The Top 10 Homeschool Math Comparison Review
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- Опубликовано: 8 фев 2025
- There are so many great math programs out there it can be nearly impossible to decide what will work best for your family... especially if you are shopping online. In this homeschool math curriculum comparison, I pull out the top ten math programs including: Teaching Textbooks vs. Math U See vs. A Beka vs. Singapore vs. Math Lessons for a Living Education vs. Life of Fred vs. JUMP vs. RightStart vs. Horizons vs. Strayer-Upton. I'll show you inside the books, talk about what kind of learning styles and homeschool styles each homeschool math curriculum will work best for and help you compare and identify which one will be a better fit.
LINKS:
Blog post (with pictures and comparison charts): homeschoolon.co...
Teaching Textbooks: homeschoolon.co...
RightStart: homeschoolon.co...
Math U See: homeschoolon.co...
Math Lessons for a Living Education: homeschoolon.co...
A Beka: homeschoolon.co...
JUMP: homeschoolon.co...
Life of Fred: homeschoolon.co...
Singapore: homeschoolon.co...
Horizons: homeschoolon.co...
Strayer-Upton: homeschoolon.co...
Saxon: homeschoolon.co...
Moving Beyond the Page: homeschoolon.co...
WHAT WE USE:
We use Math Lessons for a Living Education (Charlotte Mason math totally fits my homeschool style and values) for nearly all of the kids. We have one son who is trying the online version of Teaching Textbooks and one daughter who is using RightStart math. So far it seems to be working well for everyone and we are looking forward to a great year of math!
What we are using for all our curriculum this year: homeschoolon.co...
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
Even though this video is 4 years old, it is still a huge help with the break down, pros/cons of every curriculum.
I wish she would review EVERYTHING about homeschool! This is amazing and sooo helpful!
I wanted to add this very important detail regarding the Singapore Math model. In the US, using a standard US math curriculum, the teacher will introduce a new math concept and will deliver a mini-lecture about the math topic. The teacher will focus a great deal of time and attention to showing the students the physical representation of the math problem, which is an abstract "drawing" which has its own particular syntax and is made up of numbers, letters (variables), and symbols. The teaching model that is used in Singapore Math is so much more meaningful and interesting for the students. The teacher starts off discussing the math topic and teaches the students using only concrete everyday objects (blocks, dice, coins, marbles, dice, etc) and students are given a problem that they solve using those concrete objects. They then transition into the 'draw a picture' method to solve the problem; this just means that instead of using the concrete manipulativs, the students will work the problem by drawing anipulatives that they used in the prior step. The 3rd and final step is to show the students the actual math problem -- by now, the students really understand the math topic, and the introduction of the abstract math problem does not deraul them.
I’m sorry I completely disagree it’s a horrible program and the teachers at our school have no idea how to teach it. It’s like common core math…
@@dutchessruru77 Is this the first year that your school is using Singapore Math? Did your school invest in the “train-the-trainer” options to teach the teachers how to teach SM?
Wow. Wow. I am so impressed by your review! Please do MORE of these style reviews!! New subscriber - you are well-spoken, confident, and I love how broad-sweeping and comprehensive your video is!
Thanks Anna!! Feel free to reach out if you have any questions in the future!
Well thank you! I've been listening to your podcasts and watching your videos the last couple of days and I'm really enjoying them☺️
Agreed!
Yes! More reviews. I'm starting with my 5 year old this year and this was very helpful. Now I need the other subjects!
Great review. Just a thought, I think it would be more powerful to compare the same grade across all the curriculum. Also, while RightStart is very teacher intensive in the earlier levels, the last two levels are written to the student and are done independently.
Great input!! Was thinking exactly the same thing…. To compare the same grade across
I was thinking exactly the same...
This review was simply phenomenal. I appreciate how detailed it was and your advice on things to consider and think about. All children learn differently and this video helped me make a decision on which curriculum to choose. I can’t thank you enough! I look forward to watching more of your great content. God bless.
Thank you so much Sandra! Hope to bring some more comparison reviews in the future!
I’ve been using Abeka for my Kinder and first grader - I had to stop for the kindergartener because like you said- it definitely moved too fast for him...
@@mimsley5 you have to
Ysl
Great Reviews! Helpful video! I'm so tired of videos where the homeschooling mom talks a whole lot but really says nothing at all.....this was great!!
Math Lessons for a Living Education is a wonderful curriculum for kids with dyslexia or processing disorders, because the lessons are so gentle. It has been a game changer for my daughter!
Just starting research for fall homeschooling for first time. This was THE BEST video I've seen so far! Thank you for the thorough explanations w/out personal convictions! Perfect!
THE BEST MATH CURRICULUM REVIEW I'VE EVER SEEN!!! THANK YOU
I literally don't know what I'd do without your review videos! I'm homeschooling my kids and my oldest is starting kindergarten. You've given me so much confidence and empowered me to make more informed decisions for my children. Thank you so much for your time and effort!!
