How to Teach Homeschool Math (A Plan for Non-Math Lovers)

Homeschool math . . . I have to admit that just the thought once made me feel a twinge of queasiness.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love school. Like, absolutely love it. I’m the kid who was always counting down the days until the new school year. I love learning new things, love the smell of school supplies, and actually find lectures fascinating.

BUT, math and I are not friends.  Truth be told, I cried all the way through my calculus exam in college. Math was always a tough subject, but it’s a necessary one, and that’s where we need to start.

Before we tackle the HOW, we need to start with a strong WHY.  When I first began homeschooling, I challenged myself to come up with biblical reasons why I was teaching everything I was teaching so that I could keep it in the right perspective.

Why on earth do we have to learn math?

When you are tackling a subject you don’t enjoy, it’s super helpful to understand why it’s necessary for your educational well-being and, hopefully, for your development as a person, right? Math has traditionally been one of those subjects we can’t put our fingers on. Why in the world do we need to know and understand it?

It’s hard for us to understand why we need algebra in the grocery store or to balance our checkbooks. I spent years wondering the same thing until I began to grasp that math, like every other subject, gives us the knowledge to realize the true awesomeness of God.

For a Christian, the purpose of math is to better help us to behold the incredible glory of God through a more exact understanding of creation and the world around us.

Math helps us understand the miracle of it all by helping us better define and explain it. Larry Zimmerman with Answers in Genesis says it like this, “One cannot see Christ physically, but one is able to physically view evidences of His power and glory in the creation, the basis of which is mathematics.”

If you are geeky like me and want to read more about that, read this article.

I love telling my kids this truth. After all, the Bible tells us to work as if we are working for the Lord (which includes school), and it tells us to obey our parents. But knowing that the subjects we are learning help us better know God, understand our faith, and defend it to others is FAR more motivating than the first two.

Curriculum for teaching homeschool math

We are rather simple with our math curriculum. It’s easy to fret and overthink things. Don’t give in to that. Stay simple and use what works for your family. And if unexpected life circumstances come your way, that’s OK too! Here’s how to adjust math when life throws you a curveball.

Preschool and Kindergarten Math

Now, let’s dig into how to actually teach math, starting in preschool and kindergarten. I am not a big fan of curriculum at this stage of the game. I think your best bet as a parent is to talk about math in a natural way. Have your kids count, subtract, add, divide, and multiply real things and real objects in your house. This happens naturally if you’re engaged with your kids.

For example, you bake some cookies and sit down with your kids.  “Hey, Leah, how many cookies do we have? Oh, we have eight cookies. Nice, awesome counting! Now let’s divide – use the word divide – those cookies evenly among your siblings. How many cookies are each of you going to get?”

It’s really important that we use those real words and help our kids get used to that kind of language because that’s one of the biggest barriers when it comes to math. If we’re teaching them the actual words, then when they see them in a formal math lesson, they already have the experience. It’s not foreign to them.

Of course, the first time you use the word ‘divide,’ your kids might not know what you mean. That’s okay. You can go ahead and explain it further by giving more instructions.

During pre-K and kindergarten, your main goals are to learn shapes, colors, number recognition, and how to talk about math and mathematical things. That’s really it. Our Pre-K curriculum, All Around Town, and our Kindergarten curriculum, Backyard and Beyond, follow this formula of early learning. Kids learn basic math skills in a natural way as they are exploring the world around them.
Math mastery is about the basics.

There are probably 100 great math curriculum options out there. But if you skip to that, you’ll miss the point. Math is a subject systematically built on tiny blocks of information. If you miss the foundation, the top will crumble. Period. Sadly, this is why so many kids struggle in math.

Take the time to lay the foundation and be sure you get a math curriculum that makes this the focus of elementary school. The two skills we focus on are skip counting and basic addition and subtraction facts.

We start skip counting as early as possible with fun jingles and songs. My personal favorite is the skip counting songs written by Classical Conversations. You can get them in this app. It’s not free, but it’s no more expensive than a CD, and you can still play it in the car. You can get a physical CD from them directly here or on Amazon. I found many skip-counting CDs on Apple Music with a quick search. Just make sure you stick with one and go all the way to skip counting by 15s. Don’t stop at 2s and 5s.

My older kids were vigilant with learning skip counting, and as a result, learning multiplication was easy. My son wasn’t as vigilant (OK, Mom wasn’t on the ball), and we quickly realized multiplication was a much bigger struggle until we went back and did it right. Laying the foundation here is key!

For addition and subtraction math facts, daily practice is required. Be careful because most math curriculum does not cover this in-depth enough. They move on to other topics, and the kids are lost. Don’t let that happen. Focus here, EVEN if nothing else gets done. Remember, math is a cycle, and the same concepts are taught year after year. They just go a bit more in-depth as kids get older. If you focus on getting the basic facts very strong, the other stuff will be simple to pick up on.

