I’m always done with homeschooling, so thought I’d document all I’d learned over the years from the various homeschool math curriculum I’d tried or heard about. This will be one of my never to be completed series on homeschool curriculums!
Over the years, I’ve come to realize I teach like I bake: I collect a bunch of recipes, try to combine them or use them all somehow, realize it doesn’t work, and finally come up with a recipe that works for me.
I usually follow one “spine” for scope and sequence. This is after several years of Montessori math and realizing that unless you spend a lot of money, you don’t have the support material to do the actual implementation for practice. Not every kid likes to come up with equations to practice; sometimes they like to be told what to do.
Oh a little soap box before I go on. After so many years of teaching math, I’ve come to realize that the most important thing is to make children feel like math is fun and not hard. Try not to make the problems so challenging that they feel like failures when they don’t get it. The goal is really a kid who likes or loves math by high school.
Here are the math curriculum I tried, considered, their pros and cons, why I picked them, at what age, etc etc. This will be a short snippet overview otherwise the post will be too long.
What Did We Use?
I started with Montessori math for both kids in preschool. Eventually I learned to pull in workbook practice from Chinese math, Evan Moore, and Montessori curriculum. It took me many years to figure out that the 2nd step in Montessori’s 3 period lesson (practice, practice, practice) is the most important step, but since the Montessori curriculum I had didn’t have the actual practice problems, I had to look elsewhere.
Thumper did Michael Waski’s Montessori Algebra and Geometry in middle school on top of whatever she learned in Taiwanese public and private school. I actually think those Taiwan schools came at a good time and solidified some of her learning in a more practiced way and prepared her for high school.
Astroboy learned Montessori math in Taiwan school for 4th and 5th grade. In 6th we did Montessori scope and sequence but Dimensions Math as worksheet. In 7th he’s doing AOPS Algebra 1 math but I plan to bring Montessori back in when he doesn’t get a concept or use Dimensions Math for practice when he needs it.
Montessori Math
If you’re willing to spend the money on Montessori math materials, this is a great curriculum. We used it up to 6rd grade religiously, and then I pulled it out as a supplemental material when I used other curriculum.
If you’re starting homeschooling late, and have had other types of math, it’s better to use the material as a supplement because philosophically, it’s about manipulation of material and I find that kids who have had public school math, where they are taught symbols early on instead of material, can have a hard time switching the way their brain thinks about math.
For any kid who struggles with math, I definitely try to explain concepts with the materials (even up to Algebra!) before I resort to traditional methods. Her material represents math in a much different way from preschool on and it can really make Algebra type of math easier when you’ve laid the foundation with Montessori math.
Specific curriculum I’ve used are
- Scope and Sequencing from NAMTA. So essential to know order of presentation.
- Montessori for Everyone’s printed exercises.
- NAMTA exercises
- Michael Waski’s middle school Algebra and Geometry textbooks. This goes into Trig even!
One great reason to use Montessori is if you’re starting early (preschool), and also the math concepts can be 1-3 years advanced that you can take your math slowly or repeat as necessary. It’s one reason we were able to slack off in the early years.
I also did not care about state standards in elementary years because I believed in Montessori math and knew we’d be ahead. This allowed us to work on a concept till we’re sick of it, usually covering 1-2 years in one setting. Then we come back to it again, review, and spiral up.
Oh, one con of Montessori is that it can be a little weak in all the areas of math concepts that are required in school. But our approach has always been, go pull in other sources when we find out through testing that we need to learn that concept.
Singapore Math
To me, Singapore Math and Dimensions Math is for the child who needs a step by step, repetitive, and step by step way of learning math.
I’ve never used Singapore. I hear it’s 1 year ahead. I also heard from a parent that the way it teaches the concepts was confusing to the child. I looked at it when I tutored a child briefly who had trouble with some concepts. Coming from traditional math, I did not like the way it presented the concepts. Nor do I like all the word problems.
For me it was kind of like Montessori in that it presented math in a different way, but there are no manipulative to make it understandable.
In any case, so many of my friends used Singapore and liked it. So it’s one option if you’re not going the Beast Academy/AOPS route.
Dimensions Math
I used Dimensions Math for a kid in middle school and found it really works for a child who needs step by step, repetitive, concepts super broken down, kind of math.
