Math Mammoth reviews

[persephone43]

This looks great and *cheep*:tongue_smilie:which is WONDERFUL for me right now, as I have a very small budget to work with this year.

 

I originally was looking at MUS and RS (because of the games and manipulatives etc) but the price has made me look elsewhere. While I've been looking around I've been doing some weekend work with my ps 9yob (whom will be coming home full time after Christmas :)) and he seems to really like doing colorful worksheets, which MM seems to have lots of. I love that you can see so much of the program on their website but I wondered, when compared to other math programs, what your opinions were...because I sincerely value them. Is it comprehensive enough? Is it fun? He likes math and I want it to be enjoyable. It looks great at first glimpse. Wondering what your thoughts are.

 

TIA,

Rachel

[robsiew]

We love MM here and I don't even print in color! :001_smile:

 

I like that the math is taught to the student (good for independent workers) and explained very well. There are many different ways of looking at the same concept used. The word problems make my kids think and apply what they learned. The puzzle corners are quite challenging and for most of my kids we need to do them together. The curriculum makes small jumps from one concept to the next, not leaving large gaps for teacher to fill in. There is plenty of practice and she gives lots of ideas for online resources to accent. She does have YouTube videos also that explain how to teach some of the tougher concepts.

 

It gets a thumbs up from us! My kids are enjoying it, other than the fact they don't get to watch Mr. Demme anymore (we used MUS) and they have to actually **think**. :lol:

[MelanieM]

We love Math Mammoth here! We're using 3A right now, and have worked through all of the Grade 1 materials and some of Grade 2. I think it's a fabulous program that works very well for my math and worksheet loving daughter. I especially love how the instructions are so easy to understand as my girl likes to pick up her math to work on whenever the mood strikes her, and having the materials written to the student makes independant work very easy.

[Free Indeed]

Another :D :thumbup: here!

[LoveBaby]

We use MM for my very mathy DS and he really enjoys it.

I like how it gives different ways of looking at problems and really makes him think through what he is doing.

[monalisa]

Lots of people love it and I know you will get great reviews, but not me. I think the formatting is not good at least for the younger grades if you have a fine-motor challenged child; there is too much on one page and the writing spaces seem REALLY small. Seeing all those problems on one page was pretty overwhelming for my DD. Some people have suggested ways to reformat it with Adobe, but that is a lot of work IMO. For me it is also a negative to not have more of a teacher's guide; I really want something to help me teach it and give me more ideas beyond just what is in the worktext. I do not like how the review isn't built in like it is in other programs (there are cumulative reviews that you print out separately). It puts too much of the burden on me to make sure the review is included. I tried it for a while with my dd7, and it just wasn't a good fit but this may very well be because she isn't a workbook loving kid (not a perfect paula or competent Carl, in Cathy Duffy speak :). It is one purchase I sincerely regret because I bought the ebook and can't resell it (2A & 2B). I think the author does a good job of explaining things, however, and I love watching her videos online. We just didn't find it to be a good fit for our styles.

[babysparkler]

Another :D :thumbup: here!

:iagree:

[Mama2Many4]

We love Math Mammoth here as well. We are doing 1B-2A for my second grade son. It's very easy to understand once you get the hang of it. I'll admit, when first looking at some of the higher grade books there were areas where I felt lost at first. But only because I was not taught math that way in school. But after looking at it I quickly caught on to the format. I do think it's best to start young. My son would not have gotten the method starting out in 2A which would correlate with second grade, but starting him in 1B is working out wonderfully for him. We're big Math Mammoth fans here! Believe me, we've tried MCP, Horizons, Saxon, Abeka, Total Math, etc....

 

Good luck!

