Review: Math Mammoth
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Math Mammoth is the affordable math curriculum developed by math teacher turned stay-at-home, homeschooling mom, Maria Miller. Miller developed the curriculum specifically for homeschooling families based on her years of teaching and tutoring students in math. Math Mammoth is designed to be a self-teaching, easy-to-use, easy-to-understand math curriculum, either for use as supplemental teaching texts or a full curriculum.
The Light Blue series is the full curriculum designed for grades 1-5, while the Blue series features worktexts for grades 1-5 intended to be used for additional practice, review or remedial teaching. There are also worksheets by grade (the Golden series) and worksheets by topic (the Green series). Prices vary, depending on what you’re ordering, but the Blue series books range from $2 – $7.50 each for electronic download. CDs are also available.
We were able to try Multiplication 2 and Division 1. I thought those would be good choices as supplemental texts since that’s about where Josh and Megan are in math. Unfortunately, I made the decision just before I realized that we really needed to do some focused concentration on multiplication for Megan. I think Multiplication 1 would have been a much better choice for her.
I found Division 1 to present the concepts in an easy-to-understand, logical manner. Division was explained much the way our regular math text explains it and I like the way it clearly illustrated to the student that division is simply the opposite of multiplication. There were a lot of clear, visual explanations and the material was explained in a variety of ways. Overall, I thought the Division 1 book was a good resource for extra practice in division.
Multiplication 2 was another matter altogether. I found some of the activities lacked sufficient explanation or were simply confusing. That may be due to the fact that the problems were explained in a very different way than our regular math text or it could be that it was just simply not the right level for Megan. At any rate, I didn’t find it as helpful as the Division 1 book.
One thing I did like about both books is that they offered links to different websites where kids can play online, interactive math games. We found some helpful sites through those links, so I greatly appreciated the author’s inclusion of those sites. The bottom line is, while there was some helpful information in the books, I wasn’t blown away by them.
However, they are very reasonably priced and I know that many kids benefit from seeing something explained in a completely different way than they’ve seen before, so if you’ve got a child struggling with math concepts, or you’re looking for a reasonably priced full curriculum, you may want to visit Math Mammoth and see for yourself what you think.
I received this product free for the purpose of reviewing it. I received no other compensation for this review. The opinions expressed in this review are my personal, honest opinions. Your experience may vary.
Kris Bales is a newly-retired homeschool mom and the quirky, Christ-following, painfully honest founder (and former owner) of Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. She has a pretty serious addiction to sweet tea and Words with Friends. Kris and her husband of over 30 years are parents to three amazing homeschool grads. They share their home with three dogs, two cats, a ball python, a bearded dragon, and seven birds.
I purchased the Math Mammoth Algebra set and was very disappointed. She tells you in her explanation that there is no instruction for the Algebra set but like you encountered, it was hard to come from Saxon and figure out how to properly sequence the lessons. The methods were different.
I also found a few mistakes in the answer key. I was really glad that I didn't spend a lot of money on this ebook from CurrClick.
Enjoyed your review, as always. 🙂
Barb
We have been using the lower grades (Light Blue Complete Curriculum) and it's been great! Love the price, that you can print as many copies as needed and there is no need for a TM other than the Answer Keys.
Hubby is home. Buy!