This is the Homeschooler's Math Department. I am gradually adding lessons on how to teach the basics in a simple, hands-on way. I'm not lining this up by grade or trying to show you everything you need to teach, so you'll still need other resources.

It is extrememly helpful, particularly if you live in a state that monitors your teaching, to be sure you know what is taught at each grade level. This is easy enough to do by asking to see the textbook used by your grade level. I can often get our homeschool offices or the local school to let me photocopy the table of contents. (The kid down the street may loan you his, too.) Then I make sure I cover each of the important areas. If you can get the books in your hands long enough, you may want to copy the chapter tests, because these show you what the publisher really felt was important.

A math book is one of the few books that is really important to have. The grocery store workbooks skip too many important steps, because they were meant to supplement a public school student's studies. Some teacher supply stores carry real write-in textbooks, and you can also make up your own problems or let the children make them up after you've given your lesson. Do a large number of problems together on the wipe-off board before turning them loose. If they do the problems wrong, it will be very hard to retrain them.

If you use real textbooks, you'll notice they repeat every topic every year. You do not need to do every problem in the book. (You won't finish if you do. The public schools seldom get through the whole book.) Here's what I do: I sit down with my children and give them a few sample problems from the first lesson. If they can do it, I skip that lesson and go on to the next one. I don't make them do a lesson until we find one they don't know. I then assign every other problem after we work together. The next day, I give them some sample problems again. If they can do it on the first try without having to review, I let them move on. (If they remember it over night, they usually have it down.) Every day, we review several of the past lessons to make sure they still know it. If they forget, they go back and do the other half, or make up new problems. You should review each topic for a full month before moving it to occasional review status. When we get to that level, I only check once a month or so. By using this pattern, your children may move ahead of the public schools after a while, and you can relax and not worry about keeping up. If they are behind, you can focus only on the essentials, and worry about the fancy things later.

Here are the classes currently meeting in the math department. Check back often, because I'm adding new classes as often as possible.

Learning To Count: More Than Reciting

Learning To Add

Learning to Subtract

Learning to Multiply

Adapting Mathematics Instruction in the General Education Classroom for Students with Mathematics Disabilities An article on LD Online. Meant for public school teachers, but has valuable information for the homeschool parent as well.