There are a lot of things to consider when choosing to homeschool for highschool. One of the most prevalent concerns usually focuses on the level of expertise required to teach various academic courses like Algebra or Physics. To be honest, when my children were young I often wondered how we would manage these types of courses too.
Fortunately, for my children, God blessed them with a natural math ability. I have no idea where it came from as I have always been a "words"not a "numbers" girl. Ask me to write an essay...done. Ask me to solve and graph an equation......um, well, what was that again?
If your child is more of a "words" kid like me, you might want to consider a subscription to Virtual Nerd. Virtual Nerd is an on-line tutoring website filled with easy to understand instructional videos. It is free to educators, but not home educators. Homeschool families and other individuals interested in a low cost private tutor may access the site for $49 a month or $129 for three months. In addition, a $5 one day visit may be purchased, one week access for $19 or 2 hour visit for FREE. I received a free subscription for 6 weeks as a member of the TOS Review Crew in exchange for this review.
When I first visited the site I was impressed by its organization and ease of navigation. Users may choose to access help with Pre-Algebra, Algebra I, Algebra II and Physics. Unique to this site is the ability to access information based on your math text. For example, if you are using McDougal Littel's Algebra text you can search for tutoring help based on the lessons/chapters in that specific text.
According to Virtual Nerd's website the company works hard to, "build original course content consistent with current textbooks. We complete an extensive review of the top textbooks and link our original content to textbook problems and concepts. We also ensure our content is aligned with standards defined by national math and science educators."
Because my 8th grade daughter has inherited, apparently a recessive math gene I missed, we were not able to utilize Virtual Nerd to its fullest potential. As I searched the site watching topical videos to test, I was impressed at how easily I found just the right information and the level of quality of each of the video lessons. If only I had had Virtual Nerd, back in the day! Then maybe this "words" girl would love "numbers" too.
To access Virtual Nerd point your browser to: http://www.virtualnerd.com/
