Photo courtesy of Ansik

Afterschoolers don't always use curriculum (often don't in fact) but math in the summer lends itself to some help from a publisher. Luckily, this is one of the few areas in which there is a clear-cut favorite—Singapore Math. I'll write about this math curriculum often as I love, love, love it.

Saxon may be the most popular math curriculum for homeschoolers, but it is too time-consuming and hard to differentiate for afterschoolers. Parents can dip in and out of Singapore as the need arises and choose the level of support their kid needs.

If you use Singapore as your main curriculum, you need the textbook, which is paperback and cheap for a math book. It covers a semester's worth of material. The norm is to get the workbook that accompanies it. Some kids need the Extra Practice book, which provides...extra practice. Others might use the Intensive Practice, which is more challenging. Some use a combination of the above. I only use the textbook. You can see the options available. If you buy the books, be sure to buy the new standards editions, which are not available yet on Amazon.

Another option is the Challenging Word Problems book that supplements that word problems in the textbook. Singapore is known for its innovative way of teaching word problems, hard word problems. This book can be used by those that don't use anything else.

You will probably get tired of reading about Singapore Math because I'll write about it ad nauseum, but it really is a wonderful curriculum for afterschoolers.

Tags: Math, Singapore Math

Many parents afterschool and don't even know it. They take their kids to the zoo and actually read the plaques. They limit Hannah Montana and encourage Cyberchase. They check out multitudes of books from the library. They might even buy a workbook from Borders to help keep up with math over the summer.

Afterschooling is consciously supplementing your child's education, "plussing up" those family outings so to speak. In many ways it is a cross between homeschool families and those who leave academics up to the school. They may or may not use curriculum and afterschool for many different reasons, but they all see themselves as having the primary responsibility for their child's education.

Tags: Afterschooling