Math is a tough subject for some people. Many homeschooling parents struggle in choosing which math curriculum they should use in their homeschool program.
We know nobody has the time to decipher math lessons, especially if you’re not a “math-lover”. So, which one of these curriculum can make your life easy?
Consider what type of learner your child is to help you choose the right homeschool math curriculum. Here are some options:
This curriculum carries for kindergarten up through middle school. Using an abacus as its main foundation, the program encourages problem-solving through a visual tool to convey and illustrate new concepts.
Early math learners use math games to review the material, along with a variety of manipulatives. With this practice, it can minimize review worksheets and eliminates stressful flash cards. These games provide interesting and varied repetition that is needed for the automatic responses to the facts.
RightStart Math sells kits with lots of manipulatives. This unique, award-winning, hands-on program de-emphasizes counting, uses visualization of quantities, and provides strategies and visual pictures for learning the facts. The combination makes it an appealing choice for a visual or kinesthetic learner.
7 Generation Games create educational adventure games that make math scores go up! Kids who played 7 Generation Games saw math scores improve 30% in just 10 weeks – a 3x improvement over the control group.
In all of their games, interactive mathematics is similar to state assessments, with drag-and-drop features, number lines and chart capabilities. They have games available for Mac, Windows, Chromebook, iPad, iPhone and Android.
7 Generation Games also provides teacher resources and lesson plans and reports to complement the learning process. Click here to go to their teacher resources page.
3. Math-U-See
This curriculum practices the spiral approach to math, continuing to review concepts taught previously. Each level comes with student workbook, teaching guide with videos, and a test booklet.
Math-U-See is a hands-on, student-paced, mastery-based approach that focuses on developing a true understanding of mathematical concepts transferable to a real-world application using manipulatives.
You’ll follow a 4-step approach to introduce, review, practice and master concepts. Since math is learned sequentially – independent of age or grade – the program teaches skills that build on previous principles as your child progresses. Math-U-See addresses the different ways we process information. This means, your children incorporate all senses in meaningful ways that aid retention, they’ll build essential cumulative skills for later use.
The consistent top ranking of Singapore students in the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement makes this program a very popular choice for homeschoolers.
Singapore Math has very colorful picture approach to math and emphasizes mental math methods and problem-solving abilities for levels K-12. The goal of the program is to lay a solid foundation for mental math which is extremely clear, highly logical and sequential. This enables a child to think mathematically instead of just memorizing.
Each level comes with two textbooks as well as one or two consumable workbooks. There is an optional home instructor’s guide for some grades, which many parents use to give them tips on how to present the lessons. The challenging word problems build thinking skills, and students apply math in a variety of situations. They get an appropriate amount of practice, without excessive repetition.
This is a great curriculum if you are worried that you can’t homeschool because you could never teach higher math.
The program is created specifically for homeschoolers and allows children to complete all lessons with a set of interactive CD-ROMs. Students can then view the lesson, do the problems, and then watch a tutor explain the ones they missed.
Each level includes a student workbook, an answer booklet, and a series of CD-ROMs that contains all lessons and solutions to problems. The computer then grades each lesson automatically.
Teaching Textbooks has programs from 3rd grade all the way up to Pre-Calculus.
However, keep in mind that math is a challenging topic. So even if you use an online or video-based homeschool math curriculum, you should still spend time reviewing and discussing math concepts together or looking for math in everyday life.
Learning math could be overwhelming for some children, but of course, you don’t need to complete every lesson at once. You may assign the right amount for your child, and then finish the lesson another day.
As a final tip: Do NOT become a slave to the curriculum. It is just a tool for teaching your child. If you think it is not working, pause and re-evaluate your curriculum. You may also try downloadable samples from the internet for free! Don’t fret! Math should be fun and not frustrating!