My Homeschool Math
Curriculum

The basic format I follow for my homeschool math curriculum is to use Math U See for grades K through 4th. This covers beginning math concepts for the kindergartner, then addition, subtraction, multiplication and division for the 1st through 4th grader.

I really like this program for kids trying to learn their basic facts because it teaches using all of the learning styles: auditory, visual and hands-on. Even I have learned some neat short cuts and tricks that I didn't know before. Although I don't use it for the upper grades, we have tried a few of them and it did help me to "see" the why of Algebra. I was amazed and many times have hit my head and said "Oh, now I get it". If your child has a hard time grasping math and needs to see why things are done the way they are done, this would be a good program to check out.

This age gets a little fuzzier for me. It really depends on the student how exactly I am going to progress in my homeschool math curriculum, but I generally use Life of Fred math books for 5th and 6th grades. These two years cover fractions and decimals/percents. This series of books is great. Each book is written as a day in the life of a five year old university professor named Fred. Throughout the book, Fred encounters real life problems that he solves using math - such as fractional concepts for the fraction book and so on.

Life of Fred is meant to be a program that the student works through him/herself, so if your child likes to work on their own, then this would be a great series for him/her to tackle.

At this point, I have a 7th and 8th grader to deal with, so if I think they are ready for algebra, I'll move right into the Life of Fred beginning algebra book.

If I don't feel that my student is ready for beginning algebra, then I will take this year or two to to go back to Saxon Math. Again, depending on their ability, I will either go into the Saxon 7/6 book and then into Algebra 1/2 or just go right into Algebra 1/2. I like Saxon for the upper grade math. We have done their other books in the past (you know, 5/4, 6/5...) and as long as you don't make the student do all of the problems, I have found it to be a very thorough program.

In years' past, we have also used the D.I.V.E. CDs that go along with the Saxon program. The teacher on the CD works through each lesson and gives a good explanation of the concept as well as a lot of examples. These work great when you, the real teacher, are short on time!

Once my student is ready for Algebra, I switch back to the Life of Fred books and use those throughout the high school years.

Hopefully seeing my homeschool math curriculum will help you to decide on yours!