Math

Grade / Age level:

Elementary

Resource Type:

Supplement

2006

Review:

Great Estimations is an eye-popping introduction to the art of, or perhaps the science of, mathematical estimation. Bold colors and clear photographs are used to demonstrate simple, concrete approaches to an abstract mathematical concept. Penguins and pennies. Jelly beans and elbow macaroni. Plastic shoes and paper clips. Practice the techniques for eye training and the methods for clump counting and box counting. Then you can estimate how many of them there are - maybe before your young student does! If you get stuck, use the hint box at the bottom of the page for suggested methods, answers, and applications. This is a winning addition to your living math bookshelf!

Publisher:

Henry Holt and Company

Binding:

Sewn Hardcover

Number of pages:

32 pages

Review Date:

3-17-2007

Reviewed by:

Susan Kalis

TitleSort:

Great Estimations

Jacobs' Geometry

Author(s):

Harold R Jacobs

Subject(s):

Geometry

Grade / Age level:

High School

Review:

Saxon is a tried and true mathematics choice for many homeschoolers, but one complaint about the high school level texts Algebra I and Algebra II is that geometry is included piecemeal in the algebra courses rather than being taught separately in a systematic fashion. Jacobs' Geometry is one alternative for those who find this to be a problem. It is a friendly, thorough approach to high school geometry that starts with an introduction to deductive reasoning and takes the student through to non-Euclidean and coordinate geometry.

The format is very appealing, at least to my high-school age son and myself. The book is divided into chapters covering broad topics like Rays and Angles, Congruent Triangles, and Quadrilaterals. These are subdivided into lessons. Each lesson opens with a cartoon or thought puzzle which draws the student into the topic being discussed. There are three sets of problems in each lesson: the first one usually checks comprehension of concepts and knowledge of theorems, the second set is an application of the lesson to proofs, and the third set, usually a single question, presents a brain-teaser which allows the student to think and ponder creatively.

A Letter to the Student at the beginning tells the story of Pythagoras, the Greek geometer, who taught a reluctant student by paying him for each theorem he learned. By the end of the course, the student was paying Pythagoras. The anecdote sets the tone for the whole book, the assumption being that geometry is a noble, worthwhile endeavor and that a student will realize this and be willing to apply himself to mastery.

Though I haven't used the Jacobs' Algebra, the format looks similar to Geometry. My high-schooler is using it now in short sections as a review. With my next high schooler, I am planning to go from Saxon Algebra ½ to Jacobs' Algebra. There is no book in the Jacobs' series after Geometry; the author Harold Jacobs recommends Algebra II and Trigonometry by Paul A Foerster as the next step before Calculus.

Publisher:

W.H. Freedman and Company

Review Date:

1999

Reviewed by:

Willa Ryan

TitleSort:

Jacobs' Geometry

Learning Palette Mathematics

Subject(s):

Resource Type:

Review:

Learning Wrap-Ups, plastic palette and colored discs with self-correcting card sets
(This review is based on use of the first and third grade sets).

Actual size is approx. 12 in. diameter This clever learning tool for young children features an almost 12 inch diameter "palette" which holds a double-sided learning card and 12 different colored discs. A clear plastic lid is included. I have been very impressed with how these palettes hold up under a lot of use (and occasional abuse from babies and toddlers). Each card has pictorial equations or problems on one side. The child matches the correct color/shape disc with the answer he chooses. When finished placing all twelve discs, he can turn the card over and correct the answers himself.

Cards are purchased in sets of 12 (a total of 144 problems since there are 12 problems per page). Math sets are available for first through third grade. There are six card sets available for each of these three grades:

Three sets of Numeration Cards: The numeration sets cover all kinds of basic math operations with an appropriate level of challenge and content.
One set of Algebra Concept Cards: First grade algebra card "challenges" include recognizing missing numbers and finding missing shapes. The third grade cards involve solving for the unknown in addition subtraction, multiplication and division.
One set of Geometry and Measurement Cards: First grade cards cover shape names, volume, calendars, telling time and reading thermometers. The third grade set covers includes problems regarding perimeter, area, geometric forms and terms, simple graphing and units of measurement.
One set of Probability and Statistics Cards: These cards cover topics like "more and less likely" and tallying in the first grade set. The third grade set provides practice in the relationship between fractions and probability, determining the likelihood of an event and using the data from charts to draw conclusions.

I am very impressed with the level of challenge and variety of topics covered at appropriate age-levels (they meet the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics standards). We have found these particularly nice because they offer mental stimulation while taking a break from writing-skills (which can be very taxing on children in the early grades). For example, we used these with my third grade son last year as a supplement to MCP 3rd Grade Math. Some days he would just do Learning Palettes for his Math assignment. (In addition, I had him spend some time doing mazes and other fine-motor skill building activities.) He didn't do every page of the MCP book - instead I let him test out of some of the chapters (he had to achieve a very good score in order to skip the chapter - naturally we had to discuss some concepts as they came up on the Learning Palettes as well).

