My name is Paul Ziegler and I started teaching mathematics in 1962. When I retired, in 1990, I started tutoring homeschoolers. I was shocked to discover that they were using the same materials and approach that I had opposed for so many years in the public schools. I knew that they had figured out that phonics was better than whole language for teaching reading and spelling. I knew that they had figured out that the politically correct approach to geography and history was wrong as well. That is why I was so surprised when I saw homeschoolers using the failed material and methods of the government schools. According to the 1999 Timms test, which compares the mathematical abilities of students in 21 countries, the students from the United States came in 19th. They did better than students from South Africa and Cyprus. All other students did better than those from the U.S. Does this explain why homeschoolers win awards in reading, spelling, and geography, but not in math? I think so. Let me ask you a question. If you use the materials and methods of the government schools, why do you expect a different outcome? I am not offering a new approach. I am offering an old approach that was used successfully for more than 100 years but has not been used for over 40 years in this country.

When I retired in 1990, I started to tutor some home schooled children in mathematics. I thought that I would find better textbooks than I had found in the public schools. I was wrong. I found the same illogical random approach in the books for the home school market that I found in the public school textbooks. I also saw the same lack of comprehension of the basic system of mathematics in the home-educated children that I found in the students in public schools. While the home education groups understood the need for systematic phonics, the need for systematic mathematics seems to have escaped them. It is frustrating to try to teach math in an unsystematic manner and it is even more frustrating for the one who is trying to learn.

When I was teaching in public schools I was always in trouble because I would write my own curriculum in order to teach math in a systematic manner. When I retired I had many notebooks filled with curriculum that I had written. A study was done of the results of my approach and the findings showed that my students had 27% higher grades than the other students when they started the next grade. That didn't surprise me.

In 1998 I started to think about writing a curriculum for home schooled students but there were many obstacles to overcome. I had no money and no way to get my curriculum published. I pondered the situation off and on for two years. Finally I decided that I could do the job using a unique approach. I call my curriculum "Systematic Mathematics™".