When I homeschooled my kids (when the dinosaurs were around, lol), I found there was little offered in the way of godly math. In fact, it was very disappointing. Homeschool curricula can be costly and confusing. But there are some simple ways to add God into your math curriculum that you chose this year. Every math class requires you to add and subtract. Use this to teach your children how God wants our lives to be centered around Him. We add things to our lives like watching TV, playing with friends, reading, or playing video games. We need to add things to our lives that are worthwhile. Adding can be fun; add a TV show that uplifts your family and its values or read something that is encouraging to read. Add a fun time out with friends and family. We had sunny days instead of snow days when I homeschooled. These adding things can be explained as God’s time for us to have fun.

What about subtracting things? Sometimes children see subtraction as a negative thing and hate it. How about if we make it fun? Have them subtract something for a day they hate doing. Yes, it could be a chore, but they can only subtract it for one day.   Tell them God wants us to subtract in our lives too. He wants our lives to be simple. Talk about how you can subtract things that are not important so we can add things to your daily life that are important: like spending time with Him as a family in devotions. As homeschoolers, we get so caught up in math, English, reading, etc., that we forget to add God’s word into our lives. If we can add math and the Bible, we have a win-win situation.

So, next time you teach math and have to add and subtract, talk about how God uses these operations to simplify our lives and bring us closer to Him.

As a math teacher, I am often asked whether mastery is better than spiral learning. My response is, “why do I have to choose one over the other?”  Let’s think about how you learned English. Did you, as a  mom, say, “oh, let’s only say one word all day and see if my child can say that word back and master it?”  And then say, “Great, he/she mastered it, so I never have to teach or use that word again.”  Math is like learning English; it is a building block. I cringe when I have parents say we are still doing fractions in the 7th grade because my child hasn’t mastered it. Let me inform you, they never will. Mastery is when you learn to apply what you learned. How boring would life be if we only did one thing and one thing very well? When I teach math, I bring previous knowledge into the new material. This way, they are doing fractions, but with equations, expressions, percentages, decimals, and the list goes on. This is spiral learning with a twist of mastery. They will always see fractions in math. A recipe has fractions, reading a clock, and gas prices (Next time you are at the pump, look). Many careers use fractions: a nurse or doctor; there are fractions in medicine. When looking for a math curriculum that fits your child, look for variety. The end of the book should be more challenging than the beginning of the book. When I homeschooled my children, selecting curricula was my most demanding job (although when I did it, I had less to choose from), but when you find the right fit, it is just as rewarding for you as it is for your child. Don’t give up! Don’t be afraid to ask God to direct you.