The Charlotte Mason Elementary Arithmetic Series

The Charlotte Mason Elementary Arithmetic Series

(16 customer reviews)

Your child can understand math! With these interactive, effective lessons, math becomes a joyful exploration of beauty and truth.

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SKU: FAM-arithmetic Category:

Product Description

Math lessons that your child will truly understand.

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The Charlotte Mason Elementary Arithmetic Series living math curriculumNow it’s simple to teach math with the brilliant Charlotte Mason method. These short, interactive, and lively lessons will take you and your child on an enjoyable journey of discovery as you explore each concept and build a firm foundation of math understanding.

Placement Guide

Download the placement guide to determine where your child should begin.

The Charlotte Mason Elementary Arithmetic Series

Each volume in The Charlotte Mason Elementary Arithmetic Series is a beautiful hardcover. Books are non-consumable and can be used again with all your students.

Series Overview

Book 1: Exploration of Numbers to 100
Book 2: The Four Rules and Tables; Work with Numbers to 1,000
Book 3: Tables continued; Work with Numbers to 10,000; Weights & Measures
Book 4: Long Multiplication & Division/Weights & Measures
Book 5: Decimals; Fractions; Factors
Book 6: Decimals & Fractions (continued); Percentages; Ratios; Proportions (coming soon)

Practical Geometry

Starting with Book 5, Practical Geometry lessons are added once a week, giving an introduction to geometry concepts that lay a foundation for future in-depth geometry studies.

Manipulative Kits

You can gather the household objects needed for the lessons yourself, or save yourself some time with these convenient kits that include most of the objects you’ll need in one place.

Bundles

Get the everything you need for each grade! Bundles include math book, the corresponding kit of supplies, and a gridded math notebook for the writing portion of lessons.

Additional Math Resources

Add an extra gridded math notebook or gridded whiteboard.

My son went from dreading math and struggling through it to looking forward to it. Math is now his favorite subject and he begs to do math first every day. The way this series teaches is very natural and simple yet extremely effective. It has been a dream for both student and teacher.
—Jill C.

What is Charlotte Mason Math?

The Charlotte Mason method is an approach to learning that unlocks a child’s natural ability to understand concepts through ideas. In math lessons, the parent guides the child to explore math for himself, discovering and proving each concept with real objects before moving to abstract numbers. Good habits of learning are reinforced through short but focused lessons that don’t drag on into boredom and mental math review.

I’ve seriously tried at least 6 different math programs. This one is so, so good. It requires deep thinking, teaches the importance of mental math, the why, not just the how, and it’s developmentally appropriate.
—Laura M.

Exploration with Real Objects

A hallmark of Charlotte Mason math lessons is the use of real objects to demonstrate each concept in the concrete. You don’t need any specialized math manipulatives—household objects like buttons, beads, and beans are perfect for exploring math concepts. Money is also used to teach important concepts such as place value and numbers with more than three digits.

Children love getting their hands on math with familiar objects, and these math lessons feed that natural curiosity with interesting math explorations that lead the child to discover new math concepts along the way.

Girl doing Charlotte Mason math

My math phobic actually relaxed, and my math lover giggled hysterically while we went through the lesson. He had so much fun with me in a way we don’t usually have during the school day, due to me rushing through teaching so many different ages. But as soon as I opened that book and saw what it would require of me, I knew it was going to be a relationship strengthener. Thank you for writing these books!
—Mary B.

Carefully Guided

The Charlotte Mason Elementary Arithmetic Series has been carefully laid out to guide you and your child to discover each concept. Math must be taught step by step, building each new concept on the one that came before. With these hands-on, interactive lessons, you’ll ensure that your child is not left behind as each concept is grasped before moving on. Every lesson ends with review, reinforcing each concept that has been learned.

Boy doing Charlotte Mason math

I’ve been using SCM Arithmetic for my 5-, 7-, and 9-year-old boys. It has been absolutely wonderful! It’s not full of fluff (actually, no fluff at all), it’s not endless worksheets, and there is absolutely no way for the child to skirt around the work and pretend like they know the material when they don’t. My children get so much more out of a simple 10-minute lesson then they previously did with 30-45 minute, frustration-filled sessions with other math curricula. It is RICH and there is no doubt that it lays a solid foundation.
—Jennifer C.

Enjoying math with Charlotte Mason

If you are searching for a math curriculum that will challenge your student and will retain the mystery and art and joy of numbers, do consider this series!
—Maria B.

16 reviews for The Charlotte Mason Elementary Arithmetic Series

  1. Bear48 –

    Excellent! I would not be doing math the Charlotte Mason way if these beautiful books were not published! They take you step-by-step and I am thrilled to have them and look forward to the rest of the series. Thank you Richele Baburina and Simply Charlotte Mason!

