Teaching Algebra II at home

Prepare before the lesson

1. Read the unit's main idea and work through an example. Identify the earlier skill the method relies on.
2. Choose a short practice set that includes both a familiar example and a changed case. Have paper, a diagram or a number line ready when useful.
3. Locate the worked steps and common mistakes. Decide which step the learner should attempt before you offer a hint.

Teach, discuss and check

1. Ask for a prediction or estimate and a representation before starting an algorithm.
2. Explain one worked step and why it is valid. Let the learner complete the next step with less support.
3. Use an incorrect solution to discuss the reasoning, then give a changed problem without the model in view.
4. Check the result by substitution, units, another representation or an estimate. Ask when the method applies.

Judge the reasoning

Use these discussion criteria with the unit’s own marking guidance. They are a feedback framework, not a universal numerical grade.

• Chooses a suitable representation or relationship.
• Uses valid steps and carries the necessary units or conditions.
• Explains why the method answers the question.
• Checks the result and can adapt to a changed case.

Keep one worked example, one corrected error and one independent changed-case solution. Solving a practice question after retries is progress, but does not by itself establish independent mastery.

When the learner needs support

• When a procedure is memorized without meaning, return to a diagram or a small numerical example.
• When a prerequisite is missing, revisit the matching earlier unit rather than repeating a harder set unchanged.
• Separate an arithmetic slip from a misunderstanding of the relationship, and choose feedback accordingly.

Plan this course

Regents Algebra II — the Grade 11 course: functions and their transformations, polynomials, radicals and rational expressions, exponentials and logarithms, series, trigonometry, and inferential statistics.

This math course has no authored weekly timetable in the Parent Center. Schedule its units or your own activities at a pace you choose.

No authored weekly timetable is available here. Schedule individual units and outside activities at your chosen pace.

Materials and records

Use paper, a suitable diagram or manipulatives, and the worked examples in the existing course.

Use the course assessments

Keep one worked example, one corrected error and one independent changed-case solution. Solving a practice question after retries is progress, but does not by itself establish independent mastery.

Read the full course guide

Units and teaching goals

• Unit 1 · Composing & Inverting Functions

  Functions can be bolted together end to end, and any chain can be run backwards.

• Unit 2 · Parent Functions & Transformations

  A handful of basic shapes, moved and stretched, account for almost every graph you will meet.

• Unit 3 · Polynomial Operations

  Add and subtract by collecting like terms. Multiply by making sure every pair meets exactly once.

• Unit 4 · Factoring

  Factoring is multiplication run backwards. Always pull out the common factor first — it makes everything after it easier.

• Unit 5 · Dividing Polynomials & the Factor Theorem

  Dividing polynomials is the long division you already know, and a remainder of zero names a factor.

• Unit 6 · Polynomial Functions & Their Graphs

  The degree and the leading coefficient decide the shape before you plot a single point.

• Unit 7 · Solving Quadratic Equations

  Four methods, one goal. Factoring is fastest when it works; the quadratic formula always works.

• Unit 8 · Radicals & Rational Exponents

  A root is a fractional power. Once you accept that, every exponent rule you know still applies.

• Unit 9 · Complex Numbers

  One new number, i, and every polynomial equation finally has a solution.

• Unit 10 · Radical Functions & Equations

  Squaring both sides is legal, and it can still hand you an answer that is wrong.

• Unit 11 · Rational Expressions & Equations

  Fractions with letters in them obey the fraction rules you already know — plus one forbidden value.

• Unit 12 · Exponential Functions & Growth

  Linear growth adds the same amount each step. Exponential growth multiplies by the same amount — and always wins in the end.

• Unit 13 · Logarithms

  A logarithm is the exponent — nothing more, and nothing less.

• Unit 14 · Exponential & Logarithmic Models

  Growth and decay that depend on how much is already there, and the logs that solve them.

• Unit 15 · Sequences, Explicit & Recursive

  A sequence is a function whose inputs are the counting numbers. Describe it from the start, or from the term before.

• Unit 16 · Series & Sigma Notation

  Adding a long list of terms without adding them one at a time.

• Unit 17 · Radians & the Unit Circle

  Measure angles by the arc they cut, and trigonometry escapes the right triangle.

• Unit 18 · Graphs of Sine & Cosine

  Going round in circles, drawn flat, gives a wave — and four numbers describe any wave.

• Unit 19 · Trigonometric Identities & Equations

  One identity comes straight from Pythagoras, and it unlocks nearly every trig equation.

• Unit 20 · The Normal Distribution

  Some measurements cluster in a bell-shaped pattern that a normal distribution can approximate.

• Unit 21 · Sampling, Simulation & Inference

  A well-chosen thousand can speak for millions, provided you admit how far off you might be.