Math has never been my strongest area and was one of my biggest concerns when it came to homeschooling. Finding a math program for Lilly was fairly easy. I let her take part in the decision making and we both agreed that Teaching Textbooks was the program for her. She has always enjoyed math and this program has been the perfect fit. I also signed her up for Prodigy Math Game. It is an enjoyable game that provides lots of math practice, but is so fun she actually asks to play it in her free time.
Finding a program that was a good fit for Lucy has been more of a challenge. Despite having gone through one full year of public school and half another year repeating kindergarten, she still struggled to write and recognize numbers. The first months that I homeschooled her I didn't look into a math program, I just used a kindergarten workbook I had picked up at a teacher supply store.
But last summer I decided it was time to invest in a more formal math curriculum. I read everything I could about math programs that were appropriate for children with dyslexia. After several months of research I finally settled on RightStart Math. It didn't require a lot of writing and relied heavily on manipulatives. It is expensive, but seemed worth the cost.
I really loved the program and enjoyed teaching it, unluckily, for whatever reason, it was not a good fit for Lucy. By November she was trying to avoid math and didn't seem to be grasping the concepts. I'm not sure why it didn't work, because it is a wonderful program, but in the end I had to accept that it just wasn't what Lucy needed.
I started searching again and found this math program. It wasn't expensive, so I decided to buy it just to see how it worked. I'm happy to say that it has worked wonders with Claire! This program adopts a Charlotte Mason approach to teaching math. The lessons are filled with stories about two children visiting their grandparents' farm. The stories are engaging, there are colorful pictures and best of all math concepts are introduced in a way that really seems to click with Lucy. She looks forward to math and often does several lessons each day. She is already half way through level 1! Lucy also uses Flash Forward Math a couple times a week. It is a fun little workbook that she can work on independently.
So that is where we are at with math and I'm very happy I found math programs that both girls enjoy.
