Well, I just finished my 2nd review of the year for The Old Schoolhouse® Homeschool Review Crew and I was really looking forward to this one! I’d heard of Math Mammoth for YEARS and considered purchasing their materials over and over. Just recently I decided to give them a try!
During the review period I had my daughter (6th grade) using the Light Blue series for grade 6. Even though it’s the middle of the year, I went ahead and started her at the beginning in 6A. I also had my niece use the 5th grade course starting her in 5B. Although it was a requirement of the review, I loved having two different levels being used so I could see how they compare and build from one grade to the next.
Math Mammoth has many different math resources and curriculum types available on the site. At first it’s a little confusing. Here’s a bit of help. Basically, there are two main ways of choosing. You can pick either by topic (like fractions, division, etc) or you can choose based on grade. The Light Blue series is a complete curriculum based on grade level. In each grade level you can purchase the whole year or one semester at a time.
Don’t worry, if you are confused about which path is best or where to start, there’s a wonderful free Tour Guide available! There are also placement exams.
I found that the curriculum is a wonderful balance between a “mastery approach” and a “spiral approach!” The author doesn’t agree with the true spiral approach in math, so her materials are more of a mastery based approach, which I love! But even better than that….her materials have TONS of review as well! That was something we struggled with while using our current curriculum.
Josephine came across many skills that she either hadn’t learned yet, or hadn’t done in so long that she forgot how to do them. The 6A lessons were a great place to start for her. She works a bit longer than she did with the other math we were using. We picked a pace of about 2-3 pages per day, which I believe is about right to finish the curriculum in a school year. I loved that there were MORE problems working on the new skill learned but still plenty of review!
I totally love this math curriculum! The only problem I have is that it only goes through 7th grade!! I hope that one day there will be higher levels available! But if you are looking for middle/high levels, you can read her suggestions and recommendations. I have a son in high school, so I was very excited to read her reviews of high school Algebra and Geometry!
PDF vs. Printed:
I had the pdf version, which is very convenient because it’s an instant download and ready to print. However, I think I’d rather pay a little more to get the book pre-printed! I think it would be totally worth it! I don’t know how many times my daughter was waiting on me to print more pages for her, plus if you’re concerned about ink or paper, it would just be easier.
But…. if you would rather have the instant download, it’s great! I’m finishing out what we have using the PDF and it does have it’s benefits, but I’ll be ordering the 7th grade Light Blue series books for my daughter next!
If you’re looking for a solid math curriculum made by a math teacher with decades of experience, then this is for you! After years of using another math curriculum, I believe I might just be switching all my kids over to this curriculum now!
Also as a side note: I’m using the review sheets from the 6th grade curriculum with my high school son as a great refresher of some of those skills that he might not have seen in a while!
Want to see what other reviewers thought? Click the image below….