Review Detail
4.8 65 0.5
I loved the value for the money, love the support Maria Miller offers online at her website (plus loads of freebies), and love the fact that she teaches each concept from many different angles and approaches, so that the student is not left with mere rote as the only foundation for arithmetic, for instance. She connects concepts to each other, and never wastes space: even the practice exercises call for the use of mental math skills that she has taught previously, to keep those skills fresh and avoid the tendency to rely exclusively on the calculation algorithms where mental figuring would suffice. I love the flexibility to purchase by single topics, or by entire grade levels aligned to current standards.
If you want to discover any weaknesses and address them, her free assessment tests will detect those, and her free samples of worktexts either by topic (Blue Series) or by nationally-normed grade level (Light Blue Series) will let you try before you buy. Even then, the price is so low, that the risk is minimal.
Whether your purpose is making sure that your child has a strong conceptual foundation from the beginning so as to avoid problems later on, or to prepare for doing well on nationally-normed standardized tests at a given grade level, or to make sure your child has no holes in his or her abilities before entering school, or to detect and remediate existing conceptual weaknesses before moving to the next level in math, Math Mammoth suits the purpose.
Although the size of the worktexts may look intimidating at first (two hefty books per grade level), there is no fluff or wasted space in Math Mammoth: they are large because they remove the need to keep up with or find a separate textbook, workbook or notebook, and teacher's manual, by incorporating ALL the conceptual explanations, graphics, and teaching, along with activities and practice, AND space to do the calculations, in the worktext. Therefore, the teacher/parent (or older, more independent student) can simply "open and go" and taking the lessons on the go is as simple as putting the worktext (or the printed sheets for that day) into a bag along with a pencil.
No lesson planning, preparation, or gathering of separate workbooks and textbooks, needed.
It should be noted, however, that this is not a spiral approach, but a mastery approach. However, additional practice worksheets can be downloaded and printed off, free of charge, from her website or as part of the downloaded bonus packet that comes with the purchase of Math Mammoth as a download, such that returning to a skill for review later, is easily accomplished.
My daughter finally TRULY understood long division with remainders, and what remainders actually are (as opposed to just memorizing rules about what to do with which number) thanks to Maria Miller's 3rd grade Multiplication review worksheet that I downloaded from her site. If I could have a do-over for my daughter's math education, I would have started with Math Mammoth from the beginning. However, we have had success at overcoming areas where my daughter lacked conceptual mastery, since using it.
Lastly, some find Math Mammoth to be too thorough, or slow to get through. Again, there is flexibility to suit the individual student: you can assign only a few problems for each topic, for the swift learner, or in the case of a child whose level of challenge is not met by grade-level materials, use the topical Blue series instead, and work at their individual level of challenge.
Best of all, for those who feel shaky on certain math topics, you not only do not have to become an expert in them first, for your child to learn very well using Math Mammoth, but you will probably find yourself understanding things now, that never made sense before, by learning alongside your student. I certainly wish I had been taught this way, as a child, but it's never too late!
If you want to discover any weaknesses and address them, her free assessment tests will detect those, and her free samples of worktexts either by topic (Blue Series) or by nationally-normed grade level (Light Blue Series) will let you try before you buy. Even then, the price is so low, that the risk is minimal.
Whether your purpose is making sure that your child has a strong conceptual foundation from the beginning so as to avoid problems later on, or to prepare for doing well on nationally-normed standardized tests at a given grade level, or to make sure your child has no holes in his or her abilities before entering school, or to detect and remediate existing conceptual weaknesses before moving to the next level in math, Math Mammoth suits the purpose.
Although the size of the worktexts may look intimidating at first (two hefty books per grade level), there is no fluff or wasted space in Math Mammoth: they are large because they remove the need to keep up with or find a separate textbook, workbook or notebook, and teacher's manual, by incorporating ALL the conceptual explanations, graphics, and teaching, along with activities and practice, AND space to do the calculations, in the worktext. Therefore, the teacher/parent (or older, more independent student) can simply "open and go" and taking the lessons on the go is as simple as putting the worktext (or the printed sheets for that day) into a bag along with a pencil.
No lesson planning, preparation, or gathering of separate workbooks and textbooks, needed.
It should be noted, however, that this is not a spiral approach, but a mastery approach. However, additional practice worksheets can be downloaded and printed off, free of charge, from her website or as part of the downloaded bonus packet that comes with the purchase of Math Mammoth as a download, such that returning to a skill for review later, is easily accomplished.
My daughter finally TRULY understood long division with remainders, and what remainders actually are (as opposed to just memorizing rules about what to do with which number) thanks to Maria Miller's 3rd grade Multiplication review worksheet that I downloaded from her site. If I could have a do-over for my daughter's math education, I would have started with Math Mammoth from the beginning. However, we have had success at overcoming areas where my daughter lacked conceptual mastery, since using it.
Lastly, some find Math Mammoth to be too thorough, or slow to get through. Again, there is flexibility to suit the individual student: you can assign only a few problems for each topic, for the swift learner, or in the case of a child whose level of challenge is not met by grade-level materials, use the topical Blue series instead, and work at their individual level of challenge.
Best of all, for those who feel shaky on certain math topics, you not only do not have to become an expert in them first, for your child to learn very well using Math Mammoth, but you will probably find yourself understanding things now, that never made sense before, by learning alongside your student. I certainly wish I had been taught this way, as a child, but it's never too late!
Grade levels used
- 2
- 5
Pros
Affordable, thorough, incremental, conceptual, mastery-based, all-in-one (open-and-go, no prep needed). Downloads allow for repeated use by all your children in turn, so an unbeatable bargain for a quality product.
Cons
Time-consuming and costly to print dual-sided in color and have spiral-bound; massive and a bit intimidating when faced as a whole printed worktext at once; may be too slow for the gifted math learner who wants to zoom ahead and doesn't need much practice
Do you recommend?
Absolutely. At the price, you can't go wrong... most products are a bit of a risk because they are costly. This is very low-risk to try out. For kids who have "holes" or weaknesses in certain areas, it is a great way to identify and remediate those proble
M
Meg