  2. KimmieH35570 –

    I’m in love with these books! They are exactly what I had been looking for! And I can’t wait to go through them with both of my children. I will be ordering 3 and the others as soon as they are released! I really hope there are plans for books past book 5! 😊

  3. Sierra –

    Absolutely perfect!
    We have struggled to find a good math program for my oldest daughter for some time. New programs usually start out well and quickly become dreaded. We have found a good place with Simply Charlotte Mason. It does take one on one time which may be the key here but the lessons are great. We had to go back and relearn a lot of different things and I look forward to moving up to book3. Just hope it comes out soon as we are almost finished with book 2.

  4. Susanne –

    Wonderful, wonderful books! My oldest two boys have both loved book 1 and the 2nd grader is finishing up book 2. These are such a valuable resource to our homeschool day. They love math and feel confident in their skills, which I’m not sure would have been the case if we’d used something else. I love that we can go slowly, there is no pressure to complete pages of problems, and the lessons are mostly oral. I am eager for more!

  5. Janelle –

    We LOVE this series! This is the third curriculum I tried with my sweet daughter who has trouble focusing, and this is the “ONE!” We are halfway through our second year, and she is really understanding math for the first time!!

  6. Sophia –

    I have been trying out this series with “kindergarten,” 1st and 2nd graders. We’ve enjoyed the gentle, hands-on approach, but I’m concerned that book 3 will not be out by next school year. Am I right to assume I’ll need to switch my current 2nd grader to a different math program next year?

    • Tamara Bell –

      Hi Sophia,
      Book 3 is currently in the long publication process. I have some ideas on what you can do with your student while you wait for the release of Book 3. You can repeat the same steps as you used for Larger Addition in the hundreds using a dollar in Book 2, but introduce one thousand with a ten-dollar bill (exchanging it for ten one-dollar bills) and progress to doing Larger Addition in the thousands and then Large Subtraction too. That’s where Book 3 begins.

      Another option would be to simply continue the multiplication tables for 7 through 10, using the same techniques outlined in Book 2. Those will be covered later in Book 3, but that section can easily be done out of order and then just skip/review that portion when the book comes out. I hope this will help you as you continue using Charlotte’s method.

  7. ashtitus422 –

    I honestly do not know where to start – I started my advanced 1st grader with book 2 in this series at the beginning of the school year and was quite worried to start a brand new method and curriculum after the more traditional workbook curriculum we’d been using “had worked so well”. I had seen my son be able to excel in math before and waffled at changing things. I am SO glad that I did! I began to see almost immediately that while I thought he was excelling, he was actually just answering the questions without any knowledge of what he was actually doing. Within a week or two of starting, Charlotte Mason’s methods in math began to overflow into excitement and an actual grasp on what he was learning! He had always loved math, but now he understood it and it really did click in a whole new way. I distinctly remember the moment he connected subtraction with addition and the light bulb going on in his sweet little eyes moved me to tears. For the Mama who is hesitant to start something new, especially something so vastly different than the math we typically are used to, I want to say – do it! You will NOT be disappointed in the least. Not only is the Charlotte Mason method beautiful for children, you as the teacher will develop a love for mathematics that you quite possibly never knew could exist. I am so excited for the 3rd book to be released and we will be purchasing that one the day it comes out without question as my son is already asking when he can get back to the “good math” 🙂

  8. Nell –

    After spending too much money, this first year of homeschool (Lesson learned: try to stick to Charlotte Mason method for as many subjects as possible, you will save money and keep it simple) . There are only two things that were worth every penny. Living books and Book 1 of the SCM Elementary Artithmetic series. The positives from this curriculum has been 1. It requires the children to think. SCM Math is simply not doing. There is no busy work. Its short and straight to the point. 2. It builds on the child understanding of numbers and their numerical value. 3.The required manipulatives are efficient and will not require much from the teacher. I’ve ran away from other math curriculums because of the sheer amount of manipulatives. 4.The use of money as a manipulative to teach money math. A question with no mention of money can still be solved with coins. Therefore strengthening the child’s understanding of the coins’ value.
    4. My daughter at dinner is creating math problems in her head and proceeding to excitedly relay her answers to the family. She has gone from single digits addition to now double digits addition. However, does my daughter still frustrate over a math problem? Yes, but she has it in her to solve the problem thanks to this curriculum. I am confident enough to sit back and give her the room to figure it out. I fully intend to purchase book 2 and 3 in the future, as well as a actual physical copy of book 1(I currently own a digital download) since I have two little ones who one day, God willing, will benefit from SCM arithmetic series.

