When I was in third grade, I wrote a journal entry in a school notebook each school day, and almost every single entry began with "I hate math." I think journaling time must have come after our math lesson. At any rate, my discomfort with math hasn't changed since I began homeschooling. Nevertheless teaching homeschool mathematics doesn't have to be painful. The resources for teaching math at home are plentiful, and some are even free.
Again, for this post, I've focused on secular curricula, and for mathematics, I'm focusing on curricula for 1-12 grades, although some provide K curricula as well. Kids who are ready can start many of the first-grade level mathematics in Kindergarten.
Homeschool curricula typically approach teaching mathematics in one of two ways. First, in mastery mathematics programs, a child focuses on a specific concept until he or she understands, thus mastering that concept. In the spiral math programs, children are introduced to a concept and then reminded of the concept at regular intervals while learning new concepts.
There are also many ways to teach mathematics in homeschool. For the sake of this post, I'm going to focus on teaching math through media-based mathematics programs (such as would have a tutorial or teacher teaching concepts) as well as the pencil and paper mathematics, in which parents or a tutor read the teachers' manual to understand how to teach specific concepts to children. The children then typically finish assessments on paper.
Mathematics homeschool curricula also differ in the amount of hands-on learning that occurs as opposed to lectures. Manipulatives (such a blocks, shapes, plastic clocks, or money) are something to consider especially for the lower grades.
Parents are not always confident in teaching difficult mathematical concepts. These programs use media to teach these concepts, thus providing a "teacher" to help, and automatic grading, providing explanations of mistakes so students can learn.
Other popular and useful homeschool math curricula provide more traditional learning, with textbooks, student workbooks, tests, and quizes. These may also require the parent or tutor to sit with the child to help them understand concepts.
I feel I can't end this post without adding some of my favorite CREATIVE mathematics curriculum. I use Miquon with my preschooler and Beast Academy's comic books as a supplemental "fun" part of math for my second grader. Some people use these are a full curriculum as well.
Overall, this has been a lot of math curricula to consider! I hope this helps narrow down what types of program might work for you and your children.
Homeschooling can feel overwhelming, but take things one step at a time. I’m giving you a lot of information here. But YOU get to decide what you want to make a priority. Work on establishing the basics, and ease into the rest of what you want to cover when you feel more comfortable with it.
Math is an essential skill that will be used for your child’s entire life. There is no escaping it. Without math, your child would struggle with necessities and basic skills, such as bake cookies, balance a budget, and divide medicine dosages correctly. Here are a few things parents can do at home to help your
Read MoreIf there is one story that my kids loved to return to over and over again when they were little, it was Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I added these favorite Goldilocks characters to kindergarten math activities, making hands-on learning fun and connecting our math lessons in with our story reading activities. Counting, putting numbers
Read MoreFor a time, my preschooler struggled with counting to 10. Those upper numbers just could not seem to go in order! She also did not yet recognize the numerals and could not quite comprehend 1-to-1 correspondence. But, she loves hands-on fun, so I decided to make her activity mats for counting with gold coins to
Read MoreMarch is Rainbow season! I love figuring out how to incorporate rainbow fun into our homeschool. For my kindergartner, who loves rainbows, I decided to make a rainbow as a learning project for remembering the ten bonds for early math skills! This fun rainbow math craft takes very little time but it creates a physical
Read MoreOne way my history-loving child and I love to approach science is through learning about the amazing people who have taught the world so much. In honor of Women’s History Month, I thought we’d take a look at some amazing women in STEM. Biographies about Women in STEM (Annotated List) One thing many biographies about
Read MoreI’ve been basing the “how to get started guides” on my state requirements for what subjects must be taught. This post includes some other subjects that students may or may not be required to be taught and that you may want include, including homeschool foreign language options, life skills in your homeschool, and more.
Read More