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I'm thinking or ordering Math Mammoth from the coop....need help please!


BatmansWife
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I didn't want to go with the Math Mammoth download and thought of just buying printed books from LuLu. After comparing the Blue and Light Blue over and over, it seems to me that you actually get more pages with the Blue (also, Maria suggested I use the Blue for my son who is behind in math). But......what I need this year would be 8 different Blue printed books (2 kids) which would come to $80 plus shipping from LuLu. Soooo...I just went to the homeschool coop. Now I see that I could get this on a CD instead of a download. Does this mean that if my computer should konk out, that I could take the CD to the library or somewhere and print it (this is one fear I have about the download)??

 

Could someone please look at the coop and see if I'm looking at the correctly?? The Blue on CD says "current group price $57", which is a 40% savings. But, below that it says Qty 1-20, $76, 20% savings. So, which one is it?? Is it $57 or $76...I'm so confused.

 

Why does it seem that the Blue has more pages (34 workbooks, about 1,700 pages) and the Light Blue has less (11 workbooks, about 1,500 pages) yet the Blue is cheaper? Couldn't I just use the Blue and go to Maria's website and look at the order of the Light Blue for a particular grade and use Blue sheets in that order?? OMG....I'm going crazy about this! I was so close to ordering from LuLu since their free shipping ends tomorrow........but now I'm thinking the CD from the coop is more economical and I'd have everything I need (is this true.....that I'd get all the Blue books in the CD and wouldn't have to buy anymore, ever?). The only downside is I'd have to print them. But, I guess the money I'd save I could buy some extra printer ink (and they'd be in color). OK....I'll stop rambling now. I need helpful advice here please.

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I have been having the same quandry about which one to order - blue or light blue. When I looked at HSBC site last night, it looked like there were 70+ orders, which would put it at the lowest price (that's what the 1-20 refers to - how many orders there are). Hope this helps.

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Buying the CD will protect you against your computer conking out. You could also burn the download onto a CD if you have a CD-RW drive (most computers do), or copy the downloaded files onto a USB thumb drive. Any of those options would let you take it elsewhere if your computer died.

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I wouldn't necessarily go by which package has more pages. It looks to me like the Blue series has 1700+ pages and the Light Blue currently has 1560 pages, but that's because 6B isn't published yet. I assume 6B will be around 180 pp or so, so that would bring the total Light Blue lesson pages to over 1700 as well. I don't know if Maria will also be adding pages to the Blue series or not.

 

As for just doing the Blue books in the order Maria recommends, yes of course you can do that, BUT keep in mind that there is no suggested order for the lessons within the books. In other words, Maria recommends doing Addition 1, Subtraction 1, Place Value 1, then adding in some pages from the "extra topics" books like Clock, Money, and Geometry books, which include material from multiple grades. So you need to decide which lessons to do from each of those books and when to do them — do you add one lesson/wk from each of the "extras" books as you do the others? Do you finish the first three books, then do 10 lessons from each of the "extras" books, then start Addition 2? Do you just go ahead and do the entire Clock book and save Money for 2nd grade? For some people, this flexibility is wonderful, for others it's just confusing. Personally I much prefer the Light Blue grade-leveled books, which have all the chapters on the different topics already included in a logical order, complete with cumulative review tests, so I can just "do the next page" without worrying about what I should be adding in when or if I've covered the topics in the right order.

 

If you buy the download, you can cut it to CD yourself (or put it on a thumb drive) so you have a back-up, without having to pay extra to have a CD shipped to you. You can either print it yourself or take it to Kinkos or somewhere and have it printed double-sided and comb-bound into a workbook for you, for not much (if any) more than you'd pay to order the printed books from Lulu. Also keep in mind that the preprinted books are B&W only — if you have the download or CD then you can choose to print all or some of it in color. If you use the "fast draft" mode on your inkjet printer, it doesn't use nearly as much ink.

 

Jackie

Edited by Corraleno
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I am very happy with the Light Blue series. It is still easy to pick out topics for review. The Light Blue series has additional things... reviews and tests that are very helpful, and once we get up to grade level I won't have to think about order anymore.

 

I also like having it on disc so that I can print out extras whenever I feel the need.

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Personally I much prefer the Light Blue grade-leveled books, which have all the chapters on the different topics already included in a logical order, complete with cumulative review tests, so I can just "do the next page" without worrying about what I should be adding in when or if I've covered the topics in the right order.

Jackie

 

Thank you everyone for the help.

 

To Jackie, do you know if the Blue series contains the culative reviews and tests? I can't really tell this at her site. I appreciate what you've had to say. So I am now considering the Light Blue on CD. :001_smile: I was looking again at the info at HBC, and you are right....the Blue is for grades 1-6 and the Light Blue is for grades 1-5....so this explains why Blue has more pages. But.....maybe it's worth it to have everything in a more logical order than what I would probably figure out.

 

I'd love more opinions please.

Edited by ~AprilMay~
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I am very happy with the Light Blue series. It is still easy to pick out topics for review. The Light Blue series has additional things... reviews and tests that are very helpful, and once we get up to grade level I won't have to think about order anymore.

 

I also like having it on disc so that I can print out extras whenever I feel the need.

 

This is good to know. Sounds like the Blue doesn't have the reviews and tests then? Thank you!

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AFAIK the Blue series doesn't have tests. I originally bought the Blue package for grades 1-3, but I prefer the grade-leveled series so much that I actually bought the Light Blue 3A/3B books rather than continue using Blue with DD. It was worth the extra money to me not to have to go through the Blue books and schedule everything myself. :tongue_smilie:

 

Jackie

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AFAIK the Blue series doesn't have tests. I originally bought the Blue package for grades 1-3, but I prefer the grade-leveled series so much that I actually bought the Light Blue 3A/3B books rather than continue using Blue with DD. It was worth the extra money to me not to have to go through the Blue books and schedule everything myself. :tongue_smilie:

 

Jackie

Thank you Jackie. It's great to hear from someone who has actually seen/used both. The Light Blue it is! I'm super excited! :001_smile:

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