As a new Homeschool Mama, this is the second time I've watched this video. It was so helpful last year and hit home again this year. Thank you for the extensive work you do to help us along. Super excited about what we will use going forward this year. Nice work, lady! :)
I come back to her videos all the time 🙂 I wonder why she doesn’t post often anymore ☹️
Rebecca did a great job reviewing these math curriculum, and I used this video to decide which program to use in my first year of homeschooling. However, I wish I had known about two other curriculum that I'm looking to use this year instead of the ones listed in this video. The first is Math with Confidence by Kate Snow. This is a rather new math curriculum so would not have existed when Rebecca's review came out 5 years ago. Math with Confidence for 3rd grade was released this year, and a new grade level is scheduled to be released every year. My kids did great at mastering their addition, subtraction, and multiplication facts using Kate Snow's Facts that Stick series, so I'm excited to start her Math with Confidence for my 3rd grader this year.
My son is older, so I'm looking at the Rod and Staff curriculum for him since Math with Confidence is only available for 3rd grade or lower at the moment.
I post this to provide other possible options for any new or existing homeschoolers looking at math curriculum. I know how daunting it can be trying to decide, but I prefer to have more options to look through than less. Hope this is helpful to somebody. Happy homeshooling!
This video was such a blessing! It is my first year homeschooling and this is exactly what I needed to help choose what to use!!! Thank you!!! God bless you!!!
Thank you! Our family is new to homeschooling this year and I was struggling to find and choose a math curriculum that would work well for my boys. Your comparison has been a God send. Thanks again.
We will start homeschooling in the Fall. Your curriculum reviews are invaluable! Thank you SO MUCH!!!
Rrfff
Thank you so much for your reviews! I appreciate the details on both Christian and secular curriculum. Finding your channel has been a huge sigh of relief for a home school mom who feels overwhelmed with all the options out there.
That was literally the best homeschool review video I've seen. Very well done!
This is by far the most amazing review of a lot of math curriculum. Even though I have been homeschooling for 2 years now and have some of this math programs at home. Your review gave me more information and would be a blessing for new & considering homeschool families
Thank you so much Tasheema! I'm glad it was helpful and I hope it helps other homeschool moms too!
I have been watching a lot of RUclips videos to help me choose a new math curriulum for my 10-year-old who loves math (taught by me, who does NOT!) This is by far the best review I have seen so far. So very helpful! Thank you!
One bit of advice. Pick a spine and stick with it. Skills are presented at different levels at different increments. If you hop around, your kids may miss concepts that are built and reviewed. Consistency is very helpful in training their brains. It's why we stuck with Abeka in grade school and Saxon in middle and high school. Steady and thorough.
Agreed! I know from experience with my first homeschooler. Now that I have two more younger kids in 1st and 2nd grade we're sticking with what's always worked. I tend to hear someone rave about a curriculum and I think oh that must be better than what I'm using, but what I'm using is working, so there's usually not a reason to change.
My kids have been in Abeka for Elementary and Abeka for middle school and I’m thinking about having them take Saxton for high school. What are your thoughts on that?
@@louiselysadulle6082 I am a math teacher (and also homeschooled for 18 years). Saxon is easy to use and does use a spiral method but you have to be careful that students have learned the concepts since Saxon never tests for mastery on a topic such as fractions, For example, my son totally missed how to divide fractions. Although he did the tests his grades were fine but I never noticed until weeks later that he had missed how to divide fractions - he never inverted and multiplied. If he had tested on fractions I would have seen it but since the test had many topics I did not catch it until I actually analyzed several weeks of tests. He missed that concept and I had to reteach it. I also used Saxon in the classroom and was very careful to test for mastery after my experience homeschooling.
I want to thank you for including Strayer-Upton in the blog. It was exactly what I was looking for. I grew up substituting my learning with these books, but couldn't remember the name, and they really helped me understand concepts and more! I hope to pass that on to my children. Your reviews are also always awesome. Thank you!.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I was about to purchase Right Start based on others' recommendations, but I really needed to see all of these choices side-by-side to find exactly what we need. This video is a must-watch for homeschool families.
This has been a HUGE help in selecting my 6 year old son's curriculum for this year. Thank you!
Great review! We have done the rightstart program from beginning to end with good results in my two oldest. I am now starting it all over with my younger kids and it is hard to give it the time it requires! Still one of the best I have used though.
Wow!!! What an awesome math review! I’ve been struggling to find a math review as comprehensive as this. Thanks so much.
I have 3 homeschooled kids. Tried Abeka, Math u see, Right start, and then landed on Singapore. Used Singapore ever since and so glad I did! It worked for my struggling math students, we just took our time and didn't try to keep on "grade level". It was great for my kids who had trouble focusing and are highly visual. I had to include some supplemental helps, like flash cards and manipulatives, but didn't mind that. I really wanted to teach my kids mental math, and it's been amazing watching it happen over time. Highly recommend Singapore even for parents/students who "hate" math.
I agree. I think kids who struggle with math are the ones who benefit the most from the Singapore method.
Thank you for sharing about your experience about Singapore Math! Have heard about it, but your details are so helpful, especially about not having to try to keep on "grade level."
