Mr. D Math Is The Winner For Our High school Math!

Last year my two oldest children used Mr. D math for their 8th and 10th grade high school math. It was the first time to use an online format with live classes, and while there was a little bit of a learning curve at first, they quickly caught on and it was a great experience.

It took me a little bit longer to catch on to how the system worked. There is not a math book, you print out your lessons weekly. You answer questions online, have tests to take, and have 2 large tests each quarter to study for and take.

Overall we all loved the program. We liked it so much that they are doing it again this year, as well as Carrianna doing the pre-algebra program in 7th grade. She is a super motivated student and I think she will thrive under the live class experience.

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However, Mr. D math surprisingly brought about some tension between Sean and I. Crazy, right? He struggled with how many second chances they got to resubmit their work, and by the end of the school year I saw why. We both came to a good agreement on how we wanted this year to look, so I wanted to share some of the rules we have set in place for our children as they start a new school year.

Mr. D math is a mastery based program. Mr. D taught in public schools for years and I think ultimately he cares that children learn the math concepts, not that they master it the very first time. If you submit your answers online and receive a poor grade, you are given several chances to try again.

While I agree with that concept, I feel like it made our boys a little lazy in how they went about their math.

“Oh, I didn’t get this right? No big deal. I’ll just take it again and pick a different answer!” 

It wasn’t always that way, but definitely more so with one child.

We sat all three of our children down and had a talk with them before we start our school year next week, and laid out rules for them.

Our Math Rules

1. All assignments must be printed out and kept neatly in a binder. If I find any math papers in the trash, there will be consequences. We had one child with a perfect binder at the end of the year, and he was excited to see how just how thick it was, which gave him a good feeling of accomplishment!
2. Before submitting new work for a second chance at raising their grade, they must go back and watch the videos related to the problem, work it out on paper, show me they worked it out on paper and then resubmit their work. They also have the option of going to the extra help sessions offered several times a week, if needed.
3. As a general rule, only 2 submissions will be allowed. This will give them the motivation to work harder the second time to get it right.
4. If we find them not following these rules, consequences are already set in place for what will happen. We “surprised” a child last year with how strict of a consequence we gave for poor work at the end of the year, and this year we want to be very up front and clear with them what will happen.

All of these rules can be applied to almost any program, so I thought I would just share here with you all our approach. It’s hard to be the strict parent sometimes, but homeschooling doesn’t always mean tea parties and cozy snuggles on the couch. We have to be clear with our expectations and set realistic rules and guidelines for them to follow.

If you are looking for a math program online, I highly recommend Mr. D math! His live math classes have closed for the year, but he still has the self paced math programs available to purchase. He explains things so clearly, as well as the other teachers he has hired to help teach classes. Last year Israel had Mr. H and loved him as a teacher!

Outsourcing high school math has been a huge help for this busy mama! I’m thankful for such good programs out there, like Mr. D math!