tell me about math mammoth

[iona]

or please link to some good threads?:)

 

Ds is going through singapore earlybird A and i'll have him finish B. He is in K this year (we are starting early...slowly). Is mm similar to singapore?....does it have more drill incorporated? is it as "cartoonish" What do you like or dislike about mm. How does it compare to other programs you've used before or after

 

Thanks!

[Momling]

I don't know Singapore very well, so others can answer better. What I can say is that it's certainly not cartoonish... the worktexts are very straightforward. They don't add any flourishes or fun and games, but nor do they need to. They do present math in a clear, direct way that makes sense to my kids and makes it pretty easy to teach. MM is no miracle cure for math issues, but it is an affordable and down-to-earth mastery type approach that is worth considering.

 

I should add... Parents of younger kids have noticed that the font (and answer space) is small. My 6 yr old hasn't noticed.

[Corraleno]

MM teaches math in a very similar way to Singapore (what people often refer to as "Asian Math"). It teaches math concepts, not just algorithms, and emphasizes mental math, especially in the younger years. It also includes good, challenging, multi-step word problems, like Singapore. It has illustrations and lots of visual explanations, but doesn't include cartoons like Singapore does (which is an advantage for some people and a disadvantage for others).

 

The main differences are:

(1) Singapore was written for use by trained math teachers in classrooms, whereas MM was specifically designed for homeschoolers;

(2) the explanations and instructions in MM are written directly to the student, rather than being in the Instructor's Guide, for the parent to read and then teach the child;

(3) MM's all-in-one format is easier to use, instead of having to juggle a textbook, workbook, HIG, and possibly IP/CWP books;

(4) MM includes more practice (including math facts practice) than Singapore, unless you're also doing all the textbook problems and/or IP/CWP books.

 

I've used both Singapore & MM, and I compared them extensively (looking at how each curriculum taught specific topics throughout the different levels) and I definitely prefer MM. I found the explanations to be clearer and more explicit, and the concepts are presented in a more incremental way. Some kids find that Singapore makes conceptual leaps they have trouble following; that tends not to be a problem with MM because of the way she breaks down the explanations into smaller steps, with one concept per lesson.

 

A few tips I've seen posted here:

(1) If your child finds the spaces in the 1st grade curriculum too small for writing in, use the screen shot function to print out half a page at a time, at higher magnification.

(2) To save ink, print on "fast" or "draft" mode.

(3) You can print out all the pages in an MM book (e.g. 1A, 3B, whatever) at once and have it comb-bound into a workbook, or you can print out a section at a time (1 chapter, 1 month's worth, whatever) and keep the pages in a binder or folder.

 

HTH,

Jackie

[walkermamaof4]

For one of my kids, ds7, there is actually too much practice in MM1. My dd10 needs the practice, but ds7 is mathy and gets it fast. so i race him, with me doing 2/3 and him doing 1/3 of the problems.

 

I love that MM has the teacher explanation directed at the student and right on the page, with no TM. My kids can do much of MM themselves with only need to ask me for help every so often.

 

The font size hasn't bothered my kids.

 

For the 1st time ever, my dd10 said she likes her math program! (She has used MUS and R&S and BJU too.)

[iona]

thank you for the replies!

 

I was looking at the mm website and she said the program combined a little of spiraling where it made sense even though it was mainly a mastery program. I'm just now becoming aware of these terms, so it sounds good to me .:tongue_smilie:

Do you both use the full curriculum...light blue books i think?

How long have you been using it and for which ages....also, if you have thought this far ahead, what do you plan on using after you've exhausted the mm program?

 

Thanks again:)

[walkermamaof4]

we just started with it this summer for review but will continue. i bought the complete series. i am unsure what i'll move to afterwards, but i bought life of fred for supplement.

[Corraleno]

Do you both use the full curriculum...light blue books i think? How long have you been using it and for which ages....also, if you have thought this far ahead, what do you plan on using after you've exhausted the mm program?

I have the Blue Series for grades 1-3, and the Light Blue for grades 4-6. DD7 has done MM1&2, and DS12 started with MM4 and is finishing MM6. Having used both series, I have to say I prefer the Light Blue one — so much so that I just bought the Light Blue for 3rd grade even though I already have the Blue. :tongue_smilie:

 

The Blue books are organized by topic (one topic per book), and work well as supplements. Some people also like to choose what order to do the topics in, rather than a standard sequence. The down side is that the Blue books often cover multiple grades, so you have to decide for yourself where to stop in one book, add a bit of another book, go back to the first, add a bit of a 3rd, etc. With the Light Blue books, all of the topics that need to be covered in that level are combined in one grade-leveled program, at the appropriate level and in a logical sequence. So the "miscellaneous topics" like measurement, geometry, time, money, etc., are already mixed in, rather than having to pull worksheets out of each of those Blue books and intersperse them with the worksheets from addition, subtraction, multiplication, etc.

 

I posted in a math thread a few months ago that my dream Algebra curriculum would be exactly like MM: extremely clear, explicit, conceptual explanations, plus lots of good, meaty word problems, and 8FilltheHeart said "You just described Foerster's." I also discovered that Foerster's is what Maria Miller (the author of MM) recommends, along with the Math Without Borders DVDs. I bought the text and totally fell in love with it. It's exactly what I was looking for, and I think DS12 will be well prepared for Foerster's after he finishes MM6B. (You certainly wouldn't be limited to Foerster's though, a student who finishes MM6B should be ready for pretty much any algebra program.)