Thanks! We’ve enjoyed Math U See, but I definitely have to keep tabs with the local school system to make sure she’s caught up in case we put her back into public school.
Singapore Primary Mathematics: I used Singapore in a public sixth grade in the U.S. It was absolutely wonderful. At that time, I would say the only difficulty was that the interface with the teacher's answer book was clumsy. I think that has been improved. My textbooks didn't have the colorful pages "Homeschool On" displayed in this great video, but that was actually fine with the children. I used 5A and 5B with some forays into 6A & 6B when I taught grade 6. This was only because my students had been taught with a traditional approach and did not have sufficient background concepts yet. Had they started off with the K-4 Singapore program, there would have been no need to use the textbooks a year lower than their current grade. The price of the Singapore books is relatively high; I wish the publishers would find a way to economize because too many people will be dissuaded by it. There are also Singapore "revision" books that many families use. I wish I had known about the Singapore program when I homeschooled my son. I have bought the books for my five-year old grandson as fun games outside of school.
I cannot recommend Singapore highly enough. It is in a league by itself. I used it with both gifted children and those who were challenged by their past learning situations. It was adored by all of them, and everyone made excellent progress. An important distinction is the Singapore math approach to all new concepts: 1st CONCRETE, 2nd PICTORIAL, 3rd ABSTRACT. This progression is the well-researched, effective key to keeping all learners moving forward with a strong conceptual foothold. Like the Russian approach to math education, Singapore places word problems and reasoning as its prominent focus. Memorization is a means to freeing up short term working memory for solving puzzles, not an end in itself.
For math manipulatives, most homeschoolers are aware of UNIFIX CUBES and of Dienes PLACE VALUE BLOCKS which are derived from Cuisenaire rods. Additionally, among the very best modeling materials to use with Singapore Primary Mathematics are wooden CUISENAIRE RODS and the NUMICON CUISENAIRE ROD TRACKS. They model number bonds, all arithmetic operations for whole numbers and fractions, metric measures of length, area, and volume, basic algebra, and are perfect physical models for the unique Singapore block diagrams for solving word problems. All of the above are usable over many years of math study.
Another program that is wonderful for its use of the CONCRETE, PICTORIAL, ABSTRACT progression is HANDS-ON EQUATIONS. It was fascinating for my 6th graders. This approach to teaching algebra progresses from the obvious to the abstract allowing every child to see algebra as a game. Hands-On Equations can be used as early as grade 3 and is a perfect accompaniment for Singapore Math. As for computer programs, IXL is not a stand-alone program, but it is an excellent reinforcement of the fundamental pictorial to abstract progression of Primary Mathematics. IXL is easy to use, well-organized, and uses great diagrams to represent mathematical relationships. Although children can use IXL successfully solo, it is fun for them to use side-by-side with others as a game. Elephant Math is a new computer program touting high results from a similar progression, but I have not seen enough of it to judge its efficacy.
Kudos to the Singaporean professional educators whose international research of best practices and of cognitive psychology transformed their students' results from lackluster to the top of all international assessments. The TIMMS analysis included surveying test takers on various aspects of their math education. Among all of the top performing students at 8th grade and beyond, only the Singapore students had both mastered the concepts AND loved math. There are numerous RUclips videos given by a Singapore math consultant in the U.S. that will give a flavor of the approach. You might be interested to note that the French government last year did its own research on how to improve math achievement. They sent mathematician and Field Prize winner Cédric Villani, on an international search for models. His result: Singapore knows what it is doing.
Wow thanks for all this information! I’m researching methods of homeschooling to prepare to HS my 2.5 year old soon. I was already leaning toward Singapore Maths and your comment has encouraged me to use it. Thanks for the info on complimentary programs too!
May I ask which track to do? There are several options on the website and I’m overwhelmed. I don’t care if it’s common core.
This is AMAZING!! I have been so overwhelmed trying to pick out curriculum for my younger child who is very active and hands on and hates worksheets. This helped me to understand the differences! Please do more of these!
peachy keen my daughter is THE SAME!!! What did you end up choosing?..
@@NOIRTHIRTEEN Rightstart math, though I'm a bit nervous about it! We haven't received it yet, hopefully it won't be too complicated! The other one I considered was Math-u-see, I'm sure they're both great.
Kids can teach themselves using interactive tools but it's best with a guide and coach in the early years through middle school age.
I'm available to work through zoom sessions if you think your kids will benefit.
Did you like RightStart for your kid?
Huge fan of RightStart for both my gifted math student and my struggling math student.
Thank you!
I appreciate your unbiased review of each program. This was truly an eye opener for me because I have been struggling to find the right fit for my kiddos. Thanks a bunch.
THANK YOU for this amazing review video! I finally feel like I can make a decision. I would love to do Right Start for my 2nd grader but I know with three younger siblings, I just own't have the one on one time I would like to have with her - so I'll be buying the Math Lessons for a Living Education and I'm thrilled to find a Math curriculum that is more Charlotte Mason. Thank you!
One thing i love about Abeka not mentioned here is that it does a great job incorporating time, money, and temperature. Also, I like that they really vary the format of the problems helping to instill those concepts.
