Kindergarten Math for Homeschoolers

boys playing "number ladder" 

Kindergarten math is easy and fun! I love counting with my kiddos and playing games to reinforce math concepts.  Math is something we work on every day. By the end of Kindergarten, most schools expect students to be able to recognize numbers up to 30, write digits 0-9, understand addition and subtraction, count by 1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s, and other easy tasks.  Most of these will be covered in a basic kindergarten math workbook which you can buy on amazon or other homeschool sites.

Here are the things we've used and done in our homeschool:

Singapore Math workbooks, US edition - these are reasonable priced and have been fine for my kids.  I know others prefer books with more practice sheets, but these have worked for us.  My kids have used the 2 Kindergarten Math Books and moved on to 1A by the end of their kindergarten year.  They also have a test on their website to see where your child is at so you can get the right books for them. 

Games for Math by Peggy Kaye - this is a great resource for teaching those early math concepts.  We have played or adapted many of the games in here for our school. She also gives great advice about how to help kids understand math.  I definitely recommend getting a copy. 

Puzzles - I have the boys do at least one puzzle a week, more if I remember.  Puzzles are great for problem solving and concentration.  Ravensburger are the best puzzles although a bit on the pricy side.  We were lucky enough to find several in good condition and yard sales.  They last for a long time and the pieces are much easier to snap together than many of the cheap box puzzles.  

Manipulatives - have lots of manipulatives around for the kids to count with.  You can collect lids from milk bottles, play-doh lids, bottle caps, and other things around the house to use.  Sometimes we use cheerios or mini m&ms to add some fun to the lesson.  These are also great to use when practicing patterns.

Blocks - Wooden blocks teach geometry concepts and are great for homeschools. Magna-tiles are my favorite kind of blocks ever, although expensive (but they are totally worth it).  Pattern blocks are great too.  

Books - You can teach math concepts through picture books!  There are some books out there that are specifically meant to be for math, but you can also have the kids count things in any book.  How many tires are on that truck? etc . . .

Mazes - Like puzzles, these are great for problem solving and concentration, but also are good for practicing fine motor skills.  We like to use the Kumon maze books.  

I'd assign the kids a couple of these things to do a day - usually a workbook exercise and then a more playful math assignment. 

So math doesn't need to be strictly from a workbook.  Use lots of different ways to teach your kindergarteners math and keep it fun!  I think a lot of kids grow up hating math because they spent hours trying to drill and memorize math facts.  I've never drilled my kids on adding or subtracting (multiplication is a different beast) and they all (so far) are very skilled at doing those operations in their heads quickly.  

There are more posts about games we've played to learn math here on the blog.