I’ll say it right up front. Math is not our favorite subject. Math is the subject I find hardest to be relaxed eclectic with. Math is the subject I try to find someone else to teach so I can stay as far away from it as possible.
With that said… we’re getting better. I’ve pulled together a bunch of resources for us to use this year. They are relaxed, and eclectic, and I believe will help us not only get through “arithmetic” but will also help us like math (maybe a little). It’s funny, when Hanna was little she loved math. She thought she was good at it. At some point during her PS journey things changed and she didn’t. The same thing happened with reading, but I feel really confident in realm of reading and language arts to go rogue and trust she will learn enough to get through life (and college if she decides to go). Unfortunately, I do not feel this confidence when it comes to math. So, I research, and connect, and join, and make it a village event, this remembering you used to love math journey.
Here are the resources I’ve got so far… and I’ll keep adding as I find new things. 🙂 You can also follow my Homeschool Math Pinterest board, I try to pin things on the fly.
Curriculum:
This year we are using CTC Math. We tried Teaching Textbooks last year. I thought it was going to be amazing, but it quickly became evident a spiral program was NOT working for Hanna. We switched to CTC to test it out late last year, and it seems to be working pretty well.
What I like about it:
I like the teacher talks to you like an adult. TT felt a little condescending with the praise critter.
I like that you have access to ALL years. We can easily go back and review a topic if we need to.
I like that lessons are short, and there’s short, practice sessions.
I like the price. 🙂 And you can get a nice discount buying through HS Buyers Co op.
Playing Games and Puzzles:
Games are always a huge part of our learning. It makes it fun, and practice never feels like “math”. Here are some of our favorite math games. The “real life” games have worked really well for us.
SET The card game and The card game
Lego
Kinex (She loved the roller coaster set!)
Living Life:
Grocery shopping, budgeting, comparison shopping.
Building things.
Setting up a new house, and a new room.
Painting.
Working at the barn (who knew how much math was used at the barn?!!!).
Cooking and baking.
Reading Books!
Watching Movies!
Gifted
{Proof}
21
A Beautiful Mind
Moneyball
The Imitation Game
A Brilliant Young Mind (Amazon Prime)
The Man Who Knew Infinity (Amazon Prime)
The Martian (Amazon Prime)
Connecting with Others:
Big Juicy Conversations About Math Group
That’s what I’ve got so far… of course as the year goes on I’m sure I’ll find more things, and I’ll keep adding to this list. If you’re wondering what you should use for math this year, come by my private facebook group for secular relaxed eclectic homeschoolers with older (8+) kids... we’d be glad to share our ideas and resources. 🙂
PS. If you can’t see the list of books turn off your ad blocker.
