For place value, we used the counting bears, and kind of act like if 10 bears want to move into the ones place, can they? No. Because only 9 groups of one can live here. But they all want to stay together, where can they go? They can all go to the Tens place! It clicked really well for my kiddo.
Con, I had NO idea that this curriculum came with the regular lessons AND there’s an additional/optional Practice workbook. Not knowing this, when I first started homeschooling, I bought the Practice book & had no lessons to teach, it’s just practice sheets. Now that my current math isn’t working, I might have to go back to this one
Yes the practice pages are new (since I used this curriculum) and I think a great addition but I can totally understand how frustrating that would be if that was all you had.
I bought this math book along with Math Mammoth as a supplement because it looked skimpy. I’m sooo…grateful to God I discovered Math Mammoth for my 2nd grader who is more advanced in her math skills. Math Mammoth is far more in depth as it focuses on mental math using visuals to master concepts. It is easy to implement as a parent. It incorporates common core concepts too to show multiple ways of problem solving.
We go at a lower pace when needed due to dyslexia. We find maths books can be independent in the later years. We love pdfs. We’ve had to gather stuff before. At the moment my older kids are doing maths at a lower grade level. We’ve cut hands on activities before as it’s too overwhelming and my kids got the topic and we’ve done hands on activities at a later time!!! We’ve struggled with place value as well. I’m not sure how my youngest will do with it yet. I used blocks to teach it as it worked with me and I thought I’d try it to see if it could work.
We’re about 4 weeks in to my sons 1st grade curriculum with MB, and I’m really worried he isn’t being exposed to the right level of math for his grade. The entire book 1 is exactly what he learned in kinder. I’ve decided to double up on lessons every day (since he’s flying through it anyways) and be done early so we can start level 2 before the beginning of next school year.
The masterbooks app is great too. A forum that's so helpful. I do think there's too much copywork of numbers added in but not a biggie. We just skip over some of the stuff. And of course God is at forefront!
I actually just purchased level 1. My son is in "1st" grade and we have been using T.G.A.T.B . He does ok with it but there is so many pieces and things that I feel bounce around and haven't really given him "mastery" in any topic. I am new to homeschooling as this is our first year so I have been watching a ton of videos for all the things to prepare for 2nd grade and I decided were switching. Yes right at the end of the year! Ahhh! I am crazy or it will all be OK which I'm sure it will. I'm thinking he should fly through most of the book and catch up quickly as I know it is very gentle. But I believe a mastery approach will be better for him. Thank you for your content it has been helpful for not only math but other subjects as well! Rant over haha 😄
Yes it will be completely fine. Like you said he will catch up soon and will enjoy speeding through math until he does. We did something similar and it really helped to build my child’s confidence in math.
I just started with master books this year- K and 2nd. (Didn’t use a math curriculum last year, just taught a few things they were interested in on my own and with a few videos). I agree with the first two cons the place value village seems very… different. But I’ll give it some time to see how my 7 year old does. The kindergarten book seems way too easy for my 5 year old. Like most of this stuff she could have done one, if not two years ago. But it’s fun for her and she likes doing school with big sis so I’m letting her fly through it. I do like it overall and like the stories and biblical principles that are weaved into it.
We've loved these for my son who's now in level 1. "Doggy math." The video by author on place value village really helped me teach this. I do like using our unit blocks instead of beans but not necessary of course
We are just starting our first year of homeschool ever! We got our level 1 & 2 in the mail today for my K and grade 2 kids. I came on here to try seeing what exactly some of these math manipulatives are used for so I can be more prepared but it sounds like I need to join that FB group you mentioned. Thanks!
Best review I have seen regarding this math curriculum. I used levels 1 & 2 and I agree with the pros and cons. We also struggled a lot with place value. Not sure if it's just the way it is explained or the placement in the book. We ended up taking a break to review concepts using different curriculum. May return to book 3 in the future. Consider the new Simply Math from TGTB
Super helpful, thank you! My older son is doing Abeka, but it does not resonate with my younger son, so we mainly did Montessori workbooks (he loved them). I’m looking for something engaging, fun, and short, and I think this curriculum is it!
Great review. My kids haven’t grasped the place value village well either! I’d love to know how you have supplemented that concept? My kiddos still kind of struggle there.
Haha it’s going to sound silly but I tried to explain the concept what felt like 100 different ways but what finally helped it click with all three kids is by watching a place value video on the RU-vid channel homeschool pop. If you search homeschool pop place value it should pop up. All three kids it just clicked with them after watching that 😂 made me a little crazy after all my efforts but on the other hand I was just thankful they got it.
Thank you! I’ll check that out. I never realized what a hard concept it would be to teach! I was public schooled and I don’t even remember how they taught it to us...like most other things haha.
Oh my goodness... RU-vid helped us too for that. Videos are our friend. But the base 10 blocks are amazing to help and get a base ten value frame as well.
C im thinking of doing this math mostly becuz my sons n 1st grade math for tgatb but its a lil to advance rn and tgatb k wuld b 2 slow 4 him cuz hes got just about all of those concepts down except writing and reading the numbers up to 20 and theres no practice with tgatb 1 4 that or any of the numbers.
Thank you for your helpful review. Would you recommend this curriculum for a 5th grade student transitioning from public school to homeschooling? Again, thanks
So I have never used the 5th grade book but I have heard great things. I would recommend taking the placement test to make sure level 5 is the right one especially when coming from another curriculum but I think it could be good. At third grade we switch to using Teaching Textbooks as it is a computer based math that teaches and grades the lessons for me and math is not an area I love to teach lol but both this program and teaching textbooks are super solid.
I think it depends on your child. I am homeschooling 2nd generation and am SO happy with the slower pace they go at math. My grandson was (very boy) and he needs this. We did simply k and fishy math for kindergarten. When we were at the end of it, he turned 6 and he kicked in and finished up quickly. We are doing piggy math/piggy practice, creation science, phonics, my story for 1st grade. He is excelling. Learning like crazy. My granddaughter is coming along behind. Doing stepping stones. She is 3 but we do only 1-2 pages 2 or 3x week. Its good. I love Masterbooks and we used 4 other major curriculums with my daughters.
