I obtained my qualifications in South Africa before immigrating to the USA. I graduated in the top 30 students at Durban-Westville University with majors in Physics and Applied Mathematics. I wanted to study pure mathematics, but the company paying for my studies had no interest in a mathematician. They wanted me to study materials engineering, so I obtained a Master of Science in Metallurgical Engineering from The University of the Witwatersrand. I worked as metallurgist for a few years while I was completing my Higher Education Diploma (Postgraduate) through the University of South Africa to teach high school science and mathematics. For the last 6 months before leaving South Africa I taught Mathematics at a private boy's school to fill in for a teacher who was on maternity leave.
Once in the USA I volunteered at a summer school and taught high school math. I obtained my Ohio teaching certificate, and I started studying towards a Masters in Mathematics at Youngstown State University. For 2 years I worked at the university teaching algebra to sophomore students while I studied there. I had to abandon my studies when we moved states since my credits did not transfer.
Since then I have homeschooled my children, who are now in high school and college, and I have tutored other homeschoolers in algebra, which is my passion. I firmly believe that anybody can do math, and I love to see people succeed in it. The key is understanding what you are doing rather than going through set of memorized steps. Obviously there are things that need to be remembered, but my focus is on understanding. Math builds on itself, and a weak foundation causes trouble later on. I focus on finding those weaknesses and strengthening them so they can be built upon.