An Overview of Homeschooling Math Curricula

Math skills are some of the most important skills that a home schooling parent can transmit to his or her child. For this reason, many home schooling parents agonize over which home schooling math lesson plans to choose. This article provides an overview of the most popular homeschooling math curricula.

What to Look For in a Homeschooling Math Curriculum

A well balanced homeschooling math curriculum should, above all, suit your child's learning style. If your child is an advanced learner, a course that is too repetitious could bore him or her. On the other hand, a course that is too fast-paced could leave your child struggling to keep up.

A homeschooling math curriculum should also be focused and coherent. American math curricula, according to a report that appeared in American Educator magazine, tend to lack focus, teaching too many topics in too little detail. Homeschooling math curricula should not replicate this error.

National Standards in the Math Homeschooling Curriculum

For all the faults of the public school curriculum, the national standards for math should still be covered by a homeschooling math curriculum. These are as follows: numbers and operations; algebra; geometry; measurement; data analysis and probability. These topics are the foundation of a well rounded math curriculum.

Popular Homeschooling Math Curricula

There are a large number of popular homeschooling math curricula, each with their fans and detractors. These include: Saxon Math, Singapore Math, Harold Jacobs and Math-U-See.

Saxon Math is almost considered the standard for homeschooling math curricula. It is popular with homeschooling parents for its rigid, rote-based approach - and despised by homeschooled children for the same reason! It is best for children who learn through constant repetition.

Singapore Math is based on the math curriculum used in Singapore between 1982 and 2001. Singapore has an extremely high standard of education and this makes its curriculum attractive to parents from all over the world. The books cover grades K through 10, but the concepts taught are advanced enough to provide a good foundation in college level math.

Harold Jacobs' math curriculum is for high school age students only, there are no elementary or middle school lessons. They use an innovative approach and, in particular, revolutionized the teaching of geometry. They are probably best for teenagers who learn best through non-traditional methods.

Last but by no means least, Math-U-See is a video-based math curriculum that places extensive emphasis on the use of manipulatives. Students learn through the use of colorful, interlocking blocks that teach math concepts such as fractions, geometry and even algebra.