Thank you!
This was so informative! I'm about to start homeschooling my 3 kids for the first time, so this was a massive help! Thank you!
Best of luck to you! Best advice I have heard for starting out, remember children naturally learn just like they breathe and eat, it’s just a matter of figuring out what to put before them. When you find the right thing, they will devour it👍🏼
Also check out Pepper and Pine (on RUclips) She has some beautiful inspirational projects on her channel😁
I’m doing that this year!
Rebecca, thank you SO much for taking the time to answer me in regards to MLFLE and RightStart. Although RightStart seems like a wonderful and solid program, the fact that it is SO much work makes me cross out this possibility. Thanks for making it clear that you'd only use it if the child super struggles with math or is really hands on. That was really clarifying to me and it helped me even more so with that decision to go with MLFLE. I think, by the way, that it is WONDERFUL the fact that you're taking the time (even though it's hard!!!) to do RightStart with your daughter knowing how much it benefits her. You're being such a blessing to her! Thank you again!!!
No problem! I know it is tough to figure out what is right, but definitely MLFLE is way less intense and involved and has the teaching aspect in a pretty simple way. Once your kids are about grade 3 or 4 and reading on their own, they can even start to do it independently ;)
I love this video! It was so thorough. We always used Saxon from third grade up through high school, and it is very repetitive, but I wouldn't buy a math book that wasn't repetitive. Repetition is the key to learning math. When you've done something a thousand times it becomes hard to forget. I breezed through college calculus classes because I had seen most of it in high school. Not to say Saxon is the best, there are certainly other really good curriculum choices (aka this whole video), but I would say don't turn down a curriculum just because it's repetitive. To all of the homeschooling teachers, good luck this year!
I had Saxon through high school and it was an excellent foundation for very high level math in college as well as the math I use more regularly (mostly geometry and algebra) We are doing it with our kids too!
Saxon is my top Math Curriculum. The way it actually teaches concepts is the best
Repetition was hard for me as a homeschooler with undiagnosed ADHD! I thought I was bad at math and hated math... turns out I was just bored with our math curriculum! The problem with adhd is that things don't go quickly necessarily if you know the concepts - you can know it but if it's not engaging you can't get your brain to show up and work, which then makes you feel like you don't know it.
@@molliemarissa6189 I didn’t know ADHD could do that - thank you for the info! I work with kids in math; this will be something I keep in mind for sure!
Our school is shut down and the online curriculum they are providing is absolutely not beneficial for my very hands on daughter. Your video series has helped me so much to find what will work better for her. Thank you so much.
This was fantastic! Thank you for all your hard work! BTW Teaching Textbooks is really easy to cheat on, especially for older kids, or parents who are not watching closely. There’s a mom on RUclips who gives a thorough review on it, and it’s informative and hilarious!
I would love to watch that, haha! Yes, it is super easy to cheat on, on the new 3.0 software I turned off second chances which seems to be helping my son but that is definitely a point to watch for. I think the families that use and love TT often get the most out of it when they do it alongside their children, use the book, and really go at er. The families like me that use it as a total hands off "go do your math" sometimes find that kids aren't mastering or are skipping stuff, etc. and it comes back to bite them ;) haha! I have found that with every math though. If I'm not on top of my grade 6, he skips, does stuff lazy, gets stuff wrong. I really have to supervise and hold all the kids accountable, guess theres no "get out of jail free" card ;) bahaha.
Thank you for such a great overview! We used the JumpMath US edition for 2 years, which unfortunately aligns with common core. I got frustrated with the overly complicated strategies offered, even at the 1st grade level. We moved on to MFALE this year, and we are all loving math again :).
Common Core math drives me nuts, thanks for clarifying, looking for a NOT common core math for rising first grader.
Such an awesome review!! Thanks for showing the inside of the books. Many RUclipsrs don't do that.
Thanks enjoyed the review. Am from Singapore. My son is 5 and I have been coaching him 2-3 hours per day since 3. He is accomplished with his basic single digit division/ multiplication / triple digit addition and subtraction and moved on to solving problem sums.whatever method you adopt just have to be consistent daily. Kids learn fast don’t understand estimate them.
Singapore also has a teacher's guide and test books. I absolutely LOVE how it teaches my children mental math! If someone is interested in using it, I suggest starting in kindergarten or first grade. It would not be good to transition to Singapore math in upper grades, without the foundation of mental math.
thank you!!! You have validated my thought to dial back, zip through (as possible), and then "catch up." The "grades" system generated in public school comparison-brain - "mom, I'm not stupid, I belong in X grade!" This is not what we want, AT ALL. Thanks again, for your note!!
Do you recommend Primary 2022 or Dimensions?
You're amazing! Awesome review! New subscriber here, been homeschooling since August last year and couldn't figure out why my son doesn't like his Abeka math anymore. This helped me a lot!
Such a great video thank you so much for sharing!!! My son is 4 so I’m starting to narrow down our curriculum choices after his preschool book and Math U C was one on the top of my list so I loved hearing your review about it!
