The Charlotte Mason Elementary Arithmetic Book 1 Curriculum Review

Okay friends, I’ve been sitting on this one for a while now, but I’m so excited to finally share my full curriculum review of SCM’S The Charlotte Mason Elementary Arithmetic Book 1!

Why am I so excited? Because in all honesty, jumping into this curriculum felt like a HUGE leap of faith last year. This homeschool math curriculum is unlike anything I’ve ever seen or used or taught, and going into it I was really nervous about how it would work for us.

But y’all, IT DID WORK!!!

(P.s. I’m sharing an honest review. I’m not affiliated with Simply Charlotte Mason in any way, but I genuinely love this curriculum and want to share with you why!)

OUR STRUGGLES WITH OTHER HOMESCHOOL MATH CURRICULA

I haven’t shared a ton about our math struggles in our homeschool, but we have struggled. When we started homeschooling, I swore that I would find a solid math curriculum and then never switch. I knew that curriculum hopping, especially in math, could lead to a lot of learning gaps. And I definitely didn’t want that for my kids.

When Mr. Seven was only 5, we started Math Lessons for a Living Education. We liked it a lot for a while, but I realized about halfway through the year that he wasn’t retaining as much as I’d hoped. The curriculum spirals rather quickly, and in the end it just didn’t feel thorough enough for us.

So we switched to Math-U-See. I will forever tell mamas that MUS is a solid, thorough, mastery-based curriculum that will absolutely teach your kids math. But for us, it was too dry and repetitive. I wanted to love it, especially because it was kind of a hefty financial investment. But in the end, we were both bored.

By that point in our homeschool journey, I’d gone “whole hog” on a Charlotte Mason education. But math was my last hold out. My experience with math was limited to my own public school education and then my years as a public school teacher, so taking the leap to a Charlotte Mason math curriculum felt too foreign.

So instead, I went with Singapore Dimensions Math for Mr. Seven’s first grade year. And really, there’s a lot to like about Singapore Math. It’s thorough, the Dimensions series is colorful and fun, and there are loads of hands-on activity suggestions.

The trouble was that as the school year went on, we were experiencing the full Charlotte Mason feast in all of the other subject areas. We were really getting to taste the riches, and subjects were coming alive for us.

Except in math.

Singapore Math is a traditional approach in which each topic is broken up into units and taught a bit in isolation. Each skill is taught, practiced, and mastered before moving onto the next skill. And while there are definitely some merits to that approach, I could feel that math remained dry while all of the other subjects were living. And my biggest concern was that Mr. Seven had gone from being eager about school to really dreading math. I’ve seen way too much of that in public schools, and I did not want that for my kids!

So after a lot of discussion and prayer, Blaise and I decided that we should dive in and try out Miss Mason’s approach to math.

And it did not disappoint.

We began with Book 1. Mr. Seven had been through two full years of math education, but I wanted to start fresh from the beginning. I wanted to make sure there were no holes in his math education, and I knew we could go quickly through the areas he’d already mastered and slow down when we hit new material.

And that ended up being the PERFECT choice.

Because of how integrated this approach to math is, it didn’t feel like we were repeating anything he’d already learned. It helped us get into the groove of a Charlotte Mason approach, and it solidified his understanding of math.

WHY I LOVE THE CHARLOTTE MASON ELEMENTARY ARITHMETIC BOOK 1

REASON NO. 01 | SKILLS AREN’T TAUGHT IN ISOLATION

In every math curriculum I’ve ever had my hands on, math skills are taught in isolation. Students learn to count, learn place value, learn to add, subtract, multiply, and divide. These skills are usually taught in such a way that kiddos aren’t connecting the “big picture” of math – how seamlessly integrated the operations and skills truly are.

That’s NOT how Elementary Arithmetic works!

In Book 1, students begin with the number 1 and begin to explore that number. Then they move onto number 2, and so on. As they move on through the numbers, they begin to experiment with all the different things you can do with the numbers.

For example, when working with the number 8, Mr. Seven was asked to add and subtract within 8. But he was also asked how many groups of 2 are in 8 and how many groups of 4 are in 8. While Book 1 focuses on addition and subtraction, students are absolutely learning the relationship between multiplication, division, evens, and odds all at the same time. And as they begin to get into the teens and beyond, they begin to really work with place value in a way that’s natural and seamless.

Some of our most exciting discoveries were when Mr. Seven realized what evens and odds are on his own, when he figured out the Commutative Property of Multiplication by himself, and when he successfully explained the concepts of place value, borrowing, and carrying in addition and subtraction.

REASON NO. 02 | SIMPLE MANIPULATIVES ARE USED ONLY UNTIL THE STUDENT NO LONGER NEEDS THEM

After having invested in Math-U-See, with it’s very specific (and quite pricey) manipulatives, it was like a breath of fresh air to learn that Charlotte Mason believed manipulatives should be objects that kiddos are already familiar with – objects that are already in the home. We used beans, beads, popsicle sticks, and change throughout the year. We didn’t have to spend any extra money on fancy math manipulatives, and in fact, that’s discouraged!

