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I recently asked readers on the Homeschool Classroom Facebook page about the math program that they were using. Imagine my surprise when we had 111 responses to the question! I thought it would be fun to compile all of the responses to give a snapshot of the math programs that homeschoolers are using right now.
Some of the respondents are using more than one program, so the numbers will add up to more than 111. Some of those that are using more than one math program are using two different programs for the same child, while some are using different programs for different children.
Math Programs that Homeschoolers are Using
(according to a fall 2012 Facebook survey based on 111 responses, some with multiple answers)
Math-U-See: 23
Teaching Textbooks: 22
Saxon: 15
Singapore Math: 14
Life of Fred: 13
Horizons Math: 12
Right Start: 7
Abeka: 6
Math Mammoth: 4
Bob Jones University: 3
Christian Light Education: 2
Miquon: 2
Programs Receiving One Mention Each: Accelerated Christian Education, Dreambox Learning, Jump at Home, Kumon workbooks, Making Math Real, Math in Focus, Reflex Math, Rod and Staff, Switched on Schoolhouse, and Thinkwell.
What about you? What math program do you use in your homeschool?
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My oldest daughter LOVES Life of Fred. She has done all of his books from Fractions to working through Advanced Algebra and the Home Companion. My youngest daughter loved the elementary series for Life of Fred that came out recently, but after struggling through Fractions she needs a little more explanation to understand the concepts. She likes the online samples of Teaching Textbooks, so she is going to give that a try.
I have to say, Teaching Textbooks has been a life saver for us. They have amazing customer service, too.
We have used both Saxon (too much) and Life of Fred (too little) now we have found the perfect in between. It’s Math On The Level, it is a wonderful program written by a homeschool mom & dad, it goes from K to pre-algebra. I wish they would write an algebra program.
We always seem to make our way back to Math-U-See. I tried Horizon and Teaching Textbook at different points but for different reasons went back to MUS. We will be staying with them now.
Bob Jones right now–my son loves ‘digit’ (we’re doing grade 1 math) and is usually excited to do his math!
As a classroom teacher, and now a home school mom, I am a huge fan of Saxon. It stresses repetition. It is not broken into chapters, in which a student spends three weeks learning about fractions or some other topic, and then rarely uses them again. Instead, it seems a little all over the place, but keeps all the skills fresh in the students’ minds.
Teaching Textbooks, hands down. The little kids start with the MCP workbooks and at 3rd Grade level I start them on TT. It has been a sanity saver, with 5 kids, youngest being 1 year old, and lots of distractions I have to say many days I think ‘well, at least they got their math, reading, and religion done.’. Well worth the investment. I’ve also used Saxon math and wouldn’t go back to it.
We use Christian Light. In all honesty the curriculum is starting to pick up momentum in the homeschooling circles as they’ve changed their curriculum to their Sunrise Edition. I actually am owner and moderator to Christian Light Families on Yahoo and have over 1700 members to date, and it grows everyday.
I have heard good things about Teaching Textbooks and am thinking of trying it with my oldest child who just has a different way of understanding math. But CLE works GREAT with my younger three children for sure and we’re sticking with it.
We used to use R&S but switched to CLE (Christian Light Education). I majored in engineering in college, so I am a person who loves math and thinks it is very important. CLE must be one of the best kept secrets! I highly recommend it.
I am a former teacher and homeschool mom who has spent her “free time” over the last ten years developing “Arithmetic Village”. It is a series of math books that introduce the basic math functions +-x/ through characters and rhyme. I don’t have a huge marketing budjet, as this project is just me, but I have had heaps of positive reviews and successful workshops. Please check it out and spread the word. 🙂 arithmeticvillage.com
We have used ACSI(spiral) in the past and have switched to Math U See(mastery). My daughters love it. We don’t use the manipulatives as often as other people do. But it is nice to have them when they need to see something concretely. I highly recommend Math U See.