 

Jackie

[Food4Thought]

You've already had some great advice, but I just wanted to chime in as an extra MM supporter. :) I bought the Light Blue Series 1 when DS finished Singapore Early Bird B in May. He has already done about 30 pages of MM, and he loves it.

 

It is very straight forward. Where Singapore has a full page cartoon to have the kids count birds, MM has a full page of equations - drawing objects in squares to make the right number and so forth. For my math-minded son, it is his favorite thing EVER.

 

There are a lot more "problems" on a page in MM, but it solidifies the concepts to have extra practice.

 

The only thing I have changed is how much writing DS has to do, but only for the clock portion. (I skipped ahead to that part because he was interested). For several pages, the child is to write "o'clock" or "half-past" under the clocks. DS already knows :00 and :30 as those times, so I let him write the numbers instead, or just narrate to me. If he's too tired to write, but still wants to do math, I'll let him tell me the answers and I'll write them.

 

I figure I have a few years before I have to decide to switch to something else, but I'm definitely sticking to MM for a while.

[snickelfritz]

We used Singapore 1 through the school year and due to my own failures (I bought the HIG late in the game and didn't focus enough on math facts), dd's math facts (and thus, mental math) weren't where they needed to be. So, I bought 4 of the Math Mammoth topic books(the ones on addition and subtraction) to do this summer, along with Miquon and the Right Start Card games. I really liked Singapore and wasn't looking to switch for the school year. I am in the camp that says you need the HIG to truly implement the program the way it should be implemented.

 

 

I LOVE Math Mammoth. With Singapore, you have to flip back and forth in the HIG, the textbook, the workbook, challenging word problems, print out the mental math, etc.... It does sometimes suggest games and tells you when to work on math facts. All doable, BUT......... With Math Mammoth (which at this point, I have to take other people saying that it is just as conceptual, since we haven't used much of it) EVERYTHING is contained within the lesson. The instructions and examples are there. It will tell you to play a specific game to work on a set of facts, then it will have some math fact practice IN the lesson, then it will have some mental math fact practice in the lesson.

 

I'm not sure what I'm going to do about the school year. I'm leaning towards continuing with Miquon, Math Mammoth, Right Start Card games, and maybe doing Singapore CWP's and/or intensive practice over the summer? I don't know. I like them all for different reasons, but day-in, day-out......Math Mammoth is easier to implement.

[toddandleah]

We started using MM midway last year. I picked up a couple of the individual workbooks on Addition and Subtraction. Then we started the 2nd grade curriculum this year. It has been going reasonably well. I found that at times I needed to teach the lesson apart from the workbook and then go to the book for him to practice, because if we just worked through the problems together as I explained it, then we wouldn't have any for him to try after he understood what to do, if that makes sense. But that's just the way my kid is. Some kids will be able to take the explanation and run with it.

Because there isn't a lot of teacher guidance, if you aren't that confident in your math teaching skills (like me), it could pose a problem for figuring out how to explain something. My problem is that the vocabulary isn't there. I know the procedure of solving problems, but can't necessarily explain the whys and how comes. All that being said Maria Miller, the author, has made herself available to help parents along, sends out newsletters and records video clips of how to teach different lessons. She has always promptly responded to my questions and concerns about one thing or another. I had noticed that technically MM doesn't have a Kindergarten program, and my daughter had started K this year. I wrote Maria about it, and she felt that formal math might be too much or too intense for a little one (dd 5), and recommended Math Made Easy, which tiptoes into the math swimming hole. Mostly counting type exercises, brief introduction to adding and subtracting, colors, writing numbers, etc. It has been a good fit for her. Much of it is things she already is familiar with, but I wanted her first experiences with math to be non-threatening. Especially since we're having a tough time figuring it out with her brother.

The really nice thing is that it is all available online (we live abroad). So if I found that my kiddo needed a little more practice in a certain area, I could always download a single-theme work text for a few dollars.

You can do a demo from the website and download a whole bunch of worksheets to try some of it out before you buy it.

 

That's my take. Good luck!

Leah

[Annabel Lee]

Does Math Mammoth have an official website where samples can be viewed? Where is the best place to purchase?

[TracyP]

 

Math Mammoth website.

[KJsMom]

We Love Math Mammoth. I mean seriously, picture little birdies and a sweet soundtrack. :D Math was terrible for us before. My dd was in PS for K and 1st grade before I pulled her to HS. She was not at all confident in math and then I couldn't find a math program to work for her. Math was daily tears and tantrums, so in desperation I bought the level 2 light blue series even though she was in 3rd grade. It was enough review with gentle, easy to understand explanation for my dd to regain her confidence and fill in the gaps. I plan to use MM for as long as possible, and to start MM with my youngest from grade 1. I haven't thought long-term, but I will probably follow Maria's suggestion for Foerster's.

[Annabel Lee]

LOL, I don't know why I didn't think of that - I was looking for it at Rainbow Resource.