Math Mammoth Elementary Homeschool Math Curriculum

Heidi homeschool math, math curriculum 0 Comments September 12, 2016

Math is a subject that has brought great stress to my oldest, ease for my middle child, and somewhere in between for my youngest. Regardless of how they feel about it, or how easily it comes to them, math is a point of emphasis in our homeschool. I feel it is important to have a solid base in math and that doesn’t come without building math skills from the bottom up. For this reason I have explored many math curriculum options in our homeschool.

$Math Mammoth Elementary Homeschool Math Curriculum from Starts At Eight$

Typically in the younger years we use Singapore Math. Once 5th-7th grade hits I have found Teaching Textbooks to be a great option since it can be more hands off for me. We have also used programs like No-Nonsense Algebra, Mr. D’s Math, Kendall Hunt Gifted Math, and CTC Math. All of this to say that we have been around the block and back with homeschool math curriculum!

My youngest is in 5th grade this year. We have Teaching Textbooks for 5th grade but she expressed adamantly that she did not want to switch to math on the computer yet. This started my search for a written homeschool math curriculum that would take us through 5th grade and beyond. This is when I cam across Math Mammoth. Math Mammoth Light Blue Series is a mastery oriented, homeschool math curriculum for grades 1 through 7. It contains student text pages that also serve as the workbook, tests and answer key.

{I received Math Mammoth as part of this review and I was compensated for my time in writing it. All views are my own and I was not required to write a positive review. Please see my full Disclosure Policy for more details.}

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Here are a few things I Love About Math Mammoth right at first glance:

Colorful
Clearly organized into chapters and sections
Answer key for easy grading
It’s printable and not online
Affordable
Offers extra hands on activities and Internet links to more resources for each chapter
PLACEMENT TESTS!!

Using Math Mammoth Elementary Homeschool Math Curriculum

Free Placement Tests

When switching to a new program, or really just beginning any new math program, it is hard to know where to begin. Not all programs are created equal, or on the same leveling scale. For this reason I LOVE that Math Mammoth offers FREE PLACEMENT TESTS!

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It is recommended that in order to start with Math Mammoth complete curriculum for grade level X, the student should score 80% or more in the previous year’s “end of year” test. Children scoring between 70 and 80% may also continue with the next grade, depending on the types of errors.

So this is where we began. I had my youngest take the End of Year Grade 4 Test to see where she stood. Based on her scores I could see that she was a little week in a couple of specific areas. Because the tests group the questions by topic, you can look at the test results per “sections” of similar problems (addition, multiplication, measuring, geometry, place value, problem solving), thus being able to pinpoint weak areas. We chose to work on those before moving forward with the 5th Grade Curriculum.

Chapter Introductions & Extra Resources

At the beginning of each chapter there is an Introduction outlining what is covered in the chapter. After that is a list of Helpful Resources & Games pertaining to the subjects covered in that chapter. This is awesome because you are instantly connected with solid resources for more practice, extra help, and fun games!

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Colorful and Clearly Organized

Math Mammoth utilizes color in their books. This is a HUGE bonus in my opinion. It can be very monotonous to stare at page after page of black and white numbers, especially for little ones. Things like the fractions you see here are so much more interesting, and easier to explain when you have color designations.

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Each lesson is fairly short and manageable in length. All problems are clearly designated within their own boxes/sections on the page. Sometimes the pages can feel a bit cluttered, as though there is too much on the page, which could be a problem for some students. If this is the case I recommend taking another sheet of paper to cover various sections, leaving just the section they are working on visible. This is easy to do because each section is clearly marked.

The text is designed for children to be able to do on their own. Explanations are done right within the flow of the book so there is no need to hop from book to book to get the text and work pages.

You can also check out FREE Samples and Worksheets directly from Math Mammoth Books!