Monday, February 22, 2010

Even More Math-A Math Mammoth Review


Product: Math Mammoth Light Blue Series Grade 2 Complete Curriculum (249 lesson pages)
Company: Math Mammoth
Price: $29.70US (various other programs available)

Last year, my two brave little cavemen captured a woolly mammoth not knowing that mammoths had anything to do with math. Well, I just have to say that we've been introduced to Mammoth Math and while the mammoth's involvement is still a mystery we could not be happier with the program. As part of the TOS Homeschool Crew we were able to choose pretty much anything from the Math Mammoth website to review and with Liam's help we decided on the complete grade two curriculum (we could have received worksheets with, or without, explainations, on a specific topic instead). This workbook is broken down into chapters and covers a variety of topics:

  • Addition and subtraction with carrying and borrowing

  • Time

  • Money

  • Fractions

  • Geometry

  • Place Value

  • Multiplication and more


Each unit/section starts with a clear explanation and examples and then is followed by questions for your student to answer. Each section ends with a review so that you can gauge what your child has learned and be certain that he has retained the information that was taught earlier in the unit. I was surprised to see how much Liam enjoyed this method of instruction and how little involvement I had to have. Besides the occasional time I had to pull out a manipulative from our current math program or rephrase a question, Liam was able to work through the questions on his own. It was fun to just sit nearby and listen to him make the connections with a little help from the explanations. The only drawback I found was that there wasn't always a lot of room for Liam to write his answers on the worksheets so a few pages looked a little sloppy and crowded. It did force Liam to start writing a little smaller and that has also translated into him writing smaller in other subjects as well. For $29.70US for enough worksheets to keep Liam busy for a whole grade level (though unlikely a full year) we will be purchasing the next grade level for Liam when he has completed the one that he is working on.

In addition to selling complete curriculum by grade level (the light blue series) Math Mammoth also sells the:

  • Blue Series (worksheets focused on one topic WITH explanations) for grades 1-5

  • Gold Series (worksheets by grade level WITHOUT explanations) for grades 3-8

  • Green (worksheets by topic WITHOUT explanations) for grades 3-7


Prices vary between series, topics and grade level but all seem (to me) to be well worth the price (you can find some subjects for as little as $3.35US). You can order the PDF files and receive the worksheets immediately to print at home or for an additional price order the printed copy through Lulu (linked on the Math Mammoth website). In addition, you can sign up for Math Mammoth virtual e-mail course Math Teaching E-mails and receive:

  • 280 free worksheets and sample page;

  • 7 math teaching articles ;

  • 2 emails discussing the books;

  • Homeschool Math newsletter


I suggest that you take a peak at the Math Mammoth website and sign up for the teaching e-mails and also read what other Crew Members have to say about the product (a wide variety of products were reviewed this year).

***Any products reviewed by me as a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew have been given to me free of charge in order for me to provide you with an honest review of the product and/or how we used the product within our family. I do not receive any other form of compensation for the reviews posted on this blog.

3 comments:

  1. Is liam working on grade two math? Congrats liam! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I was looking and the workbooks are about a year more advanced than where X is in school. so even more impressive :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yes, Melissa, Liam is working on grade 2 math. It is his strongest area (besides actual reading). He likely could have done grade 3 but the wording of some of the questions on the assessment were unfamiliar to him and there were some things in grade 2 we hadn't quite covered. He struggles more with writing, oral presentation work (explaining things to people) and that type of stuff (including talking to people and getting their attention). We'll be getting a workbook to review that covers more English work so I am hoping to see how that helps! You can check out the placement tests with Xander on the Math Mammoth website... http://www.mathmammoth.com/complete/placement_tests.php

    ReplyDelete