Edited October 12, 2010 by 3Blessings4Me

[Mama2Many4]

Lots of people love it and I know you will get great reviews, but not me. I think the formatting is not good at least for the younger grades if you have a fine-motor challenged child; there is too much on one page and the writing spaces seem REALLY small. Seeing all those problems on one page was pretty overwhelming for my DD. Some people have suggested ways to reformat it with Adobe, but that is a lot of work IMO. For me it is also a negative to not have more of a teacher's guide; I really want something to help me teach it and give me more ideas beyond just what is in the worktext. I do not like how the review isn't built in like it is in other programs (there are cumulative reviews that you print out separately). It puts too much of the burden on me to make sure the review is included. I tried it for a while with my dd7, and it just wasn't a good fit but this may very well be because she isn't a workbook loving kid (not a perfect paula or competent Carl, in Cathy Duffy speak :). It is one purchase I sincerely regret because I bought the ebook and can't resell it (2A & 2B). I think the author does a good job of explaining things, however, and I love watching her videos online. We just didn't find it to be a good fit for our styles.

 

I tried starting my 7 year old on the same books and found that he was lost since he had never worked with math this way before. Bumping him down a book to 1A to start is working great! Maybe you could try that and see if it could work?

[skueppers]

I like Math Mammoth, and am currently using it with my Kindergartner. I would suggest that you also look at MEP, which is free.

 

I would rather use either of those programs (or both!) instead of MUS or RS. It's not about the cost; MM and MEP suit me better as a teacher, and they're at least as good as MUS and RS.

[Veritaserum]

I've tried MM with three kids. I love it, but it has only been a good fit with my youngest. She is mathy and picks things up quickly. She is nearly finished with 1A. I love, love, love that Math Mammoth is a worktext. It makes it really easy to use. My 2nd dd is using CLE math and is doing well with that. It is also a worktext (for levels 300+). I had her do a few pages of MM 2B, but she hated it. (She hates change in general, though.) My oldest is very NON-mathy. I got her most of the way through MM 4B, but it just wasn't a good fit for her. She is doing Teaching Textbooks 5 right now. I hope that after some remediation with that I can have her go back to Math Mammoth (mastery) or move to CLE (spiral).

[kwickimom]

LOVE IT! This is our first year and I had to start DD8 in 2A, but she is already caught up to 3 in just 10 weeks. She gets soo excited to actually "get it."

At first we hated the puzzle corners- she just refused to do them and whined about it. We did a few together and now she looks forward to them.

I love that they are a worktext and I dont have to deal with a TM. The directions and sample problems are exactly what I needed. They are very simple to follow. We do the sample on the whiteboard and I see the lightbulb go on with her as we go through it. She then has no trouble doing the rest on her own.

There is a worksheet generator included, so you can review as needed or get more work for problem areas. I plan on making a note of trouble areas and then for review I will go and print out some worksheets. I think doing that along with the cumulative reviews and tests will be sufficient.

[mystika1]

Hi,

MM is a very good math program. It did not work for my dd though. The pages have alot of problems which is nice but...if your child doesn't like this busy layout it can cause tears. I have read that people cut up the sheets to help but I just don't like to do that.

As much as everyone says that the directions simple, my dd was easily confused. I found the directions simple to understand but for a 7 year old(that doesn't like math) to read and take off on their own is not my dd style of learning. However, I do teach the material no matter what math program I use so that is not a factor. I never let her "self teach."

I think you get a great math education with this curriculum if it suits the child. I tried SM with my dd and it was a hit. The graphics caught her attention and the problems are spaced out nicely.

 

I would print out the mm samples and use them with your child for a week or so. You should know by then if it will be a good fit.

 

Good Luck,

 

Penny

[sagira]

We like Math Mammoth here too. After using MCP Math for two years, I found the format of MM refreshingly uncluttered and not as busy. It just depends where you're coming from. I love how the problems are presented from different angles, how the student learns different strategies, the practice worksheets you can generate yourself (about any topic you would like!), the price, the free online math games included for drill and practice, and now thanks to this board, I discovered the tests! Woohoo!

 

BTW, my ds is not particularly mathy, but he's understanding things better now with MM. We've just started MM 1B.

[Homemama2]

We are loving it here as well. I bought it to supplement RS....but it just may become our main program w/ RS as the supplement! At first my oldest ds had the same problem as another poster (too many problems on a page...he felt overwhelmed) I solved this simply by cutting the pages into sections and working on the section for a few minutes. After doing this for a month, the pages do not intimidate him at all, in fact, we usually cover 2-3 pages a day in one sitting. Also the author states that you do not have to do all the problems. You can save some for review, or to work on later in the week....or do every other prob. if your child understands the topic.

