Comments on: What is your Favorite Homeschool Math Curriculum? Thursday Topics

By: Misty

Misty — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 11:59:02 +0000

Hi Plutuanna,

Why don’t you share your favorite math curriculum with us? We enjoy hearing from other homeschoolers.

Thanks,

Misty

By: Plutuanna

Plutuanna — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 04:32:43 +0000

This looks cool so far, what’s up people?
If there’s anyone else here, let me know.
Oh, and yes I’m a real person LOL.

Later,

By: Jimmie

Jimmie — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 02:22:50 +0000

We use a living math approach. That means we do hands-on games and projects for learning and mastering skills. Plus we read living math books to add in math history.

By: Vickie

Vickie — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:53:33 +0000

I’ve tried a few different math programs out, but our favorite has been Rod & Staff. Just a good classic math. No strange formulas or bright illustrations, but I’ve found it’s a good, solid curriculum that sticks with the children.

By: Misty

Misty — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:45:15 +0000

Wow – thank you Mia and Christine for the great and informative comments. Since I’m looking for some new direction in the math department, I really appreciate the tips!

By: Mia

Mia — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:43:20 +0000

I forgot to mention, when my then 4th grader hit a rough spot with fractions, I purchased Life of Fred Fractions and we scrapped the Abeka book for the rest of the year. I highly recommend these books. She is still working through the Decimals book.

By: Mia

Mia — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:40:32 +0000

When I was new to homeschooling, and first child was in K, I didn’t know much about curriculum. I took her to a co-op twice a week, swim lessons, art lessons at a local museum, trips to the zoo, creative movement lessons – stuff like that. We also read a LOT of library books, including math stories (Stuart J. Murphy, Amy Axelrod, etc.) until my oldest child was in second grade.

At that time I discovered Math Mammoth download and print Blue worktexts – which were inexpensive and thorough. I still use these for memorizing math facts and when a particular concept is difficult.

When oldest was in third and middle child was in K, I got Math-U-See, and they quickly tired of the build-say-write method. Math would bring sighs, tears, etc.

The next year, for my first grader and fourth grader, we used Abeka. Abeka moves quickly and, IMO is very advanced. This worked for first grader, but not fourth grader (who probably didn’t have as coherent a foundation as first grader – my fault).

For this year, we used Abeka for second grader and Saxon 6/5 for fifth grader, which seems to be working very well!

I bought the Abeka from Abeka’s web site. I bought the Saxon 6/5 homeschool kit from http://www.homeschoolsupercenter.com – they had the best price by far, but their shipping is kind of high, so I don’t know if I saved much money in the end.

I also got the corresponding DIVE CD-ROM from Ebay for about $10 – it retails for around $50. We’ll probably by the DIVE CD-ROM again this year – I feel it has been that helpful!

By: Christine Guest

Christine Guest — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:42:35 +0000

I love anything published by the Key-to-Press, plus the books recommended by the Living Math website. When the Miquon books ended, I tried Singapore, which was great (with the teacher’s manual) but I got lazy at making the manipulatives myself. Right now I’ve handed my oldest son the Key-to books, he gets to choose what topic he works on, he has to do 10 pages or 1 hour by the timer whichever comes first, then correct them with the answer key, and give me a narration in the morning. He is really anxious to begin algebra, because he admires our cousin the Ph.D. physicist so, but his calculations do need some polishing first (he’s a ideas are easy, details are annoying kind of kid – like me) He is in 5th grade. We’ve read lots of books with math ideas in them, especially the “Number Devil” and “The Man who Counted.”

My elementary school kid is using Miquon while sitting on my lap. He thinks differently than his brother did, but so far he is getting the ideas, I’m learning how he thinks, so I can see what he needs. But right now, Miquon is working just fine for him.

The toddler just learned how to undo velcro and stack two blocks on top of each other, so her math is coming along nicely too.
-Christine

By: Mia

Mia — Sun, 31 May 2009 18:56:35 +0000

We tried Math-U-See a couple of years ago, but my kids quickly got bored with the build-write-say method. So, we began with Abeka. My rising 3rd grader does well with Abeka – she’s been with it from the beginning. But, my rising 6th grader has done better with Saxon 6/5 plus the DIVE CD-ROM. We also use Life of Fred – she’s still in the decimals book.

I don’t think there’s a perfect curriculum for everyone. There will always be someone who likes it along with those who hate any particular curriculum you can name. Besides, they all teach the same things, just maybe in different ways and at different times. There’s only so much math your child needs to know before they get to algebra.

By: Misty

Misty — Sat, 30 May 2009 19:15:52 +0000

Wow! Thank you all for taking the time to write such thorough and informative comments. I’ll be checking out some of the math programs you’ve recommended.