Friday, November 11, 2011

Review: Christian Light Math


RATING: 


I have homeschooled now for over 11 years. I currently homeschool ages 5, 8, 11, 14 & 17. I have looked at and used nearly every math program out there. You see, we are not a very mathy family. I kept changing because my kids wouldn't get it and I wouldn't know how to explain it to them so it made sense. I understood what it wanted them to do, but I couldn't teach it.

This led to several of my children falling behind in this one area. I just didn't know what to do. Then about 2 years ago I came across Christian Light Math. I liked the idea of a program that taught the child their mathematics since this was my weakness. We had tried Teaching Textbooks but the cost was extremely high and the concepts were not reviewed enough to stick.

So I decided to go ahead and give Christian Light a chance. I ordered it first only for my two youngest daughters. They both had only worked in RightStart Math up to this point and I was struggling to make this very teacher intensive program work each day. I also felt they needed a more traditional math program for all of sanity.



I noticed right away that Christian Light had a real flow to it. Start off going over the new concepts, take a speed drill and then the child worked on her own in the "We Remember" section. My slightly older daughter caught on faster than her younger sister so I decided to accelerate her. Christian Light is made up of a series of 10 books per grade level. Each book has a final Light Unit test. I gave these Light Unit tests to my daughter and if she passed, she was able to skip that book.




I realized that this program was what I had been looking for. Not only did it take a lot of the work off of me, but it also taught the concepts logically and layer upon layer. My daughters were getting it and so was I! CLP was teaching me how to teach!


I decided right then to have my two oldest daughters take the placement tests and get them started in it as well. They both have flourished with the program and have been taking an accelerated path by completing two lessons per day. Since they are older, the lessons are completely self-taught. They even grade their daily work by looking at the teacher guide which has copies of their workbook pages with the full solution to each and every problem. I grade their two quizzes and Light Unit test each book just to be sure they are grasping the concepts. Very rarely do they need to come to me because everything is explained so well, but when that does occasionally happen it is easily worked out.



I honestly feel that every homeschooler should consider Christian Light Math because it has changed my homeschool and my children. They enjoy math for the first time and they know math now. Oh, and the price. It is only around $33.00 per year for the workbooks and the TM are around $9-$15. You can't beat that!

You can see more at http://www.clp.org/store/browse/31_curriculum

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for your review. We're using Saxon, and although my daughter says she wants to finish the book, I can tell she is frustrated. I'll check into CLE.

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  2. Hi Katy,

    My daughters have often gotten frustrated with math as well. That is why I love CLE so much. It just doesn't frustrate them. It has been amazing. I hope you find what you are looking for even if it isn't CLE.

    God Bless,
    Michelle

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