Best Homeschool Calculus Class
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Is your child ready to earn college credits, but not quite ready to socialize with young adults on a college campus and all that entails? AP credits look great on a college transcript.
Our Search for a Homeschool Calculus Curriculum
I love math! It’s my favorite subject. My kiddos generally like it, too, even if they complain about it on occasion. We struck gold when, early on in our homeschooling adventures, we found Saxon Math. We’ve used it and loved it ever since.
However, Saxon Calculus is not up to the same standards as the rest of the series, especially if your child plans to take the AP Calculus test. Not only is the scope and sequence different, but the Saxon Calculus book seems poorly planned and has some errors.
As each of my children have finished the Saxon Advanced Mathematics textbook we have had to find another resource. So far, we’ve tried six different Calculus resources because none of them was ever worth sticking with.
My seventh child is currently studying Calculus, so we went searching again a few months ago and she decided to try Mr. D Math. She’s only about a third of the way through the course, but she has loved it and so have I.
In fact, I’m so impressed, I want to tell you about Mr. D Math and especially his Calculus course!
What is Mr. D Math?
Dennis DiNoia, a former public school teacher, left the public school system to create his own math curriculum, which has expanded to include ACT Prep and other subjects. His classes are designed specifically for homeschoolers to learn math independently.
Mr D.’s homeschool Calculus classis actually taught by Dominic Blanco, but because these are Mr. D courses, I’ll keep using his name.
Homeschool Calculus Class Course Structure
Mr. D’s homeschool Calculus class has eight chapters. It meets all of the AP College Board requirements for AP Calculus AP, which is the equivalent of one semester of university Calculus. You can compare the course outlines at the AP College Board site.
There is a semester exam after the third chapter and another one after the eighth chapter. All of his courses are expected to take about ten months.
He offers two different options for learning: self-paced curriculum or live classes.
Self-Paced Option
Students log into the site and work independently through a set of lessons for each course. Mr. D or one of his teachers check in with students to help them when needed and to encourage them if they seem stuck.
Each lesson includes a video, which can be viewed or paused as many times as the student needs. I don’t know if all of the classes work this way, but the Calculus class has my daughter print an assignment for each lesson, on which she takes notes and works the problems along with the teacher.
After the lesson, students finish the assignment, input their score, then make corrects and then take a small, 5-question, online quiz.
Every few lessons there is a spiral review lesson in which students review the concepts they’ve learned previously. That is my daughter’s favorite part. She says she always impresses herself with how much she remembers, lol!
Each unit ends with a 30-question quiz on that unit and students who struggle can choose to repeat concepts if they wish.
Live, Online Class Option
The live class is structured similarly to the self-paced class and students have access to all of the same materials, including the videos in case they’re unable to attend a class.
But they also have the option to login to a live class each week. Students can follow along with Mr. D’s explanations using the online whiteboard, and there is also a private chat box students can use to answer Mr. D’s questions or ask their own.
In the live classes, students must match the pace of the class. In the self-paced option, students may work at their own pace.
What we love about this homeschool Calculus class
First, the teaching is straightforward, engaging, easy to follow and enjoyable. I think Mr. Blanco is the teacher of the Calculus course, but one of my older daughters took an ACT Prep class from Mr. D and we found his teaching to be the same.
Concepts are introduced in a logical, sequential way that make it easy to build on previous foundations and scaffold ideas. The provided examples are interesting and the homework problems are sufficient for learning the concepts. I worried about that at first because Saxon assignments have so many more problems, but my daughter appreciates fewer problems and is retaining what she learns very well.
My daughter loves that her math assignments are much shorter than they have been with past curriculum, making it easier to stay on task and to maintain the pace she laid out. She likes that she can just get in and get it done.
I love that she can work independently without frustration, no nagging required. And I especially love that she is being challenged and prepared for future math courses!
Pin this homeschool Calculus class information for later!
Hi there! I have been following your math recommendations for a few years (since I started homeschooling). My oldest will be in calculus next year as a junior , and I am just wondering if your children do any more math after finishing calculus and the AP test (calc 2, stats, etc.) If so, would you mind sharing?
Three of my kids continued math, taking Calc 2 and beyond at a local university. Two of them chose to be finished.
One of those who chose not to continue with math is now studying commercial music — she knew she wouldn’t need math beyond Calculus and didn’t love it enough to pursue it for it’s own sake, haha! The other child who chose not to continue also wanted to study music, which she then changed to Chinese and foreign economic policy and she currently works for the state department. So she didn’t need any more math, either. Those who chose to continue math have ended up in STEM careers. They sort of had an idea of what they wanted to pursue and knew they would need additional math.
A couple of my kids have changed their minds and their majors during university, but the kids who knew they wanted to pursue math and STEM continued that direction and my kids who did not continue their math studies did not need more math.
The older I get, the more I understand how important two things are: 1) help our children understand HOW to be healthy (physically and mentally) and 2) let them make their own choices. Of course, I’m talking about rational, intelligent youth, not toddlers, haha!
We live about an hour away from three different universities and all of them offer reduced prices to high school students, which includes homeschoolers. Each university has its own procedures and prices, all of them outlined on the website. We’ve actually used all three thus far in order to fill the needs of the five students I’ve graduated so far. It’s easiest if your child sticks with one university so you don’t have the hassle of transferring credits, but that’s not always possible. If you have any universities near you, you could check with them to figure out what they offer high schoolers. The sequence of math classes depends on the career your child wants to pursue. Most science and engineering majors would be Calc 1/Calc 2/Calc 3/ DiffEq. Computer Science would be Calc 1/Discrete Math/Linear Algebra (and Statistics if they didn’t complete that prior to Calc 1.
I hope that answers your questions, but feel free to keep asking if I didn’t! 🙂