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...

• Math ... All About Math
• Math is a problem - What now ?
• Math Curriculum
• File Folder Fun: Noah's Ark Multiplication
• Math and Logic Resource {Virtual Curriculum Fair} 
• Math in High School   

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

• Math Rider - Math Fact PC Game
• A+ TutorSoft On line math program
• A Plus Interactive Math Adaptive Placement Test and Individualized Lesson Plan {Review}  
• TouchMath - This is a great hands on program. 
• Math Squeebles - Math App
• UberSmart Math Facts {Review} 
• Times Alive {Review} - I really enjoyed using this :D 
• Sunya - The Magic and Wonder of Math and Science Multiplying & Dividing {Sunya Publishing Review}
• LOGICO Learning Game Review - This is a fabulous hands on resource
  

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

• Teaching Textbooks (This is my favourite math program by far)
• Life of Fred
• Mathletics
• Math Mammoth
• Targeting Maths 
• Maths On Line
• Right Start Math
• Cambridge
  
• Abeka Full Math program from Pre K - 12
• Saxon Math
• Singapore Math
• Horizons Math
• CalcuLadder 1 and 2- Drill worksheets from Learning Vitamins
• Horizons Math
• Miquon Math
• Math*U*See
• MegaGeex 
• Khan Academy 
• Math Seeds
• Math-U-See and the online version can be found here Math U See E Learning
  

 Pinterest

•  Math
• Mostly FREE Math Worksheets
• Math YouTube 

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.

• Dr. Padmanabhan Seshaiyer - Mathematics, A Multidisciplinary Universal Language
• Dan Meyer - Math class needs a makeover Dan is a high school math teacher. Great insight about the differences between computation and math reasoning. Cause and effect of loss of reasoning.  Really interesting talk. He shows how text books hamstring students learning.
• John Bennett - Why Math Instruction is unnecessary John is a home school Dad who is also a highschool teacher. This is one of my favorite talks. 
• Arthur Benjamin - Lightning calculation and other "Mathemagic" Interesting show demonstrating how quickly math calculations can be computed. This one is more for fun :)

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'

• L is for Laser Maze and LEGO ABCs: L is for Legoland over at Our Homeschool Notebook
• L is for Lee over at A Mom's Quest to Teach.
• ... of the World over at At Home Pets
• ... over at A Net in Time
  
• Homeschooling Tips from A to Z: the Letter L over at Homeschooling Highway 
•   ... by Lori at At Home: Where Life Happens.
  

 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