Feb. 28, 2009
Math Mammoth
Posted in Product Reviews for Homeschooling
 We’ve tried a few math curriculum around here (A Beka, Miquon, Saxon), but I was unsure of how to review a math curriculum. I thought about what homeschoolers look for in a math program. The main concern I’ve heard parents express is if a program has enough drill, or practice. And cost also seems to be a consideration for most of us, especially if you have several children. So, I think I’ve found a great program that addresses both of these concerns! Math mammoth caught my attention awhile back because of its catchy name! Math mammoth is authored by Maria Miller who wants our children to really understand math. Maria explains why she has organized the curriculum the way she has, and she has comparisons of Math Mammoth to other popular homeschool math curriculum. Math Mammoth offers online placement tests for your student to take and free curriculum samples. At first I thought the category choices of curriculum by color were confusing, but once I examined it more closely, it’s actually logical! Who knew! There is the Light Blue series which is a complete curriculum for grades 1-5; the Blue Series for grades 1-5, organized by topic which contains both explanations and problems, needing little parent assistance; the Golden Series for grades 3-8, organized by grade, containing problems only; and the Green Series for grades 3-8, organized by topic, containg problems only. We received the Light Blue Series, full grade-level curriculum, for first, second, and third grade to review. For the first grade level, my 7 y.o. was struggling with problems like 4+_=5; she would write in “9” instead of “1.” Math Mammoth uses pictures of dice to teach basic addition. This made sense to her since we’ve played board games and she’s familiar with dice. Using blocks and rods with other math programs was just an additional thing for her to learn; they did not help her. And for the first grade study of currency, We did discover a few errors where there was supposed to be an addition sign and there was a subtraction sign instead. Also, there was a story problem with borrowing over zero tens that wasn’t taught until a lesson or two later in the third grade level. After the reviews from TOS Crew are in, I’m sure Maria will be addressing such issues. Depending on how many children are in your home to use Math Mammoth with, it may be the cheapest curriculum out there. You have several purchasing options: Download, CD, CD & printed, or Printed copies alone. I think the Download or CD option is the best value because it is yours “forever” for as many children as you have. If you purchase all of the available grade levels from the LightBlue Series, 1st – 5A, you pay $89 for the download or $94 for the CD. That’s pretty inexpensive for five and half years of math! Each level is divided into Part A and Part B, so if you can’t afford that much at once, you can purchase everything separately. I really feel Math Mammoth is obtainable in price and accessible in the format that works best for your family! Math Mammoth curriculum includes additional practice worksheets. We already took advantage of it with my 7 year-old because she just wasn’t “getting it,” and we needed some more examples since I’d already done so many for her trying to explain the concept! We are seriously considering switching everyone to Math Mammoth. I am so glad, again, to have an opportunity to review this product. I know a lesson I have learned is to take the time and use the free samples so many companies offer us. It would have been worth it this time, and I’ll be checking out more companies this way in the future. Thanks for stopping by, Danielle |
Comments
Mar. 3, 2009 - Math
|
|
|
|
|
Posted by Cyndi