We use XtraMath for daily fact practice. I’ve used so many different things, but this one wins every time because each child has a login and can practice the exact facts he or she is struggling with. The website is smart, and that makes mastery much easier. Oh, and it’s totally FREE!

First and Second Grade

Once your child gets into first grade, this is when it’s time to move to a formal math curriculum. My favorite is Christian Light Education, or CLE. Now, there are a few things that I love about CLE. One, it’s very simple. Two, it’s very cheap, and three, it comes in little booklets, 10 of them throughout the year for the child, so it’s not as overwhelming as a large textbook might be.

But most importantly, the entire goal of this curriculum is to help your kids gain independence, and that is exactly what first and second grade should be all about. CLE is also really strong on math facts, which is super important. I find that a lot of curriculum is very, very weak on math facts.

Math facts are absolutely the foundation to math success. If your child does not grasp those, you need to stop, go back, and keep doing it. If you move on and go into these higher level concepts, and your child is still struggling with quick recall of addition and subtraction facts, they WILL NOT succeed in math. So we want to make sure that our kids really have a strong foundation in that.

Third Grade through Middle School

Third grade and up is where things get awesome! In our family, we moved to my much-beloved, longest-running-ever curriculum, Teaching Textbooks.

The reason I love Teaching Textbooks so much is because it teaches the lesson for me, taking me out of the equation so that I’m freed up to help other kids, and it gives the kids the necessary practice without overwhelming them with busy work.

I love that it’s self-grading. They automatically know if they’ve gotten it wrong so that they don’t do an entire math sheet completely wrong. When that happens, it’s teaching them to do things incorrectly. It’s training them to think the wrong way because we didn’t catch the mistake in time. I love that Teaching Textbooks fixes this problem with immediate feedback.

Read more about why we love Teaching Textbooks here.

High School

Most high school students will take the 3 standard courses of Algebra 1, Algebra 2, and Geometry. Your student will need these in order to score well on the ACT/SAT if they are college-bound. We still use Teaching Textbooks for this, and yes, my kids not only did well on the test, one of them got a full scholarship BASED on her scores. So while some may think Teaching Textbooks is on the lighter side, it works just fine for most kids.

After the 3 standard math classes, I like for my senior to take Consumer Math. It teaches math skills for real life, like how to budget, calculate income tax, and understand saving and investing. Even better, it fulfills one high school math credit! It’s a curriculum designed to set your student up for success by giving them opportunities to actually practice using math skills in real-world scenarios.

Unless your student is on a STEM path and planning a career in math or science, Consumer Math is a far better option than Trig or Pre-calculus because it sets teens up for success in the real world. 

Four Math Rules to Decrease Your Frustration

Let’s talk about the four math rules that will decrease your frustration with the subject.

First, your kids need a 90% mastery or better in order to move on to the next lesson. Why? Because math is all about mastery. Math continues to build. We have to make sure they’re mastering everything that they do. By the way, that means you’re gonna need to be grading it every single day. That’s another thing that I love about Teaching Textbooks. It grades for me. Whatever you do, though, you need to make sure that you’re grading every day.

My second math rule is to use a cheat sheet. My kids used the math reference charts from Christian Light Education. What I love about this is it gives kids a point of reference.

Number three tip for math, always write it down. Each of my kids gets a math notebook. This is basically glorified scrap paper. It reminds your kids that they need to write the problems down. They will not be successful if they don’t, and it gives them a fun place to do it.

Number four, if you’re struggling with a concept, first step is to go back to the lesson where you learned that information the first time. One really cool thing about Teaching Textbooks is, when you’re doing the problem, they actually tell you where you first learned the concept, so you can go back and listen to the lecture again. I love that feature.

But let’s say you’ve gone back and you’ve listened to it again, and you’re still not really sure. Google it! There are many websites that will help you, that have videos that will show you a different way to maybe think about or work that problem or that concept, and that will really help you help your kids to get over the hurdle.

We want to encourage you to have the confidence to teach math. You’ve got this! But if math really feels like more than you can handle as a homeschool parent, rest assured you can always outsource it to a co-op or online class. Sometimes, taking the subject outside of your realm is good for your student and your relationship! If your child struggles with math, I would encourage you to check out this post for ideas too.

More Christian Homeschool Curriculum

Need guidance on curriculum for other subjects? Read more about our Christian homeschool curriculum tips and favorites.

Free Homeschool Planning Boot Camp

Feeling overwhelmed and need some help? Remember, you are not alone! It’s pretty easy to get lost in all the details, but our FREE Homeschool Planning Boot Camp will show you how to put a plan together in just 5 days!

Your turn—> So, what is your favorite math curriculum or idea? Share it with us here.