Are your kids are struggling with math and although they seem to get it now and then, you are back to the same old struggles year after year?  Or perhaps you have a child who just keeps falling further and further behind?

You’ve tried all the typical homeschool math courses–Saxon, Singapore, ACE, Horizons . . . but the struggle continues.  Perhaps you are a homeschooler seeking a better option for math or maybe you have a student who is attending school but needs a remedial math course that will help him or her finally master the concepts.

Got a question recently about what homeschool science courses I would recommend for elementary school.

I have a few favorites that depend on what you are looking for!

If you are looking for a focused study of just one topic:

Math is one of those subjects that seems to get a lot of attention. In my experience, parents are concerned for one of three reasons:

• Math is a struggle for my child. I just don’t know how to find the right homeschool math curriculum that will help him or her understand.
• My child is very strong in Math–how quickly to I move him or her to an advanced homeschool math program?

A reader asked if I had any recommendations for a good consumer math program for homeschoolers. 

There are a number of good Consumer Math programs out there.  Let me just outline my favorites and give you a brief overview of each.  Hopefully that will give you a good starting point.

Do you remember bank books?  How exciting it was to head to the bank with your deposit and get a stamp in your book that not only tracked your deposit but also the interest you had earned?

Do you remember life before the check card?  When you kept a careful tab of your spending in your checkbook as well as a running balance?

One of the greatest freedoms in homeschooling is the freedom to explore your child’s interests.

• If your curriculum provides an introduction to medieval history and your child is enthralled, take the time to pursue it further.
• If you know your child has a passion for the study of electricity, give him the tools to dig deeper.

Someone asked me today what the difference was between Saxon Math and Singapore Math.

The difference is fairly simple.  Saxon’s instruction is cyclical.  It provides instruction, gives clear examples, then gives plenty of practice.  It will then cycle back to review the concepts again later in the course (often with practice).  Saxon does include some critical thinking skills, but its primary goal is to help students learn the skills involved in math. Therefore, you will find a lot of repetition in Saxon Math.

I usually recommend Singapore for students who have strong math skills. Singapore approaches math with the goal of developing mental math skills.  It begins by teaching a concept, providing some practice, then taking the concept further with mental math activities.  With Singapore, you will see a lot of  word problems as well as graphs for analysis, etc.