This week I want to share with you my all time favorite math curriculum. I have tried many, and liked few, but now I have finally found something that works for my family, Teaching Textbooks.

I love teaching textbooks because it takes mom out of math. My children (so far) have all liked math. The problems started when my oldest reached eighth grade. She zipped through her Saxon math book until about lesson 78, then she got stuck. The problem was that I hadn’t been keeping up with her lessons because she didn’t need any help. When she had trouble half way through the book I had to go back and read about 20 lessons to figure out how Saxon was teaching the concept and then tried to figure out how to explain it to her. This continued for the rest of the school year. She would understand everything for several lessons and then I would need to come and help, and spend an enormous amount of time familiarizing myself with the material.

This year we tried Teaching Textbooks. This program, which is computer based, teaches your child the lesson, goes over every problem and even goes over every solution to every problem, if necessary. The information is presented in a fun and detailed way. My daughter loved math this year and scored very well on her tests as well as the Iowa test in math.

Here is an excerpt from their site that explains in detail how the program works.

First, because Teaching Textbooks™ were designed specifically for independent learners, they simply have more teaching/explanation than any other product on the market. We realized that independent learners needed a product that contains the maximum amount of teaching, so a Teaching Textbook™, with its approximately 700 pages of text and 120 - 160 hours of teacher instruction on CD-ROM, is both a teacher and a textbook combined into one. And the CD-ROM teaching isn’t just abstract lectures either. There are also down-to-earth, audiovisual step-by-step explanations for every single one of the almost 3,500 problems in the book. Using a Teaching Textbook™ is like having a friendly tutor available at the push of a button, but for only a fraction of the cost! Other products claim that they can be used without the assistance of a teacher, and this may or may not be true. But shouldn’t a truly ideal product for independent learners contain step-by-step teacher explanations for all those times when you might get stumped? We think so.

Second, given the amount of teaching that the series offers and the importance of junior high and high school math in college courses and on the job, our program represents an incredible value. For example, the Algebra 1, Algebra 2 and Geometry Teaching Textbooks™ contain at least 3 to 8 times the amount of multimedia teaching as the nearest competitors’ products.

Third, because the Teaching Textbook™ series was designed for independent learners, it introduces proper terminology only after first presenting the underlying concept in plain language. Of course, the series includes all the terms that students need to know for important standardized tests such as the SAT and ACT, but our textbooks do not bog the reader down in highly technical language until students are ready to digest it.

After trying many math programs available to homeschoolers (BJU, Abeka, Horizons, Saxon, Miquon, Alpha Omega) I can say without a doubt that Teaching Textbooks is our favorite math curriculum. This year I plan on using Algebra II as well as Math 7. The one downside to Teaching Textbooks is its high price tag, but since it is reusable, this should help keep the cost down, since I will use it for six kids.

This is a great program for moms of many, or moms who need a little help in the math department. Teaching Textbooks is designed for your child to work on their own, with little or no help needed from mom. Last year, all I did was grade and record the test scores. This saved me hours and hours of time and allowed me more time to work with my other kids.

For more WFMW visit Shannon’s blog.

For the rest of the summer, Homeschooling Wednesday will be your forum. Each week you will be able to share with our readers your homeschool curriculum, schedule, lesson planning, curriculum reviews, or anything that might help other homeschooling moms have a better homeschool year

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