Help! I Don’t Understand the Material I’m Supposed to Teach My Kid.

1. Read the Textbook
   It sounds so simple, but it works. If you want to understand what your child is learning, you should read it before they do. You only need to be about two weeks or so ahead of them so that you can answer their questions when they come up.
2. Go on YouTube
   This one may not be so obvious, but it works. YouTube contains videos of people explaining all manner of ideas, even complex chemical and mathematical ones. Watch some of these videos in conjunction with reading the textbook. Take notes if you need to and work out any problems the YouTube videos provide. Use these to build your understanding so you can explain the material to your student.
3. Teach It to Someone Else
   I often tell students that if they do not understand a topic, they should try teaching it to someone else. This is true for parents too. Corner your spouse and try teaching the material to them. If you do not have a spouse, go to a friend or family member who will let you practice teaching them. If you do not have that option, record yourself explaining it and listen back to the recording. If you still do not understand it, re-record until you do.
4. Ask for Help
   If you are in a homeschool community or church, there is a good possibility someone in that community has the knowledge you lack. Use them as a resource. For people with specialized knowledge (scientists, engineers, etc.), you won’t be bothering them. Most of them will probably be delighted—absolutely thrilled that someone wants them to talk about what they love. Usually, when they try to talk about their passion, people’s eyes glaze over. They may even be so excited that you’ll have to slow them down to be able to follow them. But they will probably try to help you.

As long as you learn the material before they do, you can teach it and they will still benefit from it.

A helpful and encouraging final note is to remember that your child, while they may be vaguely aware that you don’t know everything, still thinks you know more than they do. They may not always act like it, but somewhere in their hormone-addled teenage brain, they think you are the authority on any given topic. That means, as long as you learn the material before they do, you can teach it and they will still benefit from it. They may not even realize you are only a few chapters ahead of them in the textbook. Your one-on-one attention and love will do far more than your knowledge to impart the subject to your student.