Which Math Curriculum is Right for Your Family?

Math is one of those subjects you either love to teach or dread teaching.  I know a lot of parents worry about how they will help their children with upper-level math.   Youtube is a great resource to learn how to do math problems.  My daughter is in Pre-Algebra this year so I have had to brush up on my math skills in order to help her understand problems, to do so I watched a lot of Youtube videos.  I am getting pretty good at doing Y intercepts and slope.

Thank Goodness there are so many resources available to help you teach your children...you don't have to teach math by yourself. Some of the favorites that I have personally used in my home are listed below.

CTC Math - After hearing so many great things about this program, I decided to give it a try this year.  This is an online math program that is not Common Core aligned.

Students: 

Learn at their own pace
They can stop and rewind the teacher until they get it
Builds Confidence
24x7 unlimited access
Catch up or get ahead

There are two sign up options, you can sign up for a single user or for a family membership. Once signed up you can access any grade level of math K-12.  When one of my children doesn't understand or remember a concept, I have gone back to previous grade levels to review problems.

As a whole, I have been really happy with CTC math.  My kids love it and seem to be doing well with it.  However, I do believe there is value in figuring out math problems on paper and pencil.  I feel that they retain information better if they work it out on paper. Something about the act of writing transfers the information to the brain better than just typing an answer on the computer.  That's just my observation.

I love how easy it is for my children to log into their profile and finish a lesson.  Most days I don't need to help them, CTC has made my job of teaching math easier.  A big plus for me was no grading required! I use to spend so much time grading math problems.  Sometimes its easy to forget that I still need to monitor what they are learning,  it is helpful that I receive a weekly email with their progress.

Cons: the program can seem expensive.  If you are using it for more than one child, I feel that the value is great. I am getting one curriculum with multiple levels that extend from K-12.  Homeschool Families get a discount!  Occasionally CTC will offer a buy now and get 6 months free. CTC offers a free trial! Worth trying if you are thinking about using CTC.


Khan Academy is a free online math program.  Khan Academy offers so many amazing resources for free. How amazing is that?  Two of my children have used it a lot. Math is offered by subject or by grade, making it easy to navigate.  Instruction videos are available for every single math concept making learning so much easier than trying to read the directions in a textbook.      

If your budget is tight and you don't mind online math program, this is a great one to go with.  The best thing is...No grading required!



Life of Fred
If you've been reading my blog, you know I love Life of Fred. Life Of Fred is like no other math program out there. This math book series is known for weaving math concepts into exciting stories about the 5-year-old math genius. The author has tossed in valuable lessons that kids wouldn’t typically find in a math textbook.  

The elementary series is for grades k-4.  Each lesson tells a story and at the end, the student does up to 10 math problems.  It may seem that with so few problems you may need to add in more math, but the concept is to teach math by telling a story showing how to use the math. It keeps kids engaged instead of "drill and kill" math approach.

The Life of Fred series is fun and engaging.  It repeats math facts in the story, showing how math is used in everyday life. For example, Fred will tell about the vending machines...4 on one side of the hall and 5 on the other making 9.


Saxon Math
Saxon has been around for a long time...in fact, it is the method I used when I went to school.  It is a very thorough math program. 

From the website: Their incremental spiral-approach teaches students information in small amounts and continually repeats concepts to keep newly acquired skills fresh and active. 

 I like the way Saxon is laid out and covers concepts in multiple chapters.  Unlike Life of Fred, it is very textbooky (is that even a word).  While I think it is a good program and kids will come out of it understanding math, my kids prefer CTC math.  I found my math books used on eBay and at homeschool curriculum swaps.  For me, it was important to find the old Saxon textbooks because the new has been updated to Common Core standards.






Teaching Textbooks
This is one of my favorites and my oldest child's favorite. This a computer-based program meaning no grading for you! The old version of this comes with the textbook and CD's which can be very expensive.  I love this program but chose to use CTC math this year because of the expense.  But in researching this post, I found out that Teaching Textbook now offers an online version so no more CD's or books making this program so much more affordable.  My kids never once used the math books that came with the program, they just preferred to do all the problems on the computer so this change looks like a great one if you prefer not to buy a textbook. Now you buy a 10-month subscription and have access to an ebook. Having the actual book and CD you never have to renew your subscription so there are advantages to purchasing the actual book and CD, I have it on hand to use with multiple children without renewing subscriptions, but the new online subscription is cheaper.
Teaching Textbooks offers math programs from Level 3 to High School Calculus making it a great option for your k-12 students.  Each lesson begins with an explanation of how to do new math concepts covered in the lessons.  The explanations are easy to understand and the child can watch them over and over until they understand the concept.  For me using Teaching Textbook freed up time spent on grading.  Each lesson is given a grade and the parent can go back to the lesson and see which problems were missed making it easy to see where the child needs help.

Math Lessons For a Living Education
I am using Math Lessons for a Living Education with my youngest this year.  The lessons are short and easy and can be finished within minutes.  I supplement with math facts flashcards to give her a little more practice with math problems.   Each lesson begins with a short story about twins and what they learn while visiting their grandparent's farm.  Each level 1-6 continues on with the story of the twins.

Amazon Summary: Have you ever noticed that we tend to compartmentalize when teaching our children? In real life, there aren’t artificial barriers between “subjects”. For example, when you are cooking or baking, you have to use the skills of reading, logical thinking, and measuring, just to name a few. In driving a car, you see and read road signs, read maps, and count miles. It has become quite clear that there is an abundance of math curriculums available that are nothing but monotonous drill sheets dressed up in pretty colors. Pretty colors do not make a living book. Content, story, and the ability to show math in real life make a living math book. Math Level 1:

• Teaches math lessons through the creative means of a life story
• Provides a link for the downloadable answer key
• Has a scope and sequence that contains learning numbers 0 to 100, circles and patterns, counting and addition, days of the week, and telling time.

This book was written to be used by you and your young student together. It is the story of a twin brother and sister, Charlie and Charlotte, who are visiting their grandparents’ farm. They soon learn that the farm is full of learning opportunities! As you read their story, your students will be drawn into the adventure along with the twins. They will learn about numbers, shapes, place value, adding, and subtracting. They will also learn about gardening, baby animals on the farm, nature, and the love of family. They will hear exciting stories from Grandpa and Grandma, and they will be invited to join the twins on their living math adventures. We hope you have a grand time on this adventure!

With short story-based lessons, real life discovery, fun worksheets, and hands-on application, Math Lessons for a Living Education gives your child a Love for math! Math Lessons for a Living Education features a Charlotte Mason flavored blend of stories, copy work, oral narration, and hands-on experience to bring concepts to life and invite the student to explore the world around them through math.

Mathematics Enhanced Program
I haven't used this program but have heard good reviews on it.  It is a free program but you have to print off each page and correct each assignment.  If any of you use it, I would love a review on it.

I have used all of the programs except the last one. All of my children prefer a different program so I'm grateful that there are so many options available to them.  I stick to the programs that have not been influenced by Common Core because the traditional approach to math concepts makes more sense to my children and to me.  For fun math stories check out this post.

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