Amy DeWitt, homeschooling mom to four children, advises using the world as your textbook when working with the youngest students. She suggests counting fence posts on the car ride to teach kids basics about numbers. Use blocks to make shapes in different formations for kiddie geometry. Line up stuffed animals and ask which is first, fourth and next to last. Have the kids form numbers out of Play Doh. At lunch, cut sandwiches into halves or fourths to teach the basics of fractions.
As your kids get older, you can incorporate more complicated math concepts from real life. Baking a batch of cookies calls for a variety of mathematical equations. Measuring ingredients is one of the most common ways to show students how to do math. For example, you can double the recipe, convert teaspoons to tablespoons, and ask "What is 1/3 cup plus 1/4 cup?" Teach your kids how to multiply by asking such questions as, "How many cookies are in 6 1/2 dozen?" You can even involve your friends by selling some of your creations in a neighborhood bake sale and showing them how to use addition and make change.
For the more advanced student, you can hit the grocery store as a math lesson. Send your student off to compare prices on a jar of spaghetti sauce. Is the private-label or brand name a better deal? Comparing unit prices on jars of various sizes is a challenge for many adults and quickly brings math into the real world. Calculate the new price of sale items, such as determining what is 30 percent off. Work with your student to calculate tax on what you buy.
Bringing it back to your home classroom can also be part of your curriculum. Traditional pencil and paper worksheets as well as DVDs, online tutorials and prepackaged materials are available online or at your nearest homeschool convention. Your customized approach will help develop a lifelong love of math and learning, which is what homeschooling is all about.