  9. Wendy –

    I started Book 3 this year for my teenage daughter who has dyslexia and dysgraphia, receptive language challenges, and weak working memory. She has had significant trouble getting beyond very basic math, and remembering which operation to use . Recently I discovered that when her interest was peaked with real-life use of math, she was more engaged. We have been using Book 3 of the CM arithmetic series this year, and we are both so excited by her progress. Learning math through real-life word problems has been a game-changer for her. I am so thankful for this series. Is there any word on when Book 4 will be out? I am so eager to help her continue to move forward in grasping and applying and enjoying math.

    • Tamara Bell –

      Hooray for your daughter! We are grateful to read that The Charlotte Mason Elementary Arithmetic Series has helped her progress!
      We do not yet have a release date for Book 4. It has been written and we’re working through the publication process now. We don’t want to get everyone’s hopes up with a release date because all three of the previous books in the series have taken longer than we anticipated as we’ve triple-checked everything to ensure that we’re publishing an accurate math book.

      When Book 4 is ready, we’ll announce it in our e-mail newsletter: https://simplycharlottemason.com/subscribe/

  10. Jess –

    I wish I had used this sooner. My daughter has many holes in her math learning because I’ve been searching for a math curriculum that would work for her. We finally found it! After lessons today, she said “This math was sent from Heaven!” She went on to say how useful this knowledge is for the real world because of how she’s using money to learn math concepts. She also said that this math “teaches your brain” and other math “just teaches your hands”. She is actually understanding and comprehending the math she’s doing. It’s a beautiful thing. Using this curriculum is definitely more work for the parent than other math curricula we’ve used, but that’s a good thing. It’s wonderful to see both of my daughters understanding and finding true joy in math. Both my 8 year old and my 10 year old are using Book 2, but going at different rates through the material. I love how easy it is to tailor the lessons to each child and go at their pace. I also have Book 3 and plan on purchasing the others when needed.

  11. Tessha –

    My very creative daughter struggled to grasp the concepts while using another big name math curriculum. We started with this and I could tell right away that it was the perfect fit for her. We used to manipulative set included until her ADHD caused her to play too much with them, at which point I introduced an abacus. I plan to use this curriculum for all of her math learning.

  12. Bethany –

    After curriculum hopping for the past few years, I finally discovered the Charlotte mason method of teaching math….and I so wish I would have discovered it sooner! My oldest daughter can go through the motions of solving 3 digit addition and subtraction on paper, but still has to count on her fingers when asked simple sums of 14-10 or 8+6 etc. She is very weak in mental math. Then here comes my middle daughter who loathes sitting and doing worksheets and loves working with objects ( I don’t blame her! ) I found myself needing to find something different. I went back and forth over these beautiful little books, questioned my ability to teach this way, and finally decided to buy books 1&2 for my 7 and 9 year old daughters (and eventually my 5 year old when she begins formal lessons). As someone who was always told “you’re not good in math”, and struggled all through school and college, I’m literally in tears looking through these books. I so wish I had been taught math this way. It makes so much sense to me! I am not bad at math and I refuse to believe that lie over myself anymore. And my daughters will not be labeled “bad at math” either! I can already tell these lessons will be a breath of fresh air for my girls, and MYSELF! Thank you for creating these resources. We have been using Simply Charlotte Mason language arts resources and I cannot wait to dive into the math as well. Thank you again and God bless each one of you!! 🙂

  13. Amanda –

    After a couple of years of struggling to find a math curriculum that was simple and straightforward this Arithmetic Series has been a great fit for us!
    My son is nearing the end of Book 4. Any idea when Book 5 maybe available? Or any other suggestions for in the mean time?

    • Jordan Smith –

      We’re so glad to hear that you are enjoying using The Charlotte Mason Elementary Arithmetic Series! Book 5 is now available!

  14. Akosua –

    The CM Elementary Arithmetic Series is amazing and so aesthetically pleasing. We were really struggling with maths but my daughters have both responded to this way of learning so positively. Well done to SCM! Although I would have loved to have had these beautiful books on my bookshelf, I am really grateful that they are available as ebooks. We live outside of the US and the cost of international shipping can be prohibitive at times – so thank you SCM for thinking of us outside of the US.

  15. Stacy –

    I was searching for math that was not worksheet based and came across this and it really was the Lord who led me to these books. I have Book 1 and Book 2. It transformed my 2nd graders thought process with math and my 1st grader who loves worksheets, was sold with real coins! haha it has been such an amazing blessing in our home. I wil lbe purchasing the rest of the set. Bravo Richele !

  16. Rebecca Tancordo –

    My third child is my first child to struggle with math. We tried so many programs and everything frustrated us both! We use Charlotte Mason for almost everything except math, so I finally decided to give it a try for math with my struggling child. It has shocked me how effective it has been! Not only has she grown comfortable with math during lessons, she has also begun using math during her day to day life. She now enjoys math so much that one of her older siblings has asked to switch to Charlotte Mason math so that he can enjoy math as much as his sister. I’m very grateful for this program!

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