For example, for intro to algebra concepts, it had 2 sets of sample problems for just simplifying numbers/symbols. It makes the child practice for every slight variation in concept or difference in symbol. And it’s much needed for a kid who learns through repetitive practice.
I hear that Dimensions Math is easier than Singapore. But that if you finish Dimensions 8, you’re basically done with Algebra 1. So this is a good viable option if you don’t have a super gifted math kid but they’re still advanced in math.
This is basically our workbook practice in Middle School.
Various Taiwan math practice books
You don’t want to know how many Taiwanese math practice books I’ve purchased over the years and didn’t quite use. While in Taiwan, I also bought a bunch to teach Fleur’s kids and Astroboy.
We honestly didn’t get very far because the practice problems are so boring for me and I can’t stand it myself. Though I’ve come to realize that you can get around it by learning how to assign problems. (Yes, you don’t have to do every single problem in a page!)
In the early years, I also used Free Taiwan math books to practice zhuyin.
I taught a semester of middle school math using these free books. Conceptually it’s kind of like Singapore Math, but you really need a teacher to implement it well because sometimes it feels like it’s 鑽牛角尖. The math is advanced and done a slightly different way. I gave up after a semester and had much better luck teaching with Dimensions Math.
Teaching Textbook
A friend uses Teaching Textbook. It’s a good option for the parent who doesn’t want to teach as it has teaching materials.
From my research, TT is lower level math in that the math taught is very simple and easy. But I think it worked for my friend because she paired it with extra practice in IXL and Singapore Math after they finish TT in 4-5 months for the school year.
IXL
Oops, how can I forget IXL! Before using Dimensions Math, I relied on IXL for the practice part of my Montessori math lessons when it seems like a kid doesn’t get a concept.
IXL isn’t hard math. It’s repetitive math that divides concepts into minutia strands. I finally learned after talking to my friend that you don’t have to ask a child to get to 100! (See why I’m suited for Dimensions type of math? I need step by step and can’t think outside of the box.)
So now I ask a child to just do it up to 70%. That’s usually 4-5 problems. They are asked to do it up to 100% when they’re having trouble with the next concept. That last 30% gives you more challenging problems.
Evan Moore workbooks
The problem with IXL is that the child isn’t writing anything down. So in the last 2-3 years, while tutoring other kids, I’ve started using Evan Moore workbooks more extensively.
Evan Moore has a Teacher’s Filebox website that I subscribed for $15 a year through someone. I saved to PDF the math worksheets I needed. (Only for the weird person who likes doing repetitive, brainless, time consuming work, all in the name of saving money!)
I like to use Evan Moore when a kid needs to practice concepts more than usual. Or if I need to get a child through public school grade level standards.
Last year, I used the Daily Math Practice for a child who doesn’t like repetitive math work (like Singapore Math does!). They did the daily math practice daily to firm up basic math operations. Then I’d cover a concept they did not know by using Montessori math or Beast Academy.
The Daily Math Practice was helpful in finding holes in your grade level standards, useful when you know a child is going back to public school and you want to make sure they’ve got their standards covered.
Evan Moore also has Basic Math Skills and Math Fundamentals if I need simple, easy worksheets on a math concept for practice.
Beast Academy or AOPS
I usually say, for gifted math kids, use Beast Academy. It’s not just for gifted kids as a lot of my friends use it. I think it’s for the homeschool parent who likes advanced math as BA is about a year ahead of public school.
But in our household, Astroboy is really the one who benefits from Beast. The way he thinks about math is really the way Beast teaches it. As in, from an early age he liked to think of math in an abstract way, to play with them in an abstract way, and he calculates math in the way Beast calculates math, all by himself.
For example, he knew that for something like 99+3, you make it 100+2, without someone teaching him.
I point this out because one child I taught did not benefit from these types of thinking about math. I don’t benefit from this type. Even though as an adult, the more I use mental math, the more I think of math this way. But I know this is partly because I had years of early Dimensions/Singapore type of math and repetitive practice to make solid my basic math skills.
Every child just has a different way of learning.
Astroboy is doing online AOPS self study this year. I think he still needs someone to sit with him while he does it even though its his kind of math. In addition, the lack of required “show work” means math gets harder and harder for him Algebra and up. Because he is so used to wanting to calculate numbers but algebra is really about functions and procedures, it doens’t care about numbers.