Why Choosing (and Sticking with) The Right Homeschool Math Curriculum Matters

By James Leonard

Parents have more choices in a math curriculum than ever before. From Math-U-See to our own PACEs, the sheer number of options may have parents wondering how to find the right pick for their students. You may be asking, “Will the next book we buy be a fit?” or “Can we switch if it doesn’t work?”

Here’s how to know if you’re on the right track and why consistency may be the best course of action – no matter what curriculum you settle on.

6 Benefits to Homeschool Math Curriculum Consistency

Choosing a math curriculum for the life of your homeschool career has significant and lasting advantages.

1. Order

Unlike other subjects, like literature or even history, math is best taught in sequential order. You wouldn't teach a child the Pythagorean Theorem before multiplication facts, so recognizing how math is taught is important. Switching from Singapore Math or Saxon Math, workbook-based programs, to a fully online solution like Teaching Textbooks may seem an easy choice, but children are left to fill in gaps when the math order of one curriculum provider doesn’t match up quite right with the former.

2. Depth of understanding

When you use the same program again and again, children are exposed to math concepts over and over and in a logical way. This helps them grow deeper in their knowledge instead of getting "surface-level" acquaintance with important math concepts. With more opportunities to engage with materials, they won't only have the chance to know more, but they also have the chance to love what makes math such a beautiful and integral part of our world.

BCE’s math curriculum teaches kids math in a way that makes sense and helps them deepen their knowledge of essential concepts to achieve math fluency.

3. Parent expertise

If you weren't a strong math student yourself, you might be intimidated or overwhelmed at the thought of leading your child's math career now. While these feelings are normal, you most likely have what it takes to manage the education, especially when equipped with the consistency of a curriculum you can refer back to again and again. When you use a curriculum more, you get to know its strengths and how it can best serve your family’s unique needs. You become an empowered teacher and an advocate for your child, which improves their chances of succeeding in math – and in life.

An added bonus of BCE’s math program is that students master skills without a lot of parent involvement. You don’t have to be a math expert to stand back and watch your kids succeed, then step in to help only when needed.

4. Easy planning

For even parents who use the bare minimum of planning methods, having a consistent math curriculum helps keep everything organized. You’ll start to recognize just how long a lesson takes, how often to review, or even if your child needs the full year to complete a grade level. With this familiarity with a curriculum, you can pop updates into your planner and spend more time doing important things. You won’t be agonizing over how this new curriculum fits around everything else.

5. Less stress (for everyone)

Finally, we acknowledge that math is the most likely homeschool subject to cause students to moan or groan and parents to walk away in frustration. A certain level of behavior challenges is to be expected, especially at first. But, we encourage parents to stay the course with their curriculum, especially if a child tries to appeal with complaints of “I’m bored." What they may be trying to say is, "This is too hard," but they don't want to admit to struggling. Parents, too, can approach math with reluctance to admit that math is challenging.

After all, homeschooling parents take the burden of education on themselves; if a student doesn't do well in math, they worry about judgment on them as a parent, too.

By sticking to our student-led PACEs from BCE, you can teach your student to stick out math challenges, ask questions when needed, and even reach for outside help through our Academy, if necessary. You can rest assured that the quality scope and sequence are getting your child through every necessary element of math in a logical way that prepares them for more progressively challenging math concepts over time. Mastery of each concept along the way is the key to success. Our math curriculum is mastery-based.

The web-based or app-based math tools give your student more opportunities to practice. Frequent use of these drills can improve your students' math confidence and build the foundation needed to conquer higher high school math courses like Geometry and Calculus.

Bonus advantage:

One other big reason to stick with your math curriculum is that it’s expensive to abandon a product and buy another mid-year. However, waiting until the end of the year has a cost, both in time spent getting familiar with the new curriculum and potential months lost as students backtrack, skip around, or do make-up work to get up-to-speed in the new module.

Next Steps for Math Success

We know parents have many options for a math curriculum, and these difficult decisions don’t have to be made overnight. If you’re ready for one (final) switch to your “forever” math curriculum, reach out to our experienced consultants today.  Through our math diagnostic test, we can design a program specifically to your child's needs identifying both strengths and gaps in concept mastery.