Great reviews!! Thank you so much. We used Singapore Math for kindergarten but have since switched to Math Mammoth and love it.
Can you please explain why you think math mammoth is better than Singapore math? Please guide!
I did A Beka K through 9 and grades 4-9 completely independently. It was pretty tough but doable (for me). I also loved the layout. It is super clear and fun. Would totally recommend.
may I ask what you did for math in grades 9-12?
A most excellent review. You're the first reviewer I've seen that actually showed a side-by-side comparison of multiple pages in each curriculum, which is very helpful. If possible, it would be good to see a comparison of pages the same levels (for example, seeing the beginning of level 1 for all the curriculums). Otherwise, a great review.
This was AMAZING!! You should do this with all the other subjects! This is my first year homeschooling and I really wanted a great Math program for my daughter since she will be going into first grade this Fall. I am so impressed with all your knowledge of it all. A friend recommended Right Start, but I already knew that, that specific program was not going to work for my family. I was really drown to Math U See or Math for a Living Education orginally. But, after seeing this video and seeing how you explained each program SO well. I now feel very confident that Math for a Living Education will fit my family best. Thank you so much for doing these videos!
We love Masterbooks
such a great review I would have appreciated seeing the same grade reviewed across all curriculums
This video was fantastic. I am an educator, but I will also start homeschooling my children this year. You did a phenomenal job at showing the scope and sequence and explaining the pros and cons of each curriculum. Thank you!
I appreciate you being so real. I'm a homeschool mom of who just moved and downsized half my home size and feeling like a fail because we'll life happened and we just go with it my kids and still young and I spend a lot of time teaching how to just put something back when they are done. And I get on pintrest and youtube and see these so organized rooms and wonder what I'm doing wrong.
And once a week for about an hour is clean and looking okay then we are back to school and missing all, ALL my pencils. So tomorrow I'll go out and make sure we have some for Monday lol
This is amazing! I don't know how you have time to do all of this! Thanks for the review. My daughter is 6 and quite gifted. We did Singapore last year, but a friend passed several years of RightStart on to us. I am having to skip a lot because she already knows a lot of it but it takes so much time - and I have an insane toddler. I am looking to possibly use Master Books or Teaching Textbooks next year. I definitely think if I get through the RS book B this year (we started in A and probably shouldn't have), she could def do 3rd grade math. But she loves the games so I may read through the game book and incorporate some of that. We have only done a few games. Because, toddler. I just need to be able to stop everything and focus on discipline for him when he is doing crazy dangerous things. Then I can bless another family with RS.
Great video! Thank you so much. I am so happy I found your videos. I really wish I had homeschooled my oldest who is now 20. I plan on homeschooling my youngest sons (13 and 3) next fall. I need all the help I can get. There is just so much information out there. It’s hard trying to figure out how to start.
Thank you so much for this review! Absolutely fantastic, so informative.... definitely making me feel less nervous about embarking in this homeschooling journey. My biggest fear was teaching my 6th grader her math- but I am terrible with it...
I have a feeling your # subscribers are about to explode over the next 6-8 weeks!
Your reviews have saved me so much time. Thank you so much! You've helped this first time homeschool mom soo much!
Very good video! We were very blessed to find Easy Peasy curriculum. I understand why you didn't review it. It is not only math. It's a complete curriculum. It's absolutely FREE! But there are workbooks available. They run about $5 USD! My son is truly loving it! Math runs a little slower in the lower grades, but then gets up to speed in the upper levels. For a former classroom teacher who used exclusively ABeka I was pleasantly surprised! And thrilled that my son doesn't want to change curriculum at fourth grade!
What a phenomenal review!!!! Thank you so much for this incredible, in-depth review across the curriculums!
Just discovered your channel...
I love all the curriculum you've chosen and wanted to add the good and the beautiful... it's brand new for the younger grades but it's helping my very kinesthetic learner:-)
bayamonrican I was also wondering about this program too. My daughter is going into the first grade and the placement test for math put her in the K level...... primer K for language arts..... do u think it’s advanced ?
@@sew_whatever I would say depends on she feels where she's at. I got the primer as a just in case, and my daughter flew through it. She was so proud of herself.. made it easier to motivate her to level K
thanks so much...not a home schooler wish I could BUT this was wonderful, looking for supplemental work for my students...looking forward to your language arts and science reviews
This was an incredible review!! Best review I've seen on math curriculum! You talked about a lot of the programs I have been researching. This helped SO much!! Thank you!!
Awesome! I'm so glad! It's definitely needed! More comparison reviews!
I am a new homeschool Momma & I just finished watching your review on ELA curriculums which lead me to this video. Let me just say you have been a Godsend! Your reviews have been so helpful in my journey to find the best curriculums for my 3rd & 5th grader. I am so impressed with these reviews...thanks a bunch for doing this!!
WOW!!! I rarely comment on videos, but this is awesome for all of the reasons that have already been mentioned. What a blessing! Thank you!
What are your favorite homeschooling-related RUclips channels?
Thank you for the reviews! I’ve gone back to this video (and other reviews you’ve done) multiple times to help me make decisions.