Investing in the entire line of Learning Palettes can be rather expensive. The Palette itself is about $15 and each card set is $10 (you can buy grade-level groupings of six sets for a little less). I found this investment to be quite worthwhile since the product is non-consumable (and quite sturdy). The material is very straightforward and well thought-out.

Review Date:

7-7-05

Reviewed by:

TitleSort:

Learning Palette Mathematics

Learning Wrap-Ups for Pre-Algebra: Introductory Kit

Subject(s):

Resource Type:

Review:

Kit includes 5 flashcard sets covering various mathematical review and pre-algebra skills

Each of five sets in this kit have 10 plastic key-shaped cards that fan-out at a pivot point. A sturdy string attached to the pivot point is pulled through a hole in the card. The student then wraps the string from the first problem to the answer, around the back of the card to the next problem, etc. After completing the card, you turn the card over. If the string matches with the lines on the back, all the answers are correct.

The five sets drill the following materials:

Addition & Subtraction of Positive and Negative Numbers Sample problem: (-9)-(-2)=t
Multiplication & Division of Positive and Negative Numbers Sample problem: (-7)x(-12)=p
Solving for the Unknown (Working with Variables) Sample problem: (-42)-z=(-3)
Understanding Algebraic Expressions Sample problem: Given x=7, evaluate 8x-7
Mental Math, Prime Factors, Perfect Squares, Square Roots, Formulas for Area, Perimeter and Volume Sample problem: Find the square root of 289

Our family has enjoyed the Learning Wrap-ups as a nice way to drill facts. I'm impressed with the thought that has gone into the equations. My 6th grade daughter has found this set a little challenging (more appropriate for 7th and 8th grade), but a welcome change from her textbook.

Review Date:

2-21-05

Reviewed by:

TitleSort:

Learning Wrap-Ups for Pre-Algebra: Introductory Kit

Learning Wrap-Ups: Basic Math Introductory Kit

Subject(s):

Resource Type:

Review:

Kit includes 5 flash-card sets - Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division and Fractions

These colorful key-shaped plastic flash cards allow students to practice basic Math skills by wrapping a string around the ribbed edges of each card to identify the correct answer. (Cards are attached together on a pivot point in groupings of 10 cards organized by operation.) The cards are cleverly self-correcting - when the child finishes each card, they simply flip it over; when all answers are correct, the string will match the diagram on the back of the card. The basic operations sets are simple equations where you match the equation to the correct answer. For the fractions set, you are matching equivalent fractions - pictures to fractions, pictures to pictures and fractions to fractions - plus a few simple equations which involve adding and subtracting fractions.

We have found this to be a great way for our children to practice their basic math facts. They are colorful and appealing and offer a welcome change from regular book-work.

Please note when ordering this product that there are many varieties of this product - some including CDs or workbooks, or even large classroom size sets. The set reviewed here retails for $35 or $40.

Also see the Learning Wrap Ups website for more details and an animated demo

Review Date:

2-1-05

Reviewed by:

TitleSort:

Learning Wrap-Ups: Basic Math Introductory Kit

Little Folks' Number Practice

Author(s):

Nancy Nicholson

Subject(s):

Grade / Age level:

Preschool

2002

Review:

"A Pre-K to Kindergarten Math Readiness Workbook for Catholic Children."

This simple workbook provides practice for preschool and kindergarten aged children in writing numbers, counting objects and considering religious ideas associated with each number (one God, two natures: human and divine, three Divine Persons, four marks of the Church: One - Holy - Catholic - Apostolic, five Sacred Wounds, etc.). There are three pages each for the numbers one through ten which contain writing lines for handwriting practice of the numbers, related black and white illustrations to color, pictures to circle and count, etc. The remaining pages provide practice in counting sets of things ("circle the correct number" for several pages and "write the correct number" for others). The final eight pages offer simple exercises involving numerical order, more and less, some very basic addition and simple shapes. The pages would have to be read aloud to young children.

Publisher:

Catholic Heritage Curricula

Binding:

Stapled Softcover

Perspective:

Catholic

Number of pages:

46 pages

Additional notes:

Copyrights 1997/2002

Review Date:

7-7-05

Sample Pages

Reviewed by:

TitleSort:

Little Folks' Number Practice

Magnetic Hundreds Board

Subject(s):

Resource Type:

Review:

Nasco, 23" x 23" laminated poster

I have used homemade hundreds charts for years - they've been a great help for Math in preschool, kindergarten and early grade school. I was so excited when I saw this item in a catalog because it is advertised as a "double-sided wipe-off white board with sheet magnet-receptive surfaces." I immediately dreamed up all sorts of fun things my little ones could do on this board with skip-counting, covering numbers, etc.

I was immediately disappointed in the quality of the board. It really is more of a thick poster than a board. It seems to be made of two cardstock poster-sized sheets with a