7 Top Tips On How to Choose a Homeschool Math Curriculum

Finding the best homeschool math curriculum is challenging, but knowing how to choose a homeschool math curriculum is sometimes harder!

There are so many things to consider with finding an online math curriculum I wanted to share with you 7 things that you should look at before you decide.

We absolutely love math in our homeschool, in fact, it is my favorite lesson to teach, and my son’s favorite lesson to learn. Yet, we have changed our math curriculum every year for the last 5 years.

Why? I hear you ask……. there are numerous reasons but as we have now started doing high school math his needs have changed.

I am going to share with you some top tips on finding the best math curriculum online for this year! Remember, what you choose in 1st grade will almost definitely not be the curriculum your child will do in high school. But that’s ok!

**Disclosure: I was compensated for my time to write this post. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own. I only share resources that I would use with my own family and those that I believe other homeschool families will enjoy. There may be affiliate links in this post.**

What To Look For in An Online Math Curriculum?

Before we begin, it’s important to keep in mind that there isn’t a single perfect homeschool curriculum. As children grow, their requirements and learning preferences may evolve, so it’s crucial to remain flexible and adaptable when selecting the best homeschooling resources.

These are the top 7 things to look for in an online math curriculum.

Method of Instruction

Are you looking for a self-paced or live class? This is probably the most important question. If you are lucky the online math program you want offers both options, however, most do not. So this is a really important decision.

For us personally, we have only done self-paced so far, as elementary and middle school math I could help with. Now my son is taking Algebra 1 I can also help. However, as I mentioned earlier (we change math curriculums every year) I already know that for our next high school math course we will start with live classes.

Do They Offer a Free Trial?

Do they offer a free trial? This is really important for us, especially if it is a curriculum we are not aware of.

If they do not offer a free trial make sure to read any homeschool curriculum reviews about the company.

Do You Need A Placement Test?

If you are going to choose a curriculum where you only have access to one year’s work.

You need to make sure your child is going to be working at the correct grade level. For example, Teaching Textbooks offers a free placement trial, however, CTCMath will give you access to all grades K-12 so you don’t need a placement test. (See our Teaching Textbooks review for more information on them.)

Is it Adaptive?

Is it important that the curriculum is adaptive?

Do you want your student to go in between levels depending on the subject being taught?

For us, this was important in early elementary grades as my son was ahead. So I didn’t want him to be stuck at a level he found too easy. Now we are in high school I don’t need the curriculum to be adaptive. So this does depend on the age of your child.

Is it Religious or Secular?

As we are secular homeschoolers we would not want an overly religious curriculum, and certainly not for math.

However, there are a lot of religious curriculums. So if this is important to you, make sure you check to see if the online math curriculum is religious or not.

Check out the best secular homeschool curriculum resources.

Are there worksheets to print out?

Now I know you are here as you are looking at an online math curriculum. But things change so you need to be prepared. If you think your student may want to switch to worksheets halfway through the year then knowing if you have that option available is important.

We have done a mixture of both over the years, but for Algebra 1 we thought he would prefer an online math curriculum. But apparently not! So 2 months in and we started printing out the questions as he wanted to do them on paper.

Luckily the curriculum we had chosen had this option, so if you think they might want to switch to paper make sure you have the option.

Is there a discount for homeschoolers?

I wish I could say that cost isn’t important when deciding on an online math curriculum. But who am I kidding?

A curriculum with live instructions will always be more expensive than a self-paced course.

Some online math curriculum companies are aimed at homeschoolers and will offer half price discount for homeschoolers. So make sure you check this out before signing up to any company.

As I said we love math, see how to make math fun for middle school for our top tips.

Last Updated on 2 November 2023 by Clare Brown