One thing I’d like to mention is that I found the grade 1 Math Lessons For A Living Education veeery slow. It didn’t progress very fast so I was a bit bored teaching it and I could tell it was too easy for my daughter who understood a lot of the concepts not because she’s ahead in math, but simply because she’d learned most of it from every day life or in kindergarten (shapes, patterns, etc). Some parts of it are kindergarten level in my opinion.
I already thought I new about mosts of these, but now I see that I was wrong. Your review was stellar and I now know what we'll likely pick for K.
Awesome! I'm so glad Giselle!
Giselle Medina .. Just curious which direction you've decided to go in as we are in the same boat currently, TIA!
I came across your review and video while trying to figure out a new math curriculum for my almost 10 year old. We started with Math U See, worked our way through some Moving Beyond the Page (which, if you haven't ever heard of it, it's great-- it's for gifted and hands-on learners.) But, I still needed something more eye catching and colorful, and easy to open and go, so now I'm comparing the 2020 edition of Math in Focus and Apologia's Exploring Creation with Mathematics. If you're still homeschooling and want to try any of those, I'd welcome the reviews! I'm ordering both because I don't know which we'll like better. I also bought Danica McKellar's math books which were awesome, just not completely comprehensive so I need to fill in some gaps. But my daughter loved Do Not Open This Math Book!
Anyway..... thank you for sharing your review -- even if it was a few years ago!
Out of all curriculum choices to make math is by far the hardest to pick out. Thank you for making this video. It’s been extremely helpful.
Learn Math Fast is the math we are currently using. It's very fast paced and the lessons are very short. I'd say it's not mastery based, but my son loves it and seems to understand it pretty well. They also give some great hints and tips especially for multiplication.
Fantastic reviews!!! I love how you talk about all the considerations!! Awesome resource!
Life of Fred is great and once you get up into Decimals and Fractions and beyond it comes with a practice problem book. It is excellent for college prep as well.
Thanks
I really appreciate this video! I've ordered all of next year's curriculum except math because I was wavering between two selections. One we've used for years, but I kinda felt like it was time to try something new. I don't know anyone who has used MLFLE so your review was extremely helpful and answered questions I had about it.
I really have been searching for this style of review for months. Thank you!! You have helped so much with this video. New subscriber:)
I use right start for my kindergartner, I I would add that it is excellent for non special-needs as well... It is very strong in visual auditory and kinesthetic learning styles, using multiple at once. And since most lessons are manipulatives-based instead of worksheet-based, my kindergartener has been able to thoroughly gasp concepts beyond her writing ability. Also a clarification, there's little to no prep work, it is time intensive simply because you have to interact with them for their lesson the entire time.
Bethany Atkinson do you still like right-start? I’m trying to choose between right start and Math U see for my special needs 6 year old child.
@@dominique573n9
I absolutely love right start! The only thing I've run into is that now I've got four kiddos homeschooling, and I just don't have the time to do one-on-one with each of them (our language arts program is set up very similarly, so that's eight one on one sessions... Just to many- I'm probably changing our language arts next year so that I can keep right start!).
I actually started out with math u see, and they are very different even though they're both kinesthetic. I found that I needed to watch the math u see lessons either ahead of time or with my daughter because she wouldn't necessarily understand what they were explaining... Math u see is black and white workbooks, and much more simple than right start. My personal feeling is that math u see severely underestimates what kids are capable of... We have found right start much more engaging and more fun... Because of the variety of manipulatives, concepts are approached through each different manipulative, practicing the same concept in several different ways with different objects... Memorization tasks are reformatted into games that my children want to play during their free time... Very few worksheets, mostly guided conversation style "what happens if" questions.
The only other thing I would say about it is that I have a background in Math, and those who don't may not understand the conceptual point that's being made on some of the exercises (leaving you to question why they're doing it that way, it seems ridiculous at the time). For example, in the very first book, it assumes that children are not familiar with numbers yet, and first instructs them to call "20" two-ten, "60" six-ten etc for the first half of the book... This gets kids to really solidify the concept of what each number actually means, but can feel very awkward for us adults... (I have found that kids make the transition to the real names very easily, and have great number sense). I did incorporate one concept we learned in math u see, and that was giving a definition for the suffixes
-ty = number of tens
-teen = one ten.
Math u see felt very similar to a kinesthetic version of a boring textbook, whereas right start felt more like I was just explaining how something works to my kids... So I know it's a lot about the preferences of the teacher! The one I'm more excited about of course is going to work better for them as well...
Bethany Atkinson wow! Thank you so much for all the info!! I think I will go with right start.. my only concern is that you mentioned math u see is simpler... my daughter has a hard time with math.. do you think right start would be too difficult? We did horizons kinder and it was very similar to A beca súper advanced
@@dominique573n9
Math u see's lessons were (at least in the beginning) 5 to 10 and problems on a page, where you put the bricks on the page in the right way for each problem... Or colored in the correct number of squares... OVERLY simple.