As Lucinda rightly says, CLE Math definately seems to be one the best kept secrets of homeschool curriculum. We’ve tried higly acclaimed programs like Saxon but CLE Math works for us like no other. And the proof is in the pudding- that is in their test scores. My oldest son went from hating Math to loving it after starting with CLE, and yes- his scores jumped twicefold. Go.. CLE..
We started with Math-U-See, but our kids did not do as well with the mastery style. We switched to Christian Light Education, and couldn’t be happier. The curriculum is very easy to use, gentle in teaching, yet quite rigorous, and has just enough built in review.
Fred, Fred, Fred, Fred, Fred, Fred and MORE FRED! 🙂 We literally started at the very beginning last year with our daughter when we unenrolled her from public school in sixth grade, and she is almost done the elementary series and ready to begin fractions. She has literally caught up almost six grade levels in a year with it, after being an avowed math hater who thought she was “dumb” for not getting it. Can’t say enough good things about how that’s worked for us. (And I always footnote my Fred praise by saying – I was a college math major! Not that it makes my opinion matter more, but hopefully you know I’ve seen plenty of math texts!)
I use Horizons for my 1st grader and Math U See for my 7th grader.
We’re using Math Mammoth and really liking it so far.
Horizons didn’t work for my daughter, either did MUS or Singapore Math. We started LOF this year and she loves it. I am still having trouble with her remembering the basic addition facts. No matter what, if you give her a math problem she counts it out. Even simple problems. I’m just glad we’ve found something she will actually do. We finished up to Dogs in LOF and are currently working on addition bingo and other things to get those facts straight, before moving on.
Love, love, love, LOVE Right Start. We tried several math programs – Horizon, Saxon, Math u see, all of which my son hated, and life of Fred which he loved, but wasn’t retaining enough. Now he asks to do math! And he really GETS it. It develops number sense and mental math ability. He will amaze me by working out some real life math problem on his own and recently did better on a math game than his cousin who is two years older and in a gifted math program in PS! Two years ago math was a complete battle full of tears and blank looks and my son was convinced he was just “terrible” at math. And I was always embarrassed because he couldn’t answer simple math facts questions people ask homeschoolers (does anyone else get those random pop quizzes from strangers when you tell them you homeschool?).
It uses many different manipulatives to teach, most critically an abacus, and uses games to review. So it is great for visual learners with short attention spans.
We use Christian Light and we used it since 1st grade. It is a very popular math program. I am surprised that only 2 use it….. We love it because of the constant review and the price is unbeatable.
A few years ago I heard about Math On The Level. After thinking about it for 9 months, I bought it. I haven’t looked back. It’s great for K-8. I supplement with Khan Academy for variety, but MOTL is a very complete program. I love the way math concepts are explained.
CLE here for 3 years running!
We happily have used Singapore and Miquon in combination. My older sons have used the phenomenal Art of Problem Solving Pre-Algebra program. Now my daughter is using Art of Problem Solving’s new 3rd grade program. This has been a fantastic experience for both of us. I strongly recommend it if you have a child who loves math.
PreK-3rd we used Singapore. 4th-6th we used Teaching Textbooks. We used Life of Fred also in 6th and are now going to try it 7th and up. We’ve enjoyed all of these programs. Teaching Textbooks was a lifesaver for my son, but it’s so expensive, which is why we tried Life of Fred along with it this past year. I feel TT helped him gain his confidence back, and he enjoys Life of Fred, so we’ll see how it goes. Singapore has worked well with my daughter. My son used Miquon before TT, and we both hated it.
I tried using Horizons because it mimicked the repetition format found in the schools and we were bringing my then 2nd grader home from school. After switching to Math U See, my son flourished. I believe there are 2 main reasons it works well for him. He is a linear, logical thinker and persistent. He will stay at a task until it’s complete. So a mastery based math program fits his personality. The other reason is that with Math U See, you complete only the number of worksheets needed to master the lesson and the worksheets have fewer problems ~which is really good for boys with short attention spans.