Category Archives: Bible

It’s always a relief to find a curriculum that fills a specific need for you and your student. Math-U-See Stewardship accomplishes more than any other consumer math program we’ve tried. It provides detailed information about how money works, our responsibilities as stewards of our resources, Biblical principles, and practical application. It is called “Stewardship” because it doesn’t just cover the mathematics of finance, but addresses our attitudes – what we believe and how we feel in our hearts about money, because our attitude will determine how we act.

Math-U-See offers K-12 math curriculum using a multi-sensory, mastery-based approach. We reviewed Math-U-See Stewardship. The components of the Stewardship program are - The Instruction Pack ($57) which includes the instruction manual, detailed solutions, a devotional book, and a DVD with lesson-by-lesson instruction. The Student Pack ($27) contains the workbook with lesson practice pages, and the Test Booklet.

Among the basics covered:

• Earning Money
• Percents
• Taxes
• Banking
• Investing
• Budgeting
• Credit Cards
• Comparison Shopping

There are also several lessons about owning a car, from purchasing to planning for repairs and buying insurance. The section on Buying and Maintaining a Home explains the real estate market and the purchasing process, renting, calculating materials for repairs, and negotiating price.

It is worth noting that a working knowledge of Algebra is important in order to understand the formulas for making such calculations as estimating and purchasing materials for home construction and repairs, so this program would work best for a student with a solid understanding of basic math, and some grasp of algebraic principles.

The instruction book concludes with lessons about traveling, keeping score in different sports, specifics about printing, calculating grade point averages and wind chill factors, and choosing shipping options.

The workbook, which is 3-hole punched and perforated for use in a 3-ring binder, provides real life, sensible examples of problems for each lesson with space so that students can work them out in the book. The DVD enriches with program with an actual classroom presentation by the teacher who explains the content of each lesson and asks discussion questions. The focus is on the teacher and whiteboard, and the class is off-camera, but you can hear them answer questions.

To round out the program, there is a devotional type book that has 30 lesson explaining Biblical Foundations for how we should think about money and stewardship of the resources we have. It was written by as advice about finances to his four sons, and contains many life principles for deeper thought and discussion.

The test booklet pages are also 3-hole punched and perforated.

Noah started using Stewardship three times per week, in addition to his regular advanced math studies. He enjoyed how the various topics were presented in the instruction book, and was happy that it covered many aspects of money, such as tax and insurance information, that he wasn’t expecting. He said he found the material easy to understand and thorough. It is written in a conversational tone with many examples from the author’s own life, and contains practical tips learned by years of experience. Noah also thought the DVD added a lot to the program, with the further explanations and thoughtful questions by the teacher. He used the workbook for review and practice, but wrote the problems in his notebook so that we can use this curriculum with his younger siblings. The devotional book covers topics that we have discussed before in our family devotions, and since Noah has been working much more independently the last year as he prepares for college and career, he read the corresponding chapters on his own.

I was pleased to see him interested and encouraged by Math-U-See Stewardship. It’s the attitude a parent hopes for when their children approach such important and foundational topics as financial responsibility.

Check out the goodies on the Math-U-See website, such as free newsletters, and the E-Learning page which gives you a worksheet generator, an online drill page, and loan/investment calculators.

Math-U-See offers a full-line of math curriculum, and the Schoolhouse Review Crew reviewed several levels. Read about them by clicking the banner below.