Mastery vs Spiral Math Curriculum – Homeschooling Approaches

Mastery vs Spiral Based Math Curriculum. Which type of curriculum should you use to homeschool your kids?

There are two basic approaches to math curriculum. Some curriculum is mastery based, while other curriculum uses a spiral based approach. With this being said, many parents love to use games, manipulatives, and even literature based math books to help their children develop math skills.

This article will help you understand the differences between the two approaches. You’ll also learn about various math curriculum that falls into each category. We’ll also share some information about fun math games and literature based math books.

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Mastery Based Math

With a mastery based curriculum, the student must fully understand a concept before moving on.

Spiral Based Math Curriculum

With a spiral based curriculum, the student is introduced to an idea, works on it for a while, and then moves on to other types of math problems. Later, the curriculum circles back around to the concept, the student reviews it, and then goes a little deeper in their understanding of the math problem. This process is repeated until the student has a full understanding of the concept.

Mastery vs. Spiral Based Math Curriculum

In the video below, you’ll learn about different curriculum. You’ll also begin to understand the differences between mastery based math curriculum and a spiral based approach to math.

Examples of Mastery Based Math Curriculum

A mastery based approach focuses on a single concept for a length of time. For example, a child might work on multiplying 3 times each single digit number for several weeks. Your child will master their 3’s before moving onto another number. Also, your child might do a variety of word problems that involve multiplying by three.

Do you have a child who is working on multiplication? Quick, ask your son or daughter the following question.

“If you had 7 friends over to your birthday party and they each wanted 3 pieces of pizza, how many pieces of pizza would you need?”

Did your child know the answer? If so, then they’ve mastered this multiplication fact and know how to apply the concept.

Here are a few examples of mastery based curriculum:

• Math Mammoth website or on Amazon.
• Singapore Math website or on Amazon.
• Math U See website or on Amazon.
• Teaching Textbooks website or on Amazon.
• Right Start Mathematics website or on Amazon.

Examples of Spiral Based Curriculum

With a spiral based curriculum, your child might work on many types of math problems in a day. They might work on addition, subtraction, telling time, and measuring the perimeter of a square all in one day.

It’s likely that most of the items are review items with only one new concept being presented at a time.

Now, let’s look at a few examples of spiral based curriculum:

• Abeka website or on Amazon
• Bob Jones University website or on Amazon
• Saxon Math on Amazon. Saxon only uses external distributors.
• Horizons Math on Amazon. Horizons only uses external distributors.
• Switched On Schoolhouse on Amazon. SOS only uses external distributors.

Mastery vs Spiral Based Math Curriculum

So, which is better, a spiral approach or a mastery based curriculum? Here’s our take. It doesn’t really matter how you teach your children math, it matters that they learn how to use and apply their math skills in the real world.

Whether you use curriculum, games, or a real-world approach is up to you. Just make sure your children learn the skills that they will need in the future.

Fun Family Math Games

Playing fun and educational math centered games is an excellent way to help your kids improve their math skills.

Tenzi is an incredibly versatile dice game. It’s not necessarily intended for educational purposes, but it can certainly be used for math.

In other words, you can have some family fun and your kids won’t even realize they’re improving their math skills. We love this game so much, that we wrote a short blog post about Tenzi.

Learn about other fun math games here.

Literature Based Math: Life of Fred

Parents and kids alike love the Life of Fred series. You’ll find books for kindergarten kids to young adults who are entering their college years.

The Life of Fred series is known to be easy, entertaining, and downright fun to read. In the Amazon reviews, parents rave about these books. They say their kids LOVE them, that they don’t have to prod them to read, and that kids begin to “just get math.”

Head on over to Amazon on read the reviews for yourself!

Connection Before Curriculum

Regardless of whether you use a spiral or mastery based math curriculum, we would like to suggest that your relationship with your child come before the curriculum. If your child is not grasping a concept and is in tears, then it might be time to slow down or try a different approach.

Learn more with this article and podcast episode that shares why we think you might want to focus on connection before curriculum.

More Homeschooling & Math Resources

• Favorite math manipulatives.
• Fun math games for your kids and family.
• Learn about different homeschooling styles and methods.
• Fun online educational quizzes for kids and teens.
• Discover our online homeschool parenting group.

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