Math has been the one subject that has caused the most stress for me and my children.
I LOVE math!
Most of my children do not.
After several trials and errors with curriculum we have finally found what works for us. Our journey started with Saxon Math. My mom had a lot of the homeschool kits provided by Saxon Math and sent them to me to use. My oldest daughter didn’t have too much of a problem. She did get bored with the repetition and black and white worksheets but she plugged along.
My second daughter, Semisweet, absolutely hated it. She just couldn’t understand the concepts. It was frustrating for me because I didn’t know how else to teach her. I loved math from the beginning and was quick to learn everything. I couldn’t understand why she didn’t get it. We suffered through two years of tears when it came to math with her.
The summer after that second year I finally realized she learned differently than I did. This was new to me! Why didn’t I know people learned in different ways? I researched learning styles and was able to figure out she was a kinesthetic learner- completely opposite of my read/write learning style. The next school year we began using Math-U-See with her. WOW! What a difference it made for her {and me}! She was able to understand the concepts. She progressed quickly and felt confident in her abilities again.
After that year I realized I needed to do a better job in matching the curriculum I used with how my children learn. Semisweet continued to use Math-U-See, the rest of my children began using Abeka math. The concepts are taught in a similar way that Saxon teaches but the workbooks are more colorful, something younger children enjoy. None of my children have been as kinesthetic as Semisweet. Abeka has worked for them.
Right now we use Abeka math through 5th grade. For the middle school years we use Saxon math with D.I.V.E. cds. The D.I.V.E. cds are life savers because they can be played over and over and over again. I don’t feel like I’m losing my mind teaching the same things over and over again. We have also found that some concepts are taught differently from how I learned them and showing both ways helps my kids tremendously. High school math is taken through the virtual academy we are doing for high school – more about that in another post.
There are a myriad of math choices out there. It may take several tries before you find the one that clicks for your family. We tried a few before settling with Abeka {Singapore, Miquon}. We also use other things/games to add variety – Quarter Mile Math and the free resources listed below.
Free Resources we use:
XtraMath – drills are done every day to help kids master basic math facts. They must achieve 100% on addition before moving on to subtraction, then multiplication, then division.
Sheppard Software – a LOT of fun games that cover not only basic math facts but fractions, decimals, measurement, etc. Also has algebra.
Khan Academy – learn anything with these great online videos!
What math curriculum works for you? Leave a comment with your reviews!
Math has been my favorite subject to teach, especially higher math. But I even love teaching the basics to my children. It is the reading that I dread teaching. I’ve been using starfall since your reading post and it is making a HUGE difference for my little one’s. Thanks.
I love teaching math too. It’s my kids who don’t enjoy it as much as I do. All but one {so far} inherited their dad’s dislike of it. The older girls, though, are very grateful that Mom can help them with the higher math and they don’t have to have tutors. Semisweet did so well with her high school algebra this year her teacher asked her if she’d like to tutor other students. She thought that was a terrific joke because she hates math so much!
Diane we also love whizzizzle phonics games. We have all six (come in two different sets I think) and it is basically Uno but with words and it teaches step by step. It is really great.
We use singapore math. I guess I got really lucky because both kids liked it right away. We’ve been using it two years.
If you have out grown whizzizzle cards. let me know.
Hi, whizzizzle phonics is now being produced again, but rebranded as Crazy A’s. It’s for sale at https://gallopinggames.com/shop
We went through the same thing with Lucy and Emma. Lucy did just fine with Saxon but we had to switch with Emma. I tried Singapore before I bit the bullet and bought Math-U-See. What a difference!
After reading your earlier posts on math curriculumns, I chose Math-U-See for my younger son. We were switching him from one school to another because the Saxon math program used by the first school just frustrated him. What a difference a summer of Math-U-See made! He was able to grasp concepts readily and confidently. He was able to walk into the new school and feel capable. I will say, though, that the Math-U-See dvd teacher needs a make over. He’s a little rough to watch. But he’s really good!
We use Math U See for my Kinesthetic son & Singapore for the others. I do not like Saxon. Could you tell me why you chose Abeka over Singapore, please? Getting ready to start my 5th son & have not decided for sure what to use for him. Thanks
We use teaching textbooks after a few trial and very much error on choosing one that worked for us.
It is so individual isn’t it?! Good thing there are so many different things for us all to try. 🙂
I have been waiting for this post ever since I saw it scheduled on your calendar. Math is a struggle @ our house. It’s not that they can’t do it, they just don’t like it. I’ve tried a few and have finally settled on Horizons. Not sure if there is a right one for us. We’ll just keep plugging along.
We have used a lot of different ones too. Saxon works great for my youngest and teaching textbooks works wonderfully well for my older one. My boy did very well with Singapore, but our favorite for everyone was Math Mammoth. It was the best for all the different needs we had… and because it was on a cd, I was able to print as many as I needed and use it over and over. I wish I had found it with my older girls.