Math Curriculums 101

Are you a homeschool parent or teacher looking for a multisensory math curriculum? You could journey to the depths of Google, make calls, crunch numbers, and when it’s all said and done, feel one of two things:

Satisfied or….totally lost.

We asked our long-term Math Specialists about math curriculum options available and here’s what they said!

Here are 8 multisensory math curriculums options!

I’m saving my personal favorite for last.

But first, a caveat! I love caveats!

As a company, we don’t use any singular specific program, because we believe no program on its own contains all the elements of math instruction that we know is best for kids! However, we’re working on getting a supplemental curriculum as a great starting point.

What’s MOST important is to take the standards from the curriculum and pair them with powerful manipulatives. Even cats like manipulatives! More than the “package of content” is the implementation! How do we engage the curriculum and apply it? With compassionate joy, awesome games, multisensory math training, and the C-R-A method.

9️⃣ Math for Love – Here is a sampling of free lessons but the curriculum is NOT free.

8️⃣ Bridges – Not free, but you can find their “Home connections” program free. They do a good job of including pictorial representations of what can be done with manipulatives as well as games! Apply subitizing to the worksheets and they are a chef’s kiss experience!

7️⃣ Aleks Math – Subscriptions for this web-based curriculum start at $20 per month. You can see your pacing through grade levels easily and friendly reports on what needs to be practiced. This is not multisensory but it is great when paired with multisensory instruction!

6️⃣ Prodigy Math – Does not follow the CRA method, but kids love it.

5️⃣ Math U See – They’ve been around for a while!

4️⃣ ST Math – Free through June 2022. Very visual and focuses a lot on mathematical reasoning. This is great for helping students understand and reason with math, but doesn’t teach math vocabulary and can frustrate some students who don’t like the trial and error process.

3️⃣ Illustrative Mathematics – Free resources, great visuals, ideas for using manipulatives, and games! However, you have to make a call and talk with someone to get access to the entire curriculum.

2️⃣ Zearn – This is more interactive than Illustrative Mathematics and completely free, except if you want to purchase the workbook and answer key. The downside is it stops after 5th grade, though they are working on a 6-8th curriculum. You can sign up for middle school updates.  There are great videos that go along with the curriculum. There is so much about Zearn that reminds me of what we hold dear at MFM.

And now, my personal favorite!

1️⃣ Math Facts to Memory Volume 1™: Adding and Subtracting within 10. This program is the beginnings of something truly great! Think you love and like OG reading lesson plans? That’s what this super cool supplemental math resource is – an explicit, diagnostic, systematic approach to teaching students how to add within 10. Oodles of hands-on activities, vocabulary cards featuring etymology and morphology, and games.

Alright, I’m totally biased in my favorite item because it was developed by our team here at Made for Math.

When you purchase our supplemental curriculum, it helps us fund future volumes. The multiplication and division volume will be released sometime in 2024!

MFM Authors