There are so many choices today for a Math curriculum that the process can be very confusing for a new homeschool educator.  Some of the most popular are:  Saxon, Rod & Staff, School of Tomorrow, A Beka, Bob Jones Press, Study Time, and Spunky Math.

I have a degree in teaching and have homeschooled my daughter all the way through 10th grade at which time she started college.  I also supervised other homeschool families and ran a bookstore for over 20 years.

I personally liked Saxon Math the best.  My daughter completed Saxon Math 54, 76, Algebra 1, Algebra 2, and Advanced Math.  Then she passed the college entrance exam at the end of grade 10 and the state paid for her to go to college for free.

I always bought 2 Math textbooks, one for her and one for me.  I introduced the lesson every day and then went over all the practice problems to make sure she understood the new concepts and then she usually completed the lessons by herself, only asking for help occasionally.  I taught her to do her work on notebook paper neatly so I could grade it quickly.  We spent around an hour and a half on Math each day.  When we got to Advanced Math, I hired a Math teacher to tutor her as I was spending way too long preparing my lessons the night before and she was soon over my head in college.

My best friend used the paces from School of Tomorrow for her 4 children and they did very well with them.  She liked the way they had lots of samples.  You knew if you completed around four pages a day you would finish the course in a year without much planning.  Also, School of Tomorrow has more repetition then Saxon so a person poor in Math might do better in the paces.  Also, some students like finishing a pace every three weeks.  It gives them a sense of accomplishment.  Some students feel overwhelmed by a thick hard back book and like the twelve workbooks instead.  Twelve workbooks equals one year.  It's mostly the same material just presented in a different manner.

Many families like A Beka and Bob Jones Press because they think they are going to learn the most because they cost the most.  That is just not the case.  The A Beka Math program skips around with many concepts and doesn't dwell on one concept long enough for some studentsto learn it well.  You can buy a paperback textbook, teacher's book, quiz book, quiz key, test book, test key and so on.  The books are consumable and the companies change editions frequently so you can't buy student copies over to save money for a large family.  I think both companies are "money pits."

If I was starting over I would either go with Saxon or Rod & Staff hardback Math books.  Rod & Staff Math books have much repetition and the tests are at adequate intervals.  If you want your student to qualify for college, you should at least do Saxon Algebra which is excellent.  Don't do it without buying a solution manual.  It's invaluable in the time it will save you working out all the problems.  You'll still need answer key and a test packet.  At the moment you can usually get used Algebra 1 textbooks very reasonable on e-Bay.  If I had more than one child that was going to be using that textbook, I would go ahead and buy extra tests or I would make my children use notebook paper as you never know if you can get more copies in the years to come.

I am sure there are many more wonderful Math programs out there.  These are just a couple of my favorites. If I can answer any questions, just contact me through the e-Bay message system.

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