About Leaning Pine Software and Math Foundations 2.0

Leaning Pine Software is a family-run business.

Our children began their education in public school, then in the fall of 1998 we switched to homeschooling. One reason we started homeschooling was the traumatic experience our son had with math in the public school. At the beginning of first grade he enjoyed math. During that year in the public elementary school he was given many math assignments that he found pointless or that he disliked. These included writing a list of 10 triangle shapes he found around the house, and describing in written sentences how he solved addition problems. (He was slow at writing and so disliked writing assignments.) By the end of first grade many math homework assignments ended in tears, and "I hate math!" was a common refrain.

We started homeschooling at the beginning of second grade. We naively assumed that our son would progress smoothly because we now had control over his math program. This was not the case. The problems in the book progressed too rapidly and he easily became frustrated.

At the beginning of third grade we decided to start over again with 1+1=2 and to teach our son the math facts independently of the book. We used homemade flashcards and customized math practice sheets from an early version of this program to provide practice. We filled in other topics, such as telling time, from a regular math book, but skipped everything related to math facts. It took over three years to undo the damage to our son's attitude and spirit from that misguided first grade year.

This story ends happily. By sixth grade our son was doing Saxon 76 (pre-Algebra) with no problem. Today he is in twelfth grade and taking Saxon calculus.

God sends trials our way for a purpose. One of the blessings from this experience has been a much greater empathy on our part for children who struggle with math. This has motivated us to refine and enhance the software that I developed for my son to share with other parents. I hope you find it useful.