Thursday 1 July 2021

Math Resources for Home Education

Welcome to week 14 of  Blogging through the Alphabet 2021!I have had such a great week.  On Sunday Paul, Nathaniel and I had our  🇦🇺 Australian Citizenship conferred on us. Paul wrote a heartfelt poem about it that I shared on the blog on Monday. Today has been full as I've attended a Universtity Open Day as I'm trying to decide which degree to pursue.  

This week I am excited to share a little about Math Resources available for home educators and my co-host Desiree is sharing M is for Mindstorms.


I am always surprised by how the subject of math fills each of us with dread or fear and I often wondered why.  I don't struggle with math however I do have those anxious feelings whenever I think about math.  Over the years I've been curious about Math and teaching math and have done a little research.  

For me one of the defining moments of understanding teaching math came after I read the article History and Research on the Teaching of Math I highly recommend you read this article before you make a decision on your math curriculum.

Some interesting points I've discovered on the subject of teaching/learning math...

  • . . . early childhood may simply be an inefficient period in which to try to teach skills that can be relatively quickly learned in adolescence.  (Prime Time for Education: Early Childhood or Adolescence ? by W.D.Rohwer, Jr)
  • Mathematics in every form is a subject ill-fitted to the child mind. It deals not with real things, but with abstractions. When referred to concrete objects, it concerns not the objects themselves, but their relations to each other. It involves comparison, analysis, abstraction . . . (Cyclopedia of Education p.208 William H Burnham)
  • . . . successful school achievement in areas requiring use of concepts - such as numbers, classes, and spatial and causal relationships - correlated highly with mental age. Developing these concepts was especially associated with success in arithmetic, problem solving, and spelling. (Feyberg)
Over the years I've shared multiple thoughts on teaching/learning math, you can read more in depth about it here...

Scope and Sequence
When looking at changing math programs remember to take  scope and sequence into account.

  • Scope refers to the content.  In other words these are the topics covered (A to Z)
  • Sequence is the order in which the scope is taught (IE the order in which things are covered within the program)
It is important to know this about your math product or you might end up redoing math your child is already familiar with or you might end up skipping a whole lot of important content that your child needs in order to succeed at math.

Programs I've reviewed

I asked a few homeschool groups online to find out what my friends are using to teach Math and these are the ones they listed: 

Math Programs

 Pinterest

TED talks on math
I have enjoyed TED talks on the subject of math. They have helped me think through my preconceived ideas on teaching and learning math.

What are you using to teach math in your homeschool?

Blessings 

Chareen

Find the other ABC posts in this series here:

  1. A is for Art Lessons at Home
  2. B is for Books Where do You Purchase Yours? 
  3. Charlotte Mason a Round Up of Posts 
  4. Delight Directed Education
  5. Encouragement for Weary Homeschooling Mothers
  6. For the Children's Sake  
  7. G is for Geography
  8. Homeschool Bloggers  
  9. Instagramers to follow who are homeschooling
  10. Joy in Your Homeschool Journey
  11. Know Yourself - Stop the Comparison Game  
  12. Life Skills in Your Homeschool
  13. Math Resource for Home Education

Featured from Week 10 all things 'K'

 This Week over at Our Homeschool Notebook the topic is M is for Mindstorms

 

Please link up your posts starting with the letter M for this weeks ABC Blogging

4 comments:

  1. I have learned through homeschooling that I love math. More than I thought I did as a kid. I've also discovered that there is a math genius in all of my kids that just wants to come out, but we just can't tap into it. Math is just dreaded everyday. I am looking forward to listening to some of those talks. Love all the thoughts about math you have given!

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  2. We are using CTCMath, the materials from My Father's World kindergarten curriculum, workbook from Math Essentials, and some worksheets from My Teaching Library.

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  3. Thank you for the resources, Chareen. I have to agree. Teaching Textbooks is my favorite by far too.

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  4. Oh that TED talk on math being a language is really good and should be watched by everyone. Great list of lots of helpful resources, ideas, and programs.

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