Review: Math Mammoth

 

The first thing we did when Math Mammoth came up for review was to have Princess P take a placement test because we have switched up our math curriculum more than normal this year for our review products. Based on those results, we decided to go with the Blue Book Series where you can pick and choose topics instead of the Light Blue Series that is a full curriculum.. We chose four topics that she need/wanted to work on and downloaded the PDFs.

Add and Subtract 2A (Grade 1-2, $4.50) 

Add and Subtract 2B (Grade 2, $4.25)

Money (Grade 1-3, $3.25)

Intro to Fractions (Grade 1-3, $4.00)

The Math Mammoth Blue Series are what they call work-texts. They combine the teaching text with the worksheets. They were roughly 75-100 pages each and they have them for grades 1-7. These are perfect for if you just need reinforcement in a few areas. Where normal grade level books cover a ton of subjects for a short period of time each, these cover a specific topic really well. I like this idea a lot! It turns out that P did too!

Each book starts with an introduction and explanation about how to use the book and has tips on teaching the subject matter. Following this, there are several pages of links to online resources to help teach and practice the topic you are learning. This was a nice surprise! The games and ideas for reinforcement that are a change of pace from the worksheets.

Doing math on the way to Disney World. Hey, it was a 20 hour drive each way. Might as well use that time wisely!

 Then on to the meat of the product, the student pages. Each page has instructions and tips right on the page for the kids so teaching time was quick and we were on to the work. As I said above, it combines the teaching and student book so you don't need two separate books. The answer key is at the end of the book. I didn't print that part out since I'm, thankfully, still able to solve 2nd grade math in my head. ;o) The PDFs have the option of using the "typewriter tool" to fill in the answers. This is great if you don't want to print them. P didn't care for that option so I ended up printing it all out. I originally was just printing them a few pages at a time, but when she started doing 4 pages+ in one sitting, I just printed the whole thing and 3 hole punched it. I put all four books in a binder with colored paper separating them (tabs would have been nice, but I used what I had handy - lol). 

Too pretty out to stay inside for math!

We didn't do one book straight through. Instead we jumped around between the addition/subtraction set, money, and fractions. We still did the books themselves in order, but took turns with what we did each day so we did a little from each book each week. Terrific T was doing fractions one days, which peaked P's interest, so we switched to that for a few days. I tried to keep mixing the addition/subtraction ones in with the other two for variety. And she really did love it. She has now told me that this is the math she wants to switch too. I thought I had a plan figured out for 3rd grade, but now I need to think some more. I might stick with my original plan for her "normal" math, and supplement with these books from the Blue Book Series because a) they are cheap and b) they work. Although, since she is liking this so much, and learning so much from them, I think I will check out the full Light Blue series before making any decisions. I'll have to read reviews from the other Crew members that reviewed that one.

We used real coins when teaching the money units.

P said she loves that she learned how to do money so loved this math. Also added, "I hate math, so saying I loved it means it is really good." HAHAHA! 

I had heard of Math Mammoth before reviewing it, but never seen it in person. I am very pleased! You can requests free samples by clicking here. Try it out. I think you will like it! Let me know what you think.

You can also purchase these as printed books for $8-$10.50. I can print so cheaply on my laser printer that I don't mind printing out 100s of pages, but if you can't print cheaply at home, you might want to just order the books.