Homeschooling math for free.
There was a time in our homeschool when resources were SEVERELY limited. My husband had been laid off and we lost almost 40% of our income overnight. Things got mighty lean- in a hurry. I don't mean small budget. I mean thrift store books, the internet and ink. (The refillable kind at that)!
Math wasn't my strong suit growing up and I was a bit rusty. The thought of having to teach math with nothing but free resources... frankly... I was scared out of my mind! The mind part quickly returned (praise The Lord) and I went hunting. I was on a mission to furrow out something comprehensive that also filled three other requirements.
1. Children can learn well with it.
2. They don't absolutely hate it.
3. I can teach it without wanting to run screaming down the road. (Some days, a tiny piece of this may occasionally surface, although I don't know that it's fair to blame math).
There are quite a few free math sites out there and we ended up trying several. For the particular learning needs of our home, we did best with a combination of video tutorials, long hand (show your work) problems and some practice worksheets in between for those concepts that needed a little more repetition to master. There are several recommendations on my Math page, but these are the ones we used most.
This site isn't affiliated with the homeschool curriculum, but we have been quite impressed with it. He begins with 6th grade math and goes through Algebra 1, breaking the year into quarters. One of my favorite things is the section on note taking. He talks about the importance of doing that in math and gives an example of an effective format. The videos are great! Not just a teacher in front of a white board, he uses pictures as visual aids and some PowerPoint graphics that makes them more interesting. They run between about 12-16 minutes. You click on the lesson that coordinates with the current level of your student. The page it takes you to will have the video lesson and links for worksheets, answers, a quiz and even a site with more practice problems.
Although not as easy to navigate, this site has a lot to offer. These lessons are done by the woman who created the "Math Mammoth" curriculum. This link takes you directly to the lessons page. Scroll down to the grade level and subject area needed, then click. There is a video for each section, along with a page or two of workbook examples and a link to some printable pages, giving you plenty of opportunities to practice what you've learned.
The JMT here stands for just math tutorials and that's the truth! But don't let that deter you.This guy, is REALLY good at math and has a fabulous knack for breaking things down into simple, easy to understand concepts. The menu shows subjects beginning at Algebra, but the sub-categories start off with long division, decimals and fractions. If you're after, detailed, in depth learning of all things fractions... TADA! Calculus, statistics and trigonometry are covered here too. (But no review for those because we haven't made it that far yet).
A perfect compliment to any math program (or your own method of teaching, hats off to you-seriously)! If you need a math worksheet, this guy probably has it. There are over 10,000 right now and he is still adding them! From beginning addition to Pre-Algebra and basic Geometry, he covers it all- and well! All worksheets come with answer sheets you can either print or just use for correction if you happen to be the ink saving type (what)? He also provides flash cards, multiplication tables, graph and elementary writing paper for your convenience. Yay!
It does take more time and organization to use these. There's no software to grade for you or workbook to flip through and find your place. If your child is old enough, have them write the date, site name and lesson title or number at the top of the page. If not, you can label a spiral binder or folder with that child's name and take a few minutes at the beginning of math time to jot it down so you can always pick up right where you left off.
What are your favorite free math resources? Have you ever taught math from only free sources? Email us. We'd love to hear from you so we can keep adding to the list and continue to support other families. If you need a little help sifting through sources for your family, we offer affordable consultations to create a customized list for you.