Mr. Seven really enjoyed the manipulatives we used, and because we changed them out often, he never got bored of them and he never attached his understanding of math to a particular set of objects.

REASON NO. 03 | LESSONS PROGRESS FROM CONCRETE TO PURE NUMBER

Each lesson begins with concrete practice with the number. For example on the number 6, the student is asked to count out 6 beans (or other object), then count backwards. The student may be asked to see how many groups of 2 or 3 you can make. Then you move on to short story problems. The student still has manipulatives in front of him as he’s given problems about books, flowers, pencils, etc.

Once the student is ready, we put away the manipulatives and the student is given more story problems to work out mentally (or orally). The guiding principle behind math manipulatives in a Charlotte Mason education is that once a student has demonstrated understanding of a particular topic, he should discontinue using manipulatives and begin working with the numbers mentally.

Finally, the student is given “pure number” problems. These are math problems without a story to go along with them, and the student is still working these out mentally.

I love that we begin with a concrete understanding of concepts, and gradually move to mental math and pure number in each lesson.

REASON NO. 04 | THERE’S A STRONG EMPHASIS ON MENTAL MATH

I mentioned it above, but there’s a strong emphasis on mental math in the Elementary Arithmetic series. Students do need a small, gridded notebook in which to write the numbers, as well as some of the problems. But writing is certainly not the emphasis of this curriculum.

In fact, students don’t learn to add in columns at all in the first book. This was a huge paradigm shift for me, because in every other curriculum I’ve used, students are expected to write extensively. And every elementary math book I’ve ever seen teaches adding and subtracting in columns on paper almost immediately. “Show your work,” was absolutely THE PHRASE used in all levels of math.

But in Elementary Arithmetic, students are taught to “think in numbers” and to explain their answers orally rather than write them all out. I LOVE this approach!

REASON NO. 05 | LESSONS ARE SHORT, ENGAGING, AND LIVING

We all know that one of the hallmarks of a Charlotte Mason education is short, focused lessons. She believed that we shouldn’t have lengthy lessons that cause the children to develop a habit of inattention, but instead train the habit of attention through lessons that are short.

I was surprised by how much material we were able to cover over the course of the year with such short math lessons. Again, that’s simply not how most other math curriculums work. But because I’d set a timer and expect Mr. Seven’s attention for the full 20 minutes, we really covered a lot of ground each week.

(Side note: We LOVE these cube timers to keep our lessons on track in our Charlotte Mason homeschool!)

But even more than that, math finally joined the land of the living for us! Mr. Seven didn’t love our lessons every single day (because he’s a normal kid), but overall, math was a joy and a delight for us. We talked a lot about how God is a God of order and not chaos (1 Corinthians 14.33), and how we can clearly see that attribute reflected in mathematics.

My son also enjoyed showing off what he was learning, and he even got fairly competitive with himself, asking me to time him on the pure number sections to beat his own records.

BONUS REASON NO. 06 | THE BOOK IS BEAUTIFUL AND SIMPLE

I’m a sucker for a beautiful product, and I really feel like this slim little math book is very beautiful. It has a linen cover, and both the cover and the thick pages feel substantial. Obviously, this isn’t a deal breaker, but it’s nice to know that you’re buying a really high-quality product!

And the other thing I really love is that because it’s just one small book per year, it simplifies its implementation. That was a huge pain in the backside about Singapore Dimensions. Each grade level came with 2 teacher’s manuals and 4 student books! It was a such a hassle and really cluttered our workspace every day. I LOVE how simple this curriculum is!

So are there any downsides to The Charlotte Mason Elementary Arithmetic Series?

Yes, I think there’s one big one.

THE DOWNSIDE OF THE CHARLOTTE MASON ELEMENTARY ARITHMETIC SERIES…THERE ARE ONLY THREE PUBLISHED BOOKS

UPDATE: BOOK 4 IS IN THE FINAL STAGES OF EDITING AND WILL BE GOING TO PRINT SOON!

I absolutely love this math curriculum and recommend it hands-down. That being said, I think it’s only fair to point out that there is one big drawback to it.

This series only includes the first 3 books as of this writing (Elementary Arithmetic Book 4 is in editing, but there’s still no promised release date). Most people who use this curriculum will work through the first 2 or 3 books and then switch over to the Beauty and Truth Math guides, which is what I plan to do. And while I’ve emailed with the writer of the Beauty and Truth Math guides and I’m excited for when we do make the switch, it’s still a bummer that you can’t expect to stick with this Elementary Arithmetic series for the duration of the elementary years. And for some, that’s a pretty big drawback.

That said, Beauty and Truth Math is working on releasing Years One and Two this summer, so if you’re hoping to stick with one Charlotte Mason math curriculum for the entire duration of the elementary years, that may be a better option for you. I haven’t used Beauty and Truth Math yet, but I’ve heard the author speak at conferences and I’ve emailed with her directly. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it, even without having used it myself yet.

Okay, mamas, that’s my full review of The Charlotte Mason Elementary Arithmetic Series.

I honestly love it so much, and I hope this was helpful! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to comment below or reach out on social media!