Math Mammoth Light Blue - TOS Review

I've had my eye on Math Mammoth for a while so when the chance came to review it I was really pleased : )

Math Mammoth is the brain child of Maria Miller, she is a math teacher turned homeschool mum who realised the market was missing a conceptual based math program.After looking over the products they offered, I opted for the Light Blue complete curriculum grade 5 which came as a download consisting of two student workbooks, answer key, tests, cumulative reviews and an additional worksheet maker. The download version is enabled for annotation (students can fill them in on the computer) but I printed them out as I like to have a paper record to look back on.

We used this as our main math curriculum for both Lilly and Sunflower. I printed out each section for them to work on rather than as a big book.

As you can see in the photo, the chapters start with an explanation followed by an annotated example - this gave the girls the information they needed to work (mostly) independently. It took them on average 35-45 mins per chapter. There were a couple of new concepts introduced that I had to assist with but otherwise they were happy to get on with it. So far (touch wood) I haven't had to print out any of the additional worksheets as the chapters are so well explained that they have mastered them quickly.

I loved that it focuses on mental maths and that it explains the 'why' and not just the how. I also liked that it doesn't make you do endless pages of the same kind of problem. : )

The girls liked that the lessons were short and had visual explanations - this helped them to quickly master a topic and move on. They seem to be enjoying math a bit more and even took the time to do a couple of notebook pages to record what they have learnt. 

The only thing they missed were the math manipulative's from their previous math work. 

I think this makes a excellent main math curriculum to act as our study spine but I will add some additional activities to appeal to the hands on nature of my girls.

Each Light Blue grade curriculum is a real bargain at $34.

You can see what my crew mates thought of this and other Math Mammoth products over at the TOS Blog