Elementary Math Spotlight - Schoolhouse Teachers

Elementary Math Spotlight

Schoolhouse Teachers.com 

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Math may come easy to you but I for one have had a doosey of a time making math fun at my house. Math has been one of those subjects where I am constantly trying to strike a balance of fun and work. If this is you too, then please take heart friend, this is where Schoolhouse Teachers.com comes into play!

With SchoolhouseTeachers.com I can pick a class, even one I’m unsure of, like Starting Out With First Grade Math and then I just have to assist, not truly “teach” math. This makes my homeschool mama heart very happy. I can be confidant that the math course I choose will be taught well and that my student is learning.

 When each of my children reach about the age of five I start them with simple math workbooks from the Dollar Tree and real-life application with daily living. Once they start first grade we start a more "formal" approach to math. This class is just right for my first grade learner. It starts with simple one-to-one correspondence in lesson one and builds to mental addition and subtraction. This class  has colorful and interactive slides that teach a specific math concept before the student completes a related worksheet or activity.

More times than not, SchoolhouseTeachers.com comes to my rescue with just the course I need. And since math is a subject that isn’t my favorite to teach, I’m grateful to see so many math courses and workshops that are right at my fingertips!

There are also math workshops geared for elementary aged students and links to World Book Online articles about math.  I love the idea of having math workshops for my elementary-age children. We lean more to a mastery approach in math since my children start to get bored with repetitive review. 

Whole Number Place Value Workshop is one of the workshops that my third and fourth graders will be starting soon. This workshop goes beyond just ones-tens-hundreds place values. 

Other math workshops include the following:

1. Decimals Workshop

2. Fractions Workshop

3. Multiplication Workshop

4. Understanding Fractions Workshop. 

You can learn more about each of these workshops as well as all courses math-related on Schoolhouse Teachers.com by clicking HERE. 

Our New School Year 2017-2018

Plans for Our New School Year

2017-2018

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Wow! Can you believe that it is already October? I feel like this school year is flying by too fast for me. How is homeschooling going at your house? 

I think that our motto for this year is going to be "slow and steady wins the race". We are still working on our routine and line up for some of our subjects, but for the most part we are finding what works for us. 

This year, I have a 10, 8, 6, 3, and 1 year old. We are all learning to be more flexible than before with little ones. I have had to adjust our schedule to make room for those "interruptions" that will happen and really that's a good thing. I want my children to value people more than a to-do list, and since I'm their example I first have to show it. This homeschooling journey is becoming more beautiful the more I am learning to trust God's leading on what it is suppose to look like for our family. 

We are eclectic homeschoolers, with a CM bent, because "one size does NOT fit all" in my house. This year we will be using resources from Ambleside Online, SchoolhouseTeachers.com, Reading Eggs, Teaching Textbooks, and unit studies. I will include links below to each one so that you can check them out.

Last year was the first time that we ventured into a more Charlotte Mason approach to learning, but since I am still slowly reading through her volumes and learning myself we are not doing everything 100%. I get to help design some of the curriculum found at SchoolhouseTeachers.com, and I'm very excited to have this resource this year. I am using Reading Eggs with my struggling reader, and Teaching Textbooks for math with my artistic-driven learner. Then for fun, because my children actually like unit studies, I have sprinkled some throughout the school year. I hope you are having a great school year so far! You can tell me more about your school year in the comments below. I would love to hear from you!

Ambleside Online 
http://amblesideonline.org/

SchoolhouseTeachers.com
https://schoolhouseteachers.com/dap/a/?a=29803 {aff. link}

Reading Eggs
https://readingeggs.com/

Teaching Textbooks
http://teachingtextbooks.com/

Unit Studies by Amanda Bennett
http://unitstudy.com/

Also I am working on my own unit studies for the blog as well!! 

Math-U-See 2015-2016 Review

So for the next several blog posts I am planning on giving more details about what we used for our school year, what worked for us, and what didn't work for us. I know that I love to read other people's curriculum reviews. It has helped me to get a bird's eye view as well as helped me to decide if I really want to invest in that particular curriculum or not. I don't know about you, but around here there is more time than extra money to invest in expensive curriculum.

Math-U-See is a mastery-based, hands-on math curriculum that begins with Primer Level and continues into high school math. The complete set includes a Teacher's Manual, a Teaching DVD, Student Text, and Student Test Booklet except for the Primer Level. You can also purchase the integer block set, fraction overlays, and a CD with songs to help reinforce basic math memorization such as skip counting.

For this past school year we have been working through the Primer and Alpha Levels. I was able to get an older integer block set from my mom from when my younger brother used Math-U-See which worked for us. I did purchase the complete sets for the Primer and Alpha Levels. Some reviews that I read said that the Teacher's Manual and Teaching DVD were not necessary if you were comfortable teaching math. But I have to say that I am glad that I did because there are example problems, extra teaching hints, a basic script that tells you how to explain a math concept, and the teaching DVDs are great. The creator of Math-U-See is the teacher on the DVDs, and he makes math fun for the students. My kids love watching Mr. Demme.

Overall I love Math-U-See because it is mastery-based, includes hands-on learning, and there is online support if I need it. I think that it has been a good fit for both of my kids, even for my non-math kid who had rather not have to learn math. The manipulative blocks are great for visual and kinesthetic learners. As of today I am planning on continuing with Math-U-See in the fall. I will have three kids in a more structured math time then, and we would be using Primer, Alpha, and Beta Levels. For the summer I am planning on making sure that my kids review what they have learned in a more relaxed fashion, aka math games. This is where Pinterest will be my best friend...lol. The main thing that I want them to do is commit to memory their addition and subtraction fact families. Math is a building block subject, and before we can continue they will need to have that mastered.

For the record all opinions are my own. I am not a paid representative for Math-U-See. I just love talking about homeschooling, curriculum, methods and styles. I would love to hear which math curriculum that you use and why.

Math, Oh My!

Well now it's been awhile!!! I can not believe that I didn't get this one posted when I finished it. My life has been crazy since the last time I was here. The first month of 2015 has come and gone.

Well here it is. My thoughts on math and our current curriculum.

This school year I decided to give Math-U-See a try. In previous school years I have used math workbooks from Wal-Mart and Dollar Tree. We have played different printable math games that I found online for free or board games with a math focus. The goal was more about giving them a basic foundation in early math. I spent time debating between the Singapore Math verses Horizons math verses Math-U-See.

Math-U-See is a hands-on math program using manipulatives. In the levels that we are using it is all about building it, saying it, and writing it. The lessons seem to flow quickly from one topic to the next. There are lesson on the current topic as well as review pages with mixed problems from the current topic and previous topic(s).

My 1st grader is using Alpha, and my kindergartener is using Primer. They both approach and learn math is completely differently ways. My daughter (at the tender age of 7) claims to not like math. My son is pretty much middle-of-the-road about the subject. He does not love it or hate it. My daughter had rather build with the manipulative blocks than build the answer for the problems. My son builds with the blocks too but the tens bars end up being swords for his toy men. My daughter is a very creative girl who gets bored easily with too much repetition. She is not a fan of review, but she has learned to slow down and focus better this year. My son usually is eager to complete his lessons as long as it does not take a long time. But I have a confession, I am not a fan of math myself. I had rather be curled up with a good book ANY DAY, but I understand the importance of learning math. So I try to always have and keep a good attitude about math.

Now that it is December I am in the process of mid-year evaluations. The kind where I think back to August and really evaluate rather something is working for us or not. Math-U-See is passing the grade for us this year.

I would love to hear from you! Which math curriculum do you use or don't use? Do you use a boxed kit or create your own lessons?