Curriculum Picks, 21-22: Math

Hey Loves!

Onward we forge in sharing our curriculum picks for the 21-22 school year. As the title leaves nothing to be desired, this blog is all about Math.

Let me tell you, this is for sure the subject I spend the most time researching, Like, by far. It may be because of my fears and my lack of aptitude for math or because my kids love it so much and I don’t want the way it is taught to ruin it for them or a combo of both. Either way, math is a never ending story over here.

James and I have both enjoyed Horizons Math. It is very “spiral”. So much so that James can easily tell when he is being challenged and, at first, that was hard for him, but now he accepts “that challenge”. I also like how this curriculum doesn’t mandate how you teach things so I’ve been able to apply  a multisensory approach and allow James to really understand concepts he can apply to a range of math problems. I will say it took longer than I projected for us to complete book 2 of Level K but my kids alo made it through 2020 with their mental and physical health intact. So, we are starting level 1 for James and maybe level K for Jude. I say ‘maybe” because it starts slow, but like the uphill climb on a roller coaster before you go racing upside down through loops slow. You get it? 

Because of that, I also purchased LetsPlaySchool Let’s Play Math to get a very solid foundation while having fun. Originally, I purchased this for Jude but I have a feeling we will all get a kick out of it.

Now, this is the part where I was supposed to tell you that both kids are all set for Math U See. Key word, “supposed”, meaning there’s been a wrinkle in my plan.

As I was hunting for Math for Jude because I am not sure Horizons K will be enough repetition for him, I ended up getting Saxon Math 2 for James for free. Don’t ask how, just know Jesus loves me. James was over the moon for it and promptly declared he was so excited because he doesn’t like Math U See. Umm, what??? Since when? Why? Ugh!!!!

Now, I am not sure why Jesus loves me like this but I have yet to find the Beta workbook used, thus I haven’t purchased it. Also, Beta would probably be the only level I would be ok skipping. So, AS OF NOW, James is not doing Math U See. As you can probably tell, this was much harder for me than him. 

I will also add in some musical multiplication and games. 

Cheers to Math, for now, because I am still researching.