Learning algebra is hard. This is a truth from which many shy away. Many parents don't like seeing their children struggle. Many people don't understand the benefits of struggling. While common idioms like "from failing you learn" are tossed around, the reality of failure is no fun. It is no surprise to learn that parents and students shift their focus as soon as the struggle begins. It's commonly in January that many math students realize that they don't remember everything from the fall semester and therefore will struggle with the next semester of learning. The answer to this dilemma is not quitting, finding a different curriculum, or labeling yourself as a 'non-math' person. This dilemma reveals one thing: you are a limited human learning something infinite.
Congratulations, reaching this level is an accomplishment. You have successfully joined the real world of learners. The brave ones. The ones who don't shy from a challenge, but face the world head-on and discover the beauty and truth and goodness in God's creation. As mathematician Paul Lockhart says, "This is really what keeps me in the math game-- the chance that I might glimpse some kind of secret underlying truth, some sort of message from the gods."
Unfortunately, reaching this struggling point still leaves you with a question to answer: What are you going to do about it? What do you do when you realize that you don't know the exponent laws or remember the power of the identity?
Start Where you Are
Remind yourself of what you do know. You may not remember how to solve simultaneous equations, but do you know what a linear equation is? Do you know what the solution to a system of equations represents? Do you remember how to read and where to go to find information on systems? Do you have a math masters membership so you can access Lori's lessons on systems?
It's true. Having to go back to the beginning and starting where you are will take more time than you may want to spend. If algebra is worth learning, it's worth the time. Believe me, there are few things that will shape your brain to think like God than the study of his language of creation. While it's true that the truths in mathematics can help us build a bridge, that's too simplistic. We don't study hard things and bang our head against walls in order to build a bridge, we do it to glimpse the beauty of God. Stick with it! Doing the hard thing is worth the time!