Ray's Arithmetic

Really, the picture above says everything. If you are looking for a curriculum that you don't have to spend a lot of money on, you can't do better than $59 for a CD-ROM of math curriculum that covers grades K-12. Ray's Arithmetic really is all it says. The CD includes: primary arithmetic, elementary arithmetic, algebra and higher algebra, geometry and trigonometry, bookkeeping, practical arithmetic, differential and integral calculus, elements of physics, and elements of astronomy. View a complete list and description of each book here. All the books are in an easy-to-use PDF format. This allows for easy viewing and printing from your computer. It is also great that you only have to buy the program once, and then can use it for all your students.

Ray's Arithmetic is part of the Eclectic Education Series (EES). EES was the U.S. standard of education from 1865 through 1915. You can read more about that here.

I received this CD-ROM to review. In the short period of time I had to review this CD, I was not able to go through every detail of each "book" included. I picked one book to test with my first grader, so that I could at least get a feel for the program. I used the Primary Arithmetic, but started at lesson 38 (multiplication). I should mention that my first grader is currently working on 3rd grade level math. He is very gifted in math and has no difficulty understanding new topics. In fact, he usually figures them out on his own without me teaching him anything. This program, he had a very difficult time understanding. I think part of it had to do with the old style language. All the problems are written out in words, even if they are not word problems. Example, "How many are 3 times 3?" The important thing to remember, is that math is math, no matter how you teach it. As long as the student understands that 2 plus 2 is 4, it doesn't matter which program they used to learn it. The key is to find what works for you and your student and gets them to understand. This one did not work for us. But if you like the classical style of education, you may find this very favorable. I do believe that it is a good value for the dollar also. Normally, math books will cost at least that much per level, and that's at the low end pricing.