This post contains affiliate links — that simply means that if you make a purchase using one of my links, I’ll receive a small commission. It won’t cost you anything extra and the pennies that I earn bring me a ridiculous amount of joy. 

QUICK LINKS: Our Curriculum Pick for 2016/2017

Introduction: SEVEN PAGES?!?!
Wayfarers by Barefoot Ragamuffin: Our Charlotte Mason Homeschool Curriculum
Language Arts: English Lessons through Literature
Math: RightStart + Prodigy
History: Wayfarers: Revolution History
Geography: Wayfarers: Revolution History
Science: Simply Charlotte Mason’s Nature Studies + MysteryScience
Bible: Telling God’s Truth by Peter Enns (maybe)
Literature: Wayfarers: Revolution History
Jump ahead to our 2017/2018 Curriculum Picks

A Sample Day: Week 1, Day 3 (Grammar Stage)

Math

Math-U-See, page C

Miquon/Singapore Math

Your own math program

We actually use RightStart Mathematics, which I have a love/hate relationship with. I love RightStart because it uses games to practice new math skills instead of worksheets; I hate RightStart … because it uses games to practice new math skills instead of worksheets.

The games make the program incredibly teacher-intensive — there’s no assigning a lesson to your child and then retreating to another room to check Facebook prepare lunch; I’ve got to be there at the table the whole time or the lesson never ends.

If my kids were closer in age, I suspect that we would enjoy the games. Some of the games are actually fun — especially Corners. But overall, the games don’t work for us. My five-year-old wants to participate but is too young to actually play, so she takes on the roll of card dealer and hands out the card in the slowest way possible.

What is the slowest way possible, you ask? Well, she pretends she’s a dog and then buries the deck of cards in a “hole”. When we need a card, my daughter then proceeds to “dig” one out a card each time and dog-walks it over to us with the card in her mouth. At least she’s more careful than the toddler, who participates by purposefully crumpling any cards left in his reach.

I tried to find an alternative math program for the year, but it turns out that I really, really like the way that RightStart teaches math. I haven’t found another program that I like as much. So for now, we are continuing with the RightStart lessons and we’re using the online game Prodigy for practice instead of the games in the book.

Prodigy is a game that lets my daughter fight monsters by casting spells (completing math problems). The cool part is that as the teacher, I have total control over the types of questions she gets.

For example, if we did a lesson on money in RightStart, I could pick from the following options in Prodigy:

• Determine missing coins
• Determining change
• Identify coin value
• Money word problems
• Non-equivalent representations of money
• Relationships between coins and bills up to $10
• Total of multiple items

Maybe the next day, we have a short lesson on angles in RightStart. In Prodigy, I could choose from:

• Comparing angles
• Comparing angles to right angles
• What angles are in this shape

Then on Friday, I might decide that we need to review place value. In Prodigy, I might pick the questions to focus on:

• Greatest number to 1000
• How many tens and ones in tens frames to 20
• Hundreds, tens, and ones in a PVC
• Hundreds, tens, and ones with base ten blocks
• Least number to 1000
• Place value
• Value of a digit

Last year, I felt guilty for using Prodigy instead of playing the games. This year I’m embracing it.

Coming Up: Geography, History, and Science