MM is very doable and I love how it explains topics so completely.

[corbie]

We have used various levels from 1 to 6. I do think it's easier to jump in earlier than later. Maria has a different method. Overall, I like it a lot. Maria is also very helpful with problems. She returns e-mails quickly. However, at 6A, there are some problems I still don't get. It is challenging. I made it through college level business calculus, so I'm no math dummy, but I still get stumped in 6A.

 

I don't find that there is enough review for one of my dd's. We use Horizons for review once or twice a week. 1A is starting out almost too slow for my K/1er. I also supplement with Horizons for her. She is, however, getting a very strong understanding of math facts. We do a combination of written work and games suggested by MM.

 

We used MM sporadically in the past but made a commitment this year to stick with it. I'm so glad. I do not use it exclusively. I have just found that no one program meets all our needs and math is too important; we have to get it right. I am, however, using MM as our spine this year. All three dd's are doing great, very little complaining!

[razorbackmama]

We are new to MM after most recently using MUS. I had known there were SOME gaps with MUS, but WOW after using MM for just this past month I'm seeing just HOW MANY gaps there were in MUS! Even just little things like multiplication being something other than the area of a rectangle! My older two that are using it are in 5th and 6th grades - they had to review things from MM 1, 2, and 3. :001_huh: :001_huh: :001_huh: They're moving it through it rather quickly though - I'm having them take the chapter tests and then when we find something they haven't covered (which has been quite a few concepts), we camp out there for a while.

 

My 4th child had just completed MUS Alpha, and he's working his way through MM 1. There are so many mathematical concepts that simply aren't covered at all in MUS.

 

I typically have them do 1-2 pages a day, depending on how many problems are on a page. We haven't had trouble with the amount of problems and the amount of space, but we're used to MUS, which had a similar number of problems, so who knows?

 

I was just telling my dh today that I'm so glad I switched!

[Food4Thought]

I've been using Math Mammoth for 7 weeks so far this year. I used Singapore last year for K, which my DS found to be too overstimulating (lots of colors and pictures everywhere). The problems are clear, and I've found that my already mathy son is learning a lot more about number relationships than I thought he might.

 

It is a lot of writing. For my DS with fine motor issues, I let him tell me the answers and I do the writing on days when he is not up for the challenge. The funny part is that he'll fill in an addition table no problem (with 30 different numbers) with no complaints. He also loves the puzzles. I plan to stick with MM for a while - I'm very satisfied with it.

[Momma H]

We are loving MM here and have been using it for about 5 weeks. It was quite eye opening to see all the gaps.:tongue_smilie::tongue_smilie::tongue_smilie: We took the placement test and whew. I got the light blue wo I just went through and printed out the gappy parts and they are going through those before they start on thier actual level. They are really enjoying it. I think we finally found the one!:D

[persephone43]

Thank you all so much for the replies!!!! Very encouraging! If there Is a placement test on the website though, I can't find it. Help?

[curlygirlzx2]

My dd is using MM1 after a very disastrous attempt at MUS last year. She usaully does aobut 2 pages a day. So far so good so I think it is a good fit for her. I need to add in more math games as she has been asking for "fun math".

[Whereneverever]

We print Math Mammoth in black and white- if color is really important to the page I use colored pencils to add it in. :)

 

We really like it! It's a good combination of skills and can mostly be done independently. I feel like it's a good compliment to Singapore or could be used be itself.

[skueppers]

Thank you all so much for the replies!!!! Very encouraging! If there Is a placement test on the website though, I can't find it. Help?

 

Here is the link:

 

http://www.mathmammoth.com/complete/placement_tests.php

[Devotional Soul]

Have any MM users seen good results on standardized tests? Thanks!

[razorbackmama]

 

Have any MM users seen good results on standardized tests? Thanks!

We haven't gotten to that point yet, but I'm SURE we'll see better results than we did with MUS simply because MM covers more. I'm anxious to see just how much better!