Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post and I was compensated for my time to review and write about Homeschool Math Curriculum from CTCMath. All opinions are always my own. For more information on sponsored posts, read my Affiliate and Advertising Disclosure. Thank you to CTCMath for sponsoring this post and providing the Homeschool Family Membership for me to review.
A common hesitation I hear from moms who are contemplating homeschooling is they feel like they need to be an expert in all subjects in order to adequately teach their children. My response to this hesitation that it is impossible to know everything about all subjects. Even if you are an expert in an academic subject area, you will still have room for improvement and things to learn.
I am not a homeschool math expert. At all. Math is not a subject that I even enjoy. Does this make me a bad homeschooler? Not at all. It just means that I need to find tools and resources to make up for my lack of math love.
Here are a few tips and tools I have found along the way to give my kids an excellent math education.
Use More than One Math Program
While it might seem like math overload to use multiple programs, I find the variation in teaching methods and presentations to be helpful in building math understanding in my kids. A common weakness I find with teaching my own kids is that I present lessons in a way that fits MY understanding, but that doesn’t always mean it fits their learning style.
Using more than one math curriculum gives the advantage of presenting lessons in different styles. So if presenting a concept one way doesn’t stick, you can easily present it another way.
Free Math Tutorials
The internet is full of so many helpful resources, including free math tutorials. This is a big advantage we have in homeschooling compared to when I was homeschooled in the ‘90s. I find math tutorials helpful for me as the teacher when I just need a refresher on certain concepts. My kids like that they can watch the tutorials and figure things out on their own, without waiting for me.
No matter which curriculum you use for math, take advantage of free online tutorials. Especially if you are not a mathy person.
Hands On Math Tools
I find using hands-on math tools help to make new concepts understandable. These can be as simple as using household items.
There are also video based curriculums that will demonstrate concepts with hands-on tools. While this doesn’t give our kids the kinesthetic experience of using the tools themselves, I find it still demonstrates concepts in a more tangible way than just math lectures.
Outsource Math Teaching
When I talk about outsourcing math teaching, I am not just talking about hiring a private tutor. While private tutoring is probably the best option for math support, for many of us it is not financially feasible. That’s okay. There are still ways to outsource math teaching.
Here are some of the most accessible ways to outsource math teaching:
Video Based Math Curriculum
I love that video based instruction gives us the benefit of having a math teacher, but we can still do things on our own time. There are several video based math courses available. Some include online math learning, while others pair video lessons with textbooks. For my entire homeschool adventure video based math lessons have been part of our curriculum choices.
Co-Op Classes
This is the first year that My Homeschool with a View is involved in an academic co-op, and it is so nice for me to outsource the teaching part of several subjects. For high school level homeschool, our co-op offers an extra day of ala carte classes that include math, science and writing.
Math and science are my least favorite subjects to teach, so I am loving this co-op resource. Our particular co-op utilizes CTCMath. It is nice that we have the option of going to class AND taking advantage of video instruction while home.
Community Based Classes
Local libraries seem to have evolved to offer so much more than just books. Ours offers classes in a variety of subjects and is a great place to check for some extra math instruction.
If you live in an area with a community center, you can often find classes and programs offered through those as well. Even check with your local gym as I have one local to me that offers tutoring in the child center.
Trade Homeschool Lessons with a Friend
This is where building a homeschool support network comes in handy. As a homeschool mom, I know that I am not an expert at all things, but there are people around me that are strong in ways I am not.
If you have a weak subject area, like math, find a friend who is a math rock star and see if they want to team up with you to trade lessons. Find what you love to teach and offer that in exchange. This will also help with the social piece of homeschooling. My kids love getting together to learn with friends.
Online Math Programs for Homeschool
As mentioned earlier, there are so many more resources available now than there were when I was homeschooled. The variety of options available for math programs online are seemingly endless. You can choose between classes that are live online, where your kids follow a classroom schedule and actually attend class. The advantage of live online classes is that kids often have more opportunities to interact with a teacher, and it also gives them another person to be accountable to.
The other option, and the one I prefer, is self-paced online math classes. With self-paced classes you maintain your homeschool flexibility and autonomy while still getting to outsource instruction. Self paced online math classes often pair video instruction with online textbooks, quizzes and tests. You get quality math instruction without having extra books taking up space.
Learn Math Online with CTCMath
The Homeschool Family Membership from CTCMath provides online math instruction for your entire family, at one low price. Patrick Murray teaches online math lessons in a concise and easy to understand way.
With CTCMath, lessons are broken up into short, manageable chunks. I’ve never been a fan of drill and kill style math lessons, and I appreciate the short lessons with CTCMath. My kids appreciate this too. Math shouldn’t take hours to complete one lesson and it doesn’t with CTCMath.
If you are looking to outsource your homeschool math instruction, CTCMath offers a free trial so you can experience this excellent math program for yourself.
