Best Waldorf Math Resources

I’ve been on a math planning kick lately (read my most recent 2nd grade math planning post here), so I thought I’d take a minute to post about my favorite math resources. Some of these are really teacher books, but others are great options for parents who want to do a little math practice with their children at home.

The links below are affiliate links, so if you purchase after clicking Amazon gives me a little throw-back. (It’s an easy little way to support the blog.)

Family Math by Jean Kerr Stenmark is a great resource for parents who want to play around with math with their kids. It includes lots of games and activities that you can set up at home and play as a family. These same activities and games can work in a classroom or homeschool setting, too. I’ve used this book so much in the classroom that I’ve actually bought it three times because I keep loaning it out. In fact, it’s gone missing again! But the book is totally worth it (and hopefully my loan/donation means that more kids are having fun with math.)

There are a number of secondary books, including Family Math II and Family Math with Young Children. I don’t have any experience with either of those, but they’re worth checking out.

 Teaching Student-Centered Mathematics: Developmentally Appropriate Instruction for Grades Pre-K-2 by John Van de Walle and others is definitely more of a teacherly book. If you enjoyed my last post about the nitty-gritty of teaching 2nd grade math, then this is the book for you. The larger, more comprehensive book by Van de Walle was recommended to me in my teacher training and I used it all through the upper grades. It was a lot to sift through, though, so I’m glad that it has now been broken down into age groups.

One thing about this book that at first rubbed me the wrong way, but now I really appreciate, is that it is not organized by grade level. Instead, each chapter deals with a mathematical application (whole number computation, fractions, measurement, geometry, for example) and maps out the development of learning within that application. Along the way grade level is mentioned, but it is not the underpinning organizational structure of the book. So, if you’re looking for what to teach in 2nd grade, for example, you have to do a little sifting through. But I love that I can read through the chapter, determine where my students are, and then follow the progression to see how they’ll learn the next concept best.

Check out these others if you’re teaching other grades.

Teaching Student-Centered Mathematics: Developmentally Appropriate Instruction for Grades 3-5

Teaching Student-Centered Mathematics: Developmentally Appropriate Instruction for Grades 6-8

Elementary and Middle-School Mathematics: Teaching Developmentally — This is the big book that was recommended in my training.

 Making Math Meaningful: A Source Book for Teaching Math in Grades One through Five by Nettie Fabrie, Wim Gottenbos and Jamie York is another great book. If you’re a homeschooler and can’t afford to spend the time or money on the Van de Walle books above, this is a good option.

One of the authors, Nettie Fabrie, was one of the leaders of my teacher training so I know she is very influenced by the developmental approach recommended in the Van de Walle books. As I recall, this book is broken down by grade level, so it is easier to pick up and teach from.

There is also an upper grades book, which was my primary math resource when I taught math in middle school (back when I taught at a school without a math specialist). I find that one to be much more substantial than this 1st-5th book, which is surprisingly thin. The upside is that it is easy to digest and create lessons from.

Incidentally, I have heard mixed reviews about the Making Math Meaningful workbooks. I’ve never used these exercise books with problems for students to work through, but I’ve heard some people rave about them and others not like them at all. Best to check them out yourself. But these teacher resource books — they’re fantastic.

Speaking of workbooks . . . if you’ve got the kind of kid who really likes to do workbook-y kinds of things, I recommend the Key to . . .  series of books by Key Curriculum Press (I’ve linked to Key to Decimals, which is good for 5th graders). These are so simply laid out, with logical problems that build in complexity, a child could sit down with the book and teach themselves the subject at hand.

Sometimes the quantity of problems can be a bit repetitive and monotonous, so be sensitive to your child’s interest level (maybe she doesn’t need to simplify 50 fractions to really get the concept). But practice is definitely a part of the math picture, and these books give lots of that.

It looks like the books start with Key to Fractions (which many teachers have their fourth grade students work through), which doesn’t help if you’re looking for something for younger students, but it’s a good place to start. You might click over to one of the Key to . . . links below and check out the other recommended books.

The other thing I really like about these books is that the pages are set up really simply. There isn’t a whole lot of extra stuff going on on the page and images are hand-drawn and just enough to convey the idea. (Sometimes math workbooks can be so busy and colorful, they don’t really match up with our Waldorf aesthetic.)

Key to Fractions

Key to Decimals

Key to Percents

Key to Algebra

Key to Geometry

Finally, I thought I would mention Connected Mathematics, the math curriculum that our middle school math specialist uses with our students beginning in 6th grade. I find that its focus on real-world situations and discovering solutions to problems falls right in line with the Waldorf approach to teaching math.

CMP is a problem-centered curriculum promoting an inquiry-based teaching-learning classroom environment. Mathematical ideas are identified and embedded in a sequenced set of tasks and explored in depth to allow students to develop rich mathematical understandings and meaningful skills.

Incidentally, our local public schools use this curriculum, as well, which makes it much easier for our students to transition into high school after 8th grade. I’m not sure how accessible this curriculum is to homeschoolers, but they’ve got great resources for parents on the website, including a “homework support” area. For those of us who learned algorithms for solving problems, it can sometimes be difficult to understand how to guide our children in discovering answers, without just implementing the trick. The Connected Mathematics homework support area gives prompts for parents who are helping students with homework.

Hope this helps give you some ideas of resources to work with. What are some of your favorite math resources? Share in the comments.