High School Math Live’s purpose is to partner with parents for success in math education by providing excellent math instruction, consistent accountability, and expert feedback. By demonstrating a love for mathematics and holding students to rigorous standards, teachers strive to help students advance in math education. Before you register, it is good to know what to expect.
Although there are some circumstances in which High School Math Live's synchronous instruction may not be the best option for your student, there are also many great reasons why HSML could be the best decision you could make! For students who desire asynchronous instruction, we offer At My Pace (AMP) classes which allow students to work independently while also having a teacher available for informative feedback, grading, and limited individual tutoring. All of the information below applies to AMP students, except the timing of the assessments depends on the student's pace and may be more or less than one per week.
Whatever you choose, we wish you a very successful school year that meets your family’s needs and schedules.
Whatever you choose, we wish you a very successful school year that meets your family’s needs and schedules.
Ten Reasons to NOT choose HSML
1. You want a program that offers hands-off math with no parent participation required.
High School Math Live’s purpose is to partner with home educating parents for success in math education by providing excellent math instruction, consistent accountability, and expert feedback. Parents play an essential role in the partnership. Teachers communicate with parents, via email, regarding assessments, updates, concerns and other relevant topics that are important for you and your student to be aware of. To ensure academic integrity, parents are tasked with proctoring the weekly assessments. We also invite parents to give us information about their student and how we can best meet their needs. For some students, parent involvement is needed for monitoring class-time behavior, participation, attentiveness, and focus during class. Parents can use this opportunity to support their student in learning how to take organized notes efficiently and provide suggestions on ways to improve notetaking skills. Parents should check to be sure the homework is being completed/checked so that the student is prepared for each class. The HSML teachers want to be your partner as we work together to provide your child with an excellent math education.
2. You want your student to be able to succeed by only attending class, without scheduling time to complete assignments between classes.
We assign homework that the student is expected to complete between classes. Math concepts build upon themselves quickly and must be practiced and repeated to be mastered, thus providing the necessary skills to do well on assessments. Student preparation for class is essential. Class time always begins with an opportunity for the student to ask questions about the homework so they can come to class with questions and the teacher will offer support. It is important to consistently touch math once each day, either by attending class or doing the homework or quiz. Trying to “binge” math in a once-a-week marathon setting is highly unproductive and does not lead to a student’s success.
3. Your student is not able to regularly attend the live class or is not able to find time to view the class recording after an absence.
We believe it is important for your student’s schedule to allow for regular class attendance and/or time to view class recordings so that your student comes to class with a completed assignment and is prepared to ask questions before moving on to the next concept that will be taught. Math concepts build upon themselves quickly, so it is vital that students stay current in our topics and not get behind. If your student needs to miss a class, it is not a problem because we post class recordings within a few hours after the class ends. We have detailed syllabi that sets the pace for the course so that we can be sure all objectives are met. We also offer “At My Pace” courses where the student works independently as they learn and progress through a subject while having a teacher available for informative feedback, grading, and limited individual tutoring. Teachers sends assessments to the parent and the student submits them to the teacher.
4. You would prefer to not have the accountability of weekly assessments that require the student to consistently demonstrate mastery of the material that was recently taught in class.
Since math concepts build upon themselves, it is important that our teachers and the parent know if the student is understanding and retaining information. By giving assessments consistently, the student and parent will know if additional time is needed to be given to mathematics practice so that math success will take place. High School Math Live challenges students to demonstrate problem-solving skills, critical thinking, and analytic reasoning both in class and on assessments.
5. You do not have time in your schedule to proctor the weekly assessments.
High School Math Live teachers partner with parents for excellence in mathematics education. To ensure excellence and to maintain academic integrity, we ask that parents proctor all assessments. Parent-proctored assessments allows our teachers to use all class time to work with students rather than taking that time to proctor. Our teachers can be confident that the student is submitting their own work and using only allowed resources when the parent is proctoring the assessment. Our goal is to be sure each student is learning mathematical concepts as well as how to show work to support their answers.
6. You do not want a program that requires the use of technology, including reading and sending emails, printing and scanning documents, and using a computer and online platforms necessary for attending class and viewing grades.
Although it is not necessary to have advanced computer skills, the student and parents should possess a working knowledge of e-mail, the Internet, and basic keyboarding skills. Successful online learners must have easy access to a computer and a stable internet connection during class. While working on homework, a computer and internet is extremely helpful so that the student can access the class notebook, class recordings, and the student’s individual notebook. Teachers communicate with parents and students primarily via email. Grade updates and student’s assessments are kept in the student’s individual online grading notebook. Teachers provide informative and excellent feedback for each assessment, so it is vital that the student and parents read this feedback to ensure continued mathematical success.
7. Your budget requires that you use an option that is less expensive.
Every family has unique budgeting parameters and must make decisions accordingly. The High School Math Live tuition allows HSML to provide credentialed and experienced teachers who adhere to a high standard of professionalism both in the communication of mathematical principles and in their relationships with the students and parents. Our teachers hold students accountable to excel in both their mathematical ability and in their growth and maturity as students, demonstrating increasing responsibility for their learning as they move into higher levels of coursework. Many students find that having courses of this level of rigor allow them to compete for scholarships that significantly reduce the expense of college tuition so by choosing to afford these courses now you may find that you save money in later years.
8. You want your student's math class to have a high amount of social interaction.
For Internet safety, our students correspond only to the teacher via a chat box. We ask that the student not chat other students during class. This helps the student stay focused in the lesson so they can respond quickly to a teacher's question or provide an answer when the teacher requests it.
9. Your student prefers to learn independently and is not likely to take advantage of having the opportunity to interact with a teacher.
We recognize that some students learn very well independently, are highly self-motivated, and can hold themselves accountable to their own learning with little to no interaction needed for instruction and scheduling. For these students, we offer “At My Pace” courses where the student works independently as they learn and progress through a subject while having a teacher available for informative feedback, grading, and limited individual tutoring. Teachers sends assessments to the parent and the student submits them to the teacher.
10. Your goal for your child's math education includes learning primarily computational skills and you prefer to not emphasize critical thinking and analytical reasoning skills during mathematics instruction.
HSML values the achievement of excellence in logical and analytical thinking and problem-solving skills and the mastery of mathematical concepts that are introduced in each course. HSML believes that it is important for students to demonstrate an understanding of the interconnectedness of mathematics by their ability to apply previously learned concepts in increasingly abstract problem sets. Our teachers hold students accountable to excel in both their mathematical ability and in their growth and maturity as students, demonstrating increasing responsibility for their learning as they move into higher levels of coursework. Our teachers teach and assess in a way that encourages and challenges students to learn to think and to verbalize and demonstrate their problem-solving process.