Right start is set up in levels rather than grades, and I have taken extra days to go over a concept if one of my kids has not really been getting it... (there have also been days where they moved so quickly that we did two lessons and I just skipped the review at the beginning of the second lesson) The second edition is set up in daily lessons, with reviews of previous concepts incorporated at the beginning... I believe the first edition is set up where one lesson covers one concept, and takes several days to get through (there are not nearly as many lessons of course that way, and I'm not sure how they handled review). Either way, it's pretty easy to do the exercises they suggest and just add more "practice problems" of the same if they need it. Personally, it gives such a good conceptual foundation that I wouldn't have a problem moving slower through the material knowing that the concepts are solid. According to Cathy Duffy, right start does end up fairly advanced if you try to correlate a level with a grade... so that's another reason that I wouldn't worry about moving through the material more slowly...
Right start is more complex in that you're not just doing the same type of exercise over and over... For example when learning to recognize quantities, they start with review, then make the number 7 out of tiles, and then switch to making the number 7 out of tally sticks, on the abacus, or using the math balance. It changes the method of going over the same concept long before the kid gets bored, so it's not tedious to get through and usually they're excited to use the next thing. My absolute favorite thing about right start is that my kids "trip" across concepts, discovering them for themselves while going through the exercises rather than having lengthly complex explainations. My six-year-old son understood the concept of adding three groups of two together as a result of the exercises... Totally the basic concept of multiplication but without all the extra details.
I will link a web page where you can find sample lessons from level a, as well as an explanation of their education strategy and lesson setup explanation... The sample lessons would give you a really good idea of the feel...
In regards to my original comments that there is not really prep time, I will say that you do have to make copies/cut out of all the cards that you will need at the beginning of the year, and on occasion grab pencils or books or something around the house, but not often. I abhor prep time and I have never found that it takes more than a minute to run and grab what is needed... It's not enough to interrupt the lesson.
Here's the link
rightstartmath.com/resources/sample-lessons/
Also, here is a link to the three or four math songs that they use over and over throughout the year.... I actually love them and use them often to remind a kids about something... Plus they're very fun! Which is very necessary for the younger ages
rightstartmath.com/our-curriculum/songs/
Great review!! I use CTC Math online and the print off worksheets from that i get free online. The CTC Math gives homeschoolers a 60% discount. Not sure how much it is for a single account but for a year for a family it's only $118 with the discount. I have 7 using it, so for only $118 for 7 kids (and we year round homeschool), that's a great deal. I've used Easy Peasy All-in-one homeschool, which is all free too.
Thanks for the thorough review! I know a bit about some of these curriculums, but others I’ve never looked in the books of. We’re switching math curriculum this coming fall, so it was definitely interesting seeing them both featured here. 😊
Awesome! Hopefully it helped narrow it down more!
Thanks so much for the video! I'd love a review like this for Math Mammoth, Beast Academy and Khan Academy like someone else mentioned. (:
Chey.Wilkerson is there the math mammoth video review?
@@Evita05 I don't think so by her but I've made one for 3rd grade on my channel The Pumpkin Patch.
I’m interested in Beast Academy but don’t know anyone who uses it. Have you tried it?
@@jennifergeorge7280 I have not but a cool person I watch here on YT has used it and likes the online version. Check out Love Learning Everyday (: HauteMessHomeschoolMom also has a decent review video too.
We use Beast Academy and love it. We do it completely online, which is a nice change of pace from other subjects. It really helps kids develop a deep number sense. It’s super cute but very challenging. The company recommends it for kids who are math inclined and I agree. The first level, 2, is more like typical 3rd or 4th grade math. Sibling discount really helps.
Thank you for the review! It was very thorough and really helped me and my husband on deciding which curriculum for our 1st grader. Good job!
You just moved from 6/10 to 8/10 on my ratings for being Canadian. I'm really enjoying your videos and I'm learning a lot.
Thanks to you sharing we found Math for a Living Education! Thank you for making this review available to many people!
We've been using Teaching Textbooks for a few years with my older kiddos, and I talked to a representative at the last curriculum fair to discuss whether my incoming second grader would be ready for this. She said that Math 3 is actually more equivalent to second grade. It's also comparable to second grade Sonlight, Horizons, etc. So, I would highly recommend doing a placement test to ensure the right level placement. This makes a huge difference if you need to do state testing. Thanks for your review!
Yes, I would agree. My daughter is not advanced at math and she did Math 5 for 4th grade and it was a perfect fit level wise.
We LOVE teaching textbooks!!!
Started with A Beka and switched to Teaching Textbooks when my oldest moved to 4th grade! We plan to follow that same plan with my two younger boys as well!
We used Teaching Textbooks or 3rd and 4th grades. But I have to say that I was not a fan after having my daughter on it for 2 years. We switched to Rod & Staff and had to go back to 3rd Grade level when we would be going into 5th this year with TT.
