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What math curriculum should I use?

In my 17 years working at Lampstand Press, and all of my years of homeschooling, this was probably the single most frequent question I had. To beat all, it was the very same question I had when I was in the early years of homeschooling my three boys.

It wasn't because I was intimidated or didn't feel capable; it was because all three of them had different learning styles and I felt I had to teach to all.

We started out using Christian Liberty Press, and that was fine, but a bit on the boring side for my active first child. We then switched to Saxon because I thought the cyclical review would be great. Next was Horizons because it was colorful and academically solid too. We also tried BJU, Singapore Math, and Math-U-See.

Yes, you can see how wishy-washy I was with this particular subject. In the end, I learned my lesson from my first child and carried it out on the last one: **Pick a math program and just stick with it.** Nothing is perfect and each has its own strengths and weaknesses. Some will teach fractions in 3rd grade, and others in 4th grade. Still others might wait on the triple digit multiplication until 5th grade. But they really all cover the bases in the end.Finally, I settled on Math-U-See. I liked that it had both cyclical and mastery approaches built in. The biggest factor was that I could relearn higher math alongside my students and then turn around and teach them the lesson. The DVDs and teacher guides made it manageable, and when I had questions, their customer service was top notch. (Yes, I did contact them when I got stuck on those calculus problems!)

My youngest son...the one that benefited from my math stability in sticking to a single program...ended up going through all of Math-U-See by the time he was in 10th grade. We then had a college math professor tutor him through the rest of high school. He went on to get his undergrad in math and then his masters in a related field.The point is not to draw attention to his accomplishments, but to say that I feel he benefited from staying with a single program.I don't necessarily feel this way about every subject; sometimes I feel it's worthwhile to switch programs, or use something for a short season. Follow us on social media to learn more.

I just love that a mama out there had her children write us a thank-you note! Not only did she teach the value of a properly-written and thoughtfully-executed card, but she really made me smile! We love that we can share books with those who are on budget-constraints!

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