lessons. So, I umm, panicked a little bit. Then I panicked a lot. 

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

     As you all know I have been falling in love with Lesson Pathways. I have been using it more and more. Today after spending nearly an hour working on our tens and ones. I know. I broke my own rule already but only because Paw Paw is in town and we had things to do... I had spent 20 minutes doing it together one step at a time. Then when I gave him his worksheet the dawdling began. I was not sure if he actually grasped the subject. Maybe I had explained it poorly? 

     Usually when all the other schoolwork is done Skittles goes on the computer and does some lessons on The Head of the Class and then some speed drills on Xtra Math. Today I went to Lesson Pathways and found a unit on adding with 2-digit numbers. I clicked on the first activity under learning tools and it brought me here. 

     

     I have to admit I was skeptical at first but I was EXHAUSTED from spending 4 hours struggling and muddling through our lessons today... so I just popped it on and laid down to watch Skittles tackle the game. After only a few questions he said aloud, "I like this. It is very creative." LOL I thought it looked boring but I have to say after doing it for maybe 20 minutes he had really gotten it. 

     I think I will continue to slowly introduce more of the Pathways into our daily lessons and see where it leads us. 

     I know I have been talking about Pathways a lot lately. I do not work for them and I am not getting paid to endorse them. I just recently discovered them and so far I like what I have seen. To be completely honest there are some links that do not connect and it takes a little extra effort on my part to look through it the day before and be sure that the link I want is working and teaches what I want to teach. However, overall I think it is a really great resource and one worth checking into. Especially if you are like me and have limited funds...

     There are other Math curriculums that I am looking into.. I may run them through the ringer a few times though before I make any suggestions.