We found that it just didn't give enough practice for my daughter. With Rod & Staff, she is doing 49 calculations each lesson plus several story problems or money calculations. Plus we have her do blacklines, which is 100 problems she can do in around 5-10 minutes for more practice. So she does like 160 problems each day. She's adding and subtracting much faster, and I feel it will help her with multiplication and division. I feel like TT really set her backwards in Math. In just one week she has gained so much more confidence. Don't get me wrong, she understood the concepts really well with TT, but it would take her forever to do a multiplication problem because there wasn't a lot of practice with problems. The online version had maybe 20 problems each lesson, but many where multiple choice or true and false. There weren't actually a lot of problems she had to work out. She does more problems in one lesson with Rod and Staff than she did in probably two weeks or more with TT.
Because of this, I highly regret going to TT when she was in 3rd grade. For her, mastery is a challenge, and the drilling from Rod and Staff has been and will be helpful. She absolutely despises math (because it takes her so do the calculations), so being able to add and subtract faster is really helping.
I'm not trying to knock TT as I think it's great for many children. I just didn't find that she actually grew in her skills with it. But the beauty of homeschooling is we can switch if it doesn't work!
Thank you for this! We are looking at starting homeschooling and all the options are overwhelming. This helps!
Thank you so much! We've been homeschooling for 4 days, and I'm so overwhelmed at all curriculum choices. Your video was very helpful.
Thanks. First year home schooling. We went with Math lessons. We'll see. Thanks for the video!
What grade are they in? I coach with zoom sessions starting around 3rd grade.
@@ChrisDragotta I have a gr 2 and gr 4
So glad I found your channel. We’re finding that Abeka math isn’t a good fit for us. I’m leaning toward Math U See.
Thank you so much for this! A huge help as our family chooses to homeschool instead of the crazy plans our school district is implementing this year.
Kids can teach themselves using interactive tools but it's best with a guide and coach in the early years through middle school age.
I'm available to work through zoom sessions if you think your kids will benefit.
Wow! Thank you so much for providing these comprehensive reviews! Your video was incredibly helpful. I’m very tactile and like to touch, feel, and look at products when making my decision on whether or not to purchase. I would have never considered Math Lessons for a Living Education, and that was partly due to the fact that we are with a charter, and funds can’t be used for religious material. Nonetheless, Classical and Charlotte Mason approaches really appeal to me, and my child seems to thrive on a combination of manipulatives and workbooks, and tires of one or the other quickly. The only reason why I wouldn’t like Math U See is because it doesn’t cover the same topics as traditional public schools, but after having one child who struggles with mastery, I want to move forward with mastery as a priority for my second child. I also do appreciate how Math U See has a teacher teaching the lessons. I may just purchase both to see which one she gravitates towards.
Thank you for this Wonderful, get to the point, descriptive review. Wonderful!! I have been a Singapore lover for years with my older kids.. Now I am trying Abeka for my second grader.
Some dads teach homeschool math too--wanted to make sure that was stated since this keeps mentioning this helps "mom" do this and that. Thanks.
🤗👌🏻👏🏼👏🏼👍🏻
The majority are moms ....
most are moms, and this channel is a moms channel, just enjoy the material and stfu
MMABeijing geez, that was a bit much. I don’t think he meant any harm.
No Christian Light Education Math? It’s very popular and really good! Definitely our favorite out of all we’ve tried! We’ve used Singapore, TT, and decided CLE is definitely the best layout and setup. It’s very thorough.
agree. cle math is on par with saxon, and many others
I use signapore math for my 6th grader and my 1st grader and I love it!
Love Right Start. It's how we start our math journey. None of my kids have any learning disabilities. I would put them in the "somewhat gifted" category (aren't they all, though?) and it works well for all of them. I have the older version and keep using it with all my 6 kids as they age into it. We rarely use the games. I only use them to supplement or for our fun review day. If you don' t mind an older version I'm sure you can find an older version at a used curriculum store. After you've taught this program once it's really easy to teach it again. I never prep in advance. I just open and go. I choose this program because I love the Montessori method and this seems to mirror a lot of Montessori principles. Love this program but we tend to finish it by 3rd grade-ish. From there we jump to Teaching Text Books and/or Chalkdust co.
Thanks for the video Rebecca. It is nice to see that textbooks now come with some interactive content.
I really enjoyed how you went through each book with details, this really helped me. I am née to homeschooling and have two who were held back in school in 2nd and 3rd grade. I am trying to get them back on track and if I can help them go a little further if possible but I have had so much trouble finding where to start. Thank you for the time you spent sharing this information with us.
Thank you! This made it so much easier to pick out the right math style for my daughter! I really appreciate all the work you have done to put this together! Thank you!!!
Fantastic video! This format should be the prototype to more videos like this. Thank you!!!!
Thanks, very helpful! I would like to suggest you consider adding Rod & Staff. It is used by Memoria Press and fits well for those who like a classical model and have a tight budget. It has a mastery approach and I've seen many parents rave about it.
THANK YOU!!! This is exactly what I needed and was looking for.
your welcome!
Thank you !!!! The best informative video on Homeschool Math Curriculum!!!
Thank you again ❤️❤️❤️
I binged all your podcasts today. 🙋♀️💁♀️
haha, that's awesome! Not sick of my voice yet? ;)
You can also take placement tests for many of these programs by going to the company websites.