Math!

I'm sharing what math curriculum we currently use and have used for the past 3 years!

Math-U-See Gamma Student Pack
Multiplication for single and multiple-digit numbers and other topics. Once students have mastered t

Math-U-See Epsilon Student Pack
Fractions and other topics. Now that students have learned basic operations with whole numbers, Epsi

IXL The Ultimate 1st Grade Math Workbook
MUST-KNOW 1ST GRADE MATH SKILLS: IXL’s Ultimate 1st Grade Math Workbook opens up a wonderful world o

Evan-Moor Daily Math Practice, Grade 5
Evan-Moor Daily Math Practice Book for grade 5 helps to keep skills sharp with focused practice pres

School Zone Math Basics
64 Pages, 4th Grade, Multiplication, Division Symmetry, Decimals, Equivalent Fractions, Ages 9-10 (I

Math Skills: Grade 2 (Flash Kids Harcour
This Math Skills workbook is designed to strengthen a young learner’s ability to understand numbers

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Transcript

Math! 

  Welcome to Homeschool Horizons! I’m Yvette, your host. This summer I’ve got my boys plugging away at math. We use a curriculum called Math U See. We’ve been using it for 3 years now. I gotta say, it took me a long time to finally find a math curriculum that my boys wouldn’t complain that much about and that I was happy with, because not only am I not a mathematician, but math is honestly my least favorite subject and always has been ever since I was a little girl. 

In fact, when I first began homeschooling, I knew right off the bat that math would be my Achilles’ heel. My husband on the other hand, who’s a public-school teacher, just loves math and he is great at it too! So, I figured I could leave that to him. But it didn’t work out that way.  He was just too tired when he would come home from work, to help our sons with math. Plus, by the time he got home, my sons were way done with doing schoolwork and their focus just wasn’t there. I tried many online programs and math workbooks and suggestions that my HST would recommend, as well as what I saw other moms using on Facebook. Finally, when my oldest son was in the 5th grade, I settled on Math U See. 

What I really like about Math U See is that it’s affordable and very basic. The Kit comes with a student workbook, a teacher’s manual, a test book, a DVD with all the lessons, and math manipulatives. Each lesson has its own math video with a teacher teaching the lesson to the kids and the lesson video is only like 5 minutes long which has been a huge plus for my boys because my oldest especially has a really hard time focusing for too long on something he isn’t interested in. And math is something he has no interest in. I love the fact that I don’t have to do anything except watch the video lessons with my sons and that’s just so that I can understand the lesson myself. Then my boys go to their workbooks and do the lessons on their own. Each lesson has 8 worksheets and the great thing about that is that my sons don’t have to do each lesson. If they understand the material and are getting 100% on the first and second lesson worksheets, we just skip ahead and take the test. If, however, they are struggling with the worksheets, I just have them do all 7 or 8 before I give them their tests. This has worked so well in our home for the past 3 years! 

Before Math U See, both of my sons would get so frustrated and my oldest especially would often have little meltdowns where he would even cry when he would get so frustrated. It was horrible! I would feel terrible because I knew that it was all my fault because I wasn’t a good math teacher. But even when I tried online math programs where a teacher would teach them via zoom for example, that wouldn’t work either. Nothing was working until we found this curriculum. 

Another thing I love, is that the curriculum is broken down into basic math concepts for each level. My 10 yr. old son is currently using the Gamma Student Pack and his workbook and the video lessons are all on multiplication. Once he completes that whole level, he’ll move on to Delta where he will be doing all division. My 13 yr. old is currently using Epsilon and he is working on fractions. I really love this because the material helps them master the concepts one concept at a time. It doesn’t throw all these concepts at them all at once. Every other program I ever used before would throw everything at them all at once, and that was so frustrating for my boys and for me. 

Now it doesn’t mean that we don’t get frustrated anymore around here when it comes to math. We still do from time to time, but it is WAY LESS than it was before. It was seriously crazy around math time in our house before Math U See. I thought I would share this because I know that there are so many of you out there struggling with math just like we were. I hope hearing about my experience helps you along your journey. I do also want to add that I might be changing it up for my 13 yr. old this August. We are thinking of trying Denison Pre-Algebra. I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about this program and since my son is going through some changes, I think this program might suit him even better for 8th grade. 

I’ll keep you all updated on that, but I also want to express my sadness and frustration with our California legislator who just this past Friday passed a bill called AB84. If the Senate approves it this summer, that will pretty much be the end of charters. For years, the California Teacher’s Association has been trying to get rid of charters. Every child that is homeschooled and not in their public-school classrooms means they are losing money. Students have a dollar sign. And that association was never going to give up, but we have always fought back and been able to help the legislators see that we need our charters. However, this time they just didn’t want to listen to us. So, I may be filing a PSA in September. I’m not stressed out about that though, because ultimately, I choose to trust in my Lord and I know that He is working all things together for good for me and my children. If you find yourself feeling stressed about this and worried, please reach out to me so that I can pray for you and know that I will keep you updated and I will be doing everything I can to help our Senate understand that we need our charters. 

Thank you for listening today and I would like to remind you that sometimes I attach links to my episodes. Take a look at the links I have attached in this one. I thought I would add some of the math workbooks I tried in the past just in case maybe some of them would work for your child and I have also provided links to Math U See curriculum. Have yourself a wonderful week and I will talk to you soon!