We’ve been loyal Math-U-See users ever since I finally ditched Saxon for good (so what’s that, two years or something?). I like the program, I love that Mr. Demme teaches it via DVD and that I can follow up after that. I need some back up here, you all. I just do.

I think I’ve glanced at the teacher’s manuals that come with each level less than five times. I haven’t found them to be particularly useful and just rely on the video plus my own common sense (scary, I know). Anyway, what this really means is that for two years whenever I checked the girls’ math problems, I was doing the work myself too. Confession? I can’t do multiple digit multiplication in my head. Second confession? I still use my fingers to count, but please DO NOT tell my kids that.

Okay, so what this means is that I’ve either pulled out another sheet of paper and worked the problems out myself or *gasp* used a calculator.

Yesterday a nameless someone in our family was again struggling with math (could have something to do with the fact that it was her first day back doing math in, oh, about a month). I decided to crack open the teacher’s manual to see if there was any additional help in there.

I didn’t see anything that would necessarily transform our current situation into math-understanding-bliss, but what I DID find was that in the back of the manual (you probably already know where I’m going with this) – answer keys. To everything.

Glory! Checking math today was so much easier.

Just one more thing to add to my homeschooling “Duh, like, you didn’t already know this?” list. It’s growing, that.