Our History with Math and Why We’re Switching Curricula

Many of you have followed along with our family as we have had quite the journey with Math Curriculum. Last year, we hit a real sweet spot with Math with Confidence. We’ve used Math with Confidence K, 1 and 3. We still absolutely love Math with Confidence and had no qualms with it. But this last year, I’ve done a ton of learning and growing in the Charlotte Mason method. The more I learn, the more I realize that this philosophy is exactly what the Lord showed me when I sought His blueprint for our homeschool. The more I learn, the more I want to implement the philosophy in full. As I’ve researched the Charlotte Mason way when it comes to Mathematics, I’ve found that it’s a lot more oral and hands-on. I’m not saying I’m against workbooks at all. But I’m noticing that there’s a part of our brain that knows how to answer questions on a worksheet, and yet if we were asked the same question in a new way orally, we wouldn’t be able to answer. That’s where I feel like my 9 year-old is at. Yes, she can answer the problems; but she’s not necessarily understanding the concepts to the point where I could ask her in abstract ways. That being said, I’m wanting to try the Charlotte Mason approach- working through the problems in a much more hands-on way with various household items used as manipulatives instead of only one type. Enter- The Simply Charlotte Mason Arithmetic Series.

What is Charlotte Mason Math?

{from the Simply Charlotte Mason website}

“The Charlotte Mason method is an approach to learning that unlocks a child’s natural ability to understand concepts through ideas. In math lessons, the parent guides the child to explore math for himself, discovering and proving each concept with real objects before moving to abstract numbers. Good habits of learning are reinforced through short but focused lessons that don’t drag on into boredom and mental math review.”

“A hallmark of Charlotte Mason math lessons is the use of real objects to demonstrate each concept in the concrete. You don’t need any specialized math manipulatives—household objects like buttons, beads, and beans are perfect for exploring math concepts. Money is also used to teach important concepts such as place value and numbers with more than three digits.“

“Children love getting their hands on math with familiar objects, and these math lessons feed that natural curiosity with interesting math explorations that lead the child to discover new math concepts along the way.“

“The Charlotte Mason Elementary Arithmetic Series has been carefully laid out to guide you and your child to discover each concept. Math must be taught step by step, building each new concept on the one that came before. With these hands-on, interactive lessons, you’ll ensure that your child is not left behind as each concept is grasped before moving on. Every lesson ends with review, reinforcing each concept that has been learned.”

Additional Reasons I Chose The Charlotte Mason Arithmetic Series:

1. The Author. I have been listening and learning from the author of this curriculum, Richele Baburina, for over a year now. I have a great respect for the way this woman homeschooled her children and how she lives her life. How she talks about Arithmetic has opened up an entire new world of what our lesson time could look like.
2. Real materials vs. manipulatives. I can’t stress enough the use of REAL household items to work problems. I think our children can tend to think that the math workbook and the math manipulatives are “school,” not realizing that they are doing math every time they divide a pizza, make change at the store, bake scones for a play date or calculate how much time we have until the pool party. My daughter’s Book 3 Kit came with a good scale, measuring cups, a gallon jar, a pint, a quart, a measuring tape, a clock and more. REAL ITEMS! Inviting the use of these real life materials into their school lessons, I’m hoping, will open up my daughter’s mind to how vast mathematics truly is and how necessary it is in her world.
3. The books are not consumable. I love this! The book is not something the child writes in AT ALL. I simply read the problem and they work it out in their math journals or with their hands using the household items. This means that once I’ve bought all the books for my first born, I’ll have them for all of my children.
4. The lessons are zero fluff, short and to the point. I am so over spending an hour on math lessons. SO OVER IT! The Charlotte Mason philosophy is built on short lessons so that the child’s full attention comes to bear. Our lessons will be no more than 30 minutes, but I’m expecting more like 20. We will set a timer for 30 minutes, and no matter where she’s at, we will bookmark where we are for tomorrow. Anxiety over “finishing” a math lesson each day is over in my house!
5. There’s no stress about grade levels. I love that these books are organized into Book 1, Book 2, Book 3, etc, rather than 1st grade, 2nd grade, etc. This way, there is no pressure to finish the entire book in a year. We will go at a pace that feels right for my daughters, and move on to the next book when we’re done. I’m bowing out of all math-related stress, guys. It has done nothing to serve our family!

What We Selected:

1st Grade

For my 1st grader, we chose the Book 1 book plus the Manipulatives Kit.

4th Grade

For my 4th grader, we chose Book 3 plus the Manipulatives Kit. If you have a 4th grader, you may choose Book 4; but for my daughter, I felt she needed another year to strengthen her understanding of multiplication, division and fractions. We also got the additional Number Sentence Cards.

Sample Pages

From Book 3:

From Book 3:

From Book 1:

Math Games

As I’m thinking ahead, I’ve wondered if my daughters will miss all of the games and brightly-colored activities from Math with Confidence. As not to go without this element, I’ve decided to use our Fridays for Math board games! We normally don’t do Math on Fridays, but this will be a fun way to end the week and practice some of the concepts we’ve learned. It’s also smart because we can play the games over and over again throughout the year. In a math book, I’ve found that the games are often consumable (meaning you write on them and then can’t play them again), or you lose the pieces (since they are often cut up papers for the game pieces). There’s a huge thrift store near me that sells board games, so I’m going to take a trip there and see what I can find. Here are a few I’m going to hunt for:

Closing Thoughts

Choosing a math curriculum is so unique to each child. I have used math curriculum from three different companies over the years, this being the fourth. There were pros and cons to each, and I don’t suspect that there is any magic curriculum. I love that we have the freedom as homeschoolers to piece together and pivot to what works for our kiddos. If you are already loving what you are using, don’t second guess! There is no need to create doubt where there is none. I pray that my thoughts here encourage you to choose what works best for your family, and to not be afraid to slow down (or speed up!) to the pace of your child. Blessings, friends!