The yearly search for Math curricula

When I went looking at homeschooling material for the first time I looked first at math. My thoughts were I could teach reading with a Bible and the library, but math needed a text book. LOL How education instutitionalized I had become.

I do have a math text to run off of. This is so I do not miss any portion or math. Math in the real world teaches more than a mere page of problems.  Don’t be afraid to dump some change in front of your child and let them feel it. Count it.  See the difference between paper and coin. This is teaching!

So lets start with a book that has been great teaching one to one.

Here’s one that I hope you can find… M&M counting book. I went through this book with my daughter. She was having processing problems and the one to one relation things to numbers wasn’t happening. We would count out the M&M and place them on the pictures. After the book was done she got to count the M&M and she could eat the ones she was able to count.

Here are a couple of more manipulatives that you might incorporate into your life.

Light ‘N’ Strike Math By Learning Resources Inc Looking for a way to reinforce math skills that doesn’t involve pencils and work sheets? Invite your students to step right up and try their hand at this fun, fast-paced game! Kids choose one of three levels of difficulty, read the math equation, then “strike it” to answer when the numbers flash and beep. Includes soft foam mallet. Requires four AA batteries (not included). Ages 6 to 11.

Smart Snacks: Counting Cookies By Learning Resources Inc Learning to count and recognize numbers is a sweet treat with this jar full of colorful counting cookies. Put the cookies in order as you count all the colorful chips. Turn the cookies over to see the numbers!This game teaches number recognition, counting, hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills. Includes 10 cookies with numbers 1-10 on the bottom and the corresponding number of counting chips on the top. Cookies measure 2″, are made of soft plastic, and come in their own sturdy plastic cookie jar. It’s the smart way to play with your food! Recommended for ages 2 and up.

Here are some texts or workbook based math programs that lend themselves to outside the norm learners:

Horizons Math, this is from the Alpha Omega publishers. This programs is a spiral program but it moves swiftly. The workbooks are visually interesting without being glossy over stimulating material. This is great to start with or for a learner that has strong math skills.

Saxon Math, This is a very straight forward math text approach. Manipulatives can make this program more interactive.

Math-U-See has been recomended by several of my friends with autistic child. They tell me the mix of manipulatives and paper work is a nice balance. I have yet to get my hands on this but I am excited to check it out.

Shiller Math This is my newest find. This is a Montessori-based math system. Montessori method is highly interactive and thus for our learners that need more time and input to remember will love this. Again I have yet to get my hands on this but I am trying.

Miquon math, Do you have a highly distractible child? A child that needs to feel and work with their hands to understand math concepts. Here you go! Miquon’s workbooks are simple and plain, visually. They work with manipulatives and show you how. My ADHD child found this workbook “easy to look at”. I was very happy with the high quality of the math work and the price which is quite low.

Children often have uneven learning through out the various subjects but also within a single subject. My daughter loved fractions so at a first grade level her fraction skills were a fourth grade.I went looking for  specific material to keep teaching her fractions at an accelerated pace and found there…

Key to….Books This is a series of math workbooks (small books). It is topic specific such as fractions, percents, decimals ect. If your child is behind in a specific area or ahead using this set can help. It takes you from the beginning of the subject through high school.

Math can be harder for some kids than the normal issues. If you are having a large discrepency between their normal level of learning and math. Think through the basics. Are they able to clearly read the math problems.

Are they flipping numbers?  Are they able to see the columns?

Next is your child being sloppy, rushing through math. Math is detail oriented and children with ADHD can get tripped up with their urge for speed.

Do you deal with math problems in your homeschooling? Have you found a way to work through? Any low cost or free ways to work through math issues?