Math Mammoth Light Blue Series – A Homeschool Review
There is a lot of debate surrounding math curriculum in general including the Math Mammoth curriculum. Some parents and educators love Math Mammoth while others find it to be too challenging or not challenging enough. So what is the verdict? Is Math Mammoth a good curriculum?
There is no easy answer to this question. Every child is different and will thrive with different types of instruction. That being said, many parents and educators have found Math Mammoth to be a successful curriculum for their students. The curriculum is very comprehensive and covers a wide range of math topics. It is also flexible, so it can be customized to meet the needs of each individual child.
We have used the Math Mammoth Light Blue Series since Grade 1 and it has worked great for us as a family and is an affordable math curriculum.
What is Math Mammoth Light Blue Series?
Math Mammoth Light Blue Series is a full math curriculum that consists of worktexts that include the instruction (the “text”) and the exercises (the “work”) all in the same book.
These worktexts are self-teaching or nearly so for most children. No teacher’s manual is needed because all the explanations are in the student’s book. In other words, the book does the teaching. I love that there is no prep work for the parents and that it can be used as an open and go math curriculum. The worktexts are very concise and clear and I love how comprehensive this curriculum is.
How We Use Math Mammoth Light Blue Series
Although it is possible for children to work completely independently I always go over new concepts that are introduced with my son to make sure that he understands it completely before he does any of the questions.
This has worked very well for us as a family allowing myself as the parent to just go over the new concepts and then allowing my son to work independently on the exercises. I always ask him to do just a few of the exercises and then see how he is doing with them.
We very rarely do every exercise in a section as I feel there would be too much. This also allows us to just flip back through the worktext to previous chapters and make sure that we have not forgotten anything.
I also like the fact that at the end of each chapter/section there is a Mixed Review section. This section has questions from all the previous worktext.
We do not have a set amount of pages that we will complete each day as we have found that some topics are straightforward whilst others will take a longer time to complete. The beauty of Home Education is that you can go at your child’s pace, which is what we do.
Does Math Mammoth Have A Placement Test?
Yes there are placement test available from Math Mammoth website
Are Lesson Plans Available?
Math Mammoth does have lesson plans available on the website but I cannot comment on them as I have never seen a need to purchase them.
Are there Videos Available?
Maria Miller, the author of Math Mammoth has several excellent videos available both on the website and on YouTube. The videos match the books and are organised either by grade or by math topics.
Math Mammoth Online Practice
Check out the online practice which my son loves doing. There is a lot there and they are totally free.
You can also download and install the app on your phone or tablet to allow offline use.
Conclusion
Overall Math Mammoth has worked extremely well for our family and my son loves maths. The books are widely available as both printed books or as downloaded. It is very affordable and for us has been both comprehensive and enjoyable.
