How We Do Math

Math is very important for productive members of society.

I think many homeschool parents are intimidated by teaching math, especially as kids get older and do more complicated work. I love learning along with my kids, filling in the gaps in my own education.

I got lost in math around 6th grade and never really caught up. I love learning along with my kids now!

Here’s how we do math in our homeschool – from preschool to high school.

Primary curriculum is Singapore workbooks, Life of Fred, and VideoText.

We do lots of supplemental math work with stories, games, manipulatives, and apps.

We love notebooking along with workbooks and occasional drill exercises to ensure our kids know their math facts and concepts well to move on to higher level math coursework.

We love keeping math journals. We do special math projects around seasons. We do fun math activities during the holidays like Valentine’s and Easter. I like to incorporate cross-curricular activities for further review. And we love playing with food. The kids like Montessori math games.

We love reading math stories all year long, no matter our age!

Preschool

Babies, toddlers, and preschoolers should play, play, play!

As soon as my kids showed interest, I would let them lead the way and provide opportunities for them to explore and learn about math.

We focus on counting and number recognition: cardinal and ordinal. We play and make math fun.

There is little writing at this age.

We draw, play with shapes, identify, play matching, games, sing songs, play apps.

Alex soon begged for a math workbook like his sisters.

Luckily, I found Singapore K was just right for him!

He would beg to do so many pages each day that he completed both workbooks in just a few months!

I don’t hold back or push my kids. I let them soar and rest as needed.

Elementary

I follow the natural transitions of my kids’ learning.

We’ve loved Singapore Primary Math for levels 1-6 since the beginning of our homeschool journey.

My children have been ready for the Book 1 Set by the time they were 5 years old.

A complete set of Singapore Primary Math for one grade level consists of two softcover textbooks and two consumable workbooks. There are also teacher manuals and homeschool schedule booklets that I never needed or used.

We love notebooking with Life of Fred math.

I read the books aloud and the girls complete the Your Turn at the end of each chapter together with printable themed notebooking pages.

The elementary set of Life of Fred math are 10 books with titles beginning with the alphabet A through J.

Life of Fred is fun reading: it’s a narrative following the character Fred through adventures that entertain as we learn math concepts.

The math concepts in Life of Fred are interspersed with fun stories, life skills, cross-curricular information. We all love it!

We reinforce math concepts with fun store bought, printable, or homemade manipulatives.

Place value, money, and fractions are easier to grasp with visuals.

The girls love learning math with music, doing special activities around the holidays and seasons, and playing math apps on their iPad minis.

Middle School

Singapore Math changes after Book 6.

My eldest jumped right into VideoText, but my younger kids needed a transition curriculum. Singapore has middle school texts that they do with their dad.

The Life of Fred Intermediate books are a great new addition to our math shelf. They weren’t around when Liz was at this level.

I find it funny their titles continue the alphabet with the alphabet: KLM.

These offer a great transition to pre-Algebra and higher math.

I love the Intermediate and “Before High School” sets of Life of Fred.

We completed Fractions, Decimals and Percents, Pre-Algebra 0 with Physics, Pre-Algebra I with Biology, and Pre-Algebra 2 with Economics in about two years.

Middle school is a rough time and we have to make sure all the basics are memorized and all the concepts are learned well. This is super important before moving on to high school math.

Unfortunately, most higher education options expect students to complete the SAT or ACT but these texts help with critical thinking.

I plan to enroll my younger three kids in test prep since my eldest didn’t quite get the score she hoped for on the SAT though she was accepted into Ohio College Credit Plus early admission and then to a local university. She might have to take a math placement test or remedial course.

High School

We love continuing Life of Fred math for high school.

I purchased the last of the series: Beginning and Advanced Algebra, Geometry, and Trigonometry.

I also purchased Calculus, which is listed as college-level, but it tells the story of Fred’s baby years and we wanna know! There are also books on Linear Algebra and Statistics.

We use VideoText Algebra and Geometry for our main college prep high school.

The VideoText Algebra program gives these credits: pre-algebra, algebra I, and algebra II.

The VideoText Geometry program gives these credits: geometry, trigonometry, and pre-calculus.

It was always highly recommended by homeschoolers I knew for high school math. The videos are a little dry, but the lessons cover all the material needed. Both Videotext algebra and geometry can be completed in two years if you rush it.

My eldest went through VideoText Algebra in a little over a year. She and her dad worked through one lesson each school day.

We’re lucky that I’m a history/language arts/biology person and my husband is a math/chemistry guru.

Liz completes her video lesson and notes during the day and then she works through the text with Dad before dinner each evening. There are also quizzes and tests.

We teach to mastery, reviewing and supplementing as needed.

Visit my Math Journals Pinterest board:

Resources:

• Ideas, Activities and FREE Notebook Pages
• Life of Fred Worksheets
• Is Life of Fred enough?
• Life of Fred; Apples, Chapter 5
• Life of Fred; Apples, Chapter 1 Math Lesson
• Free Printables for Life of Fred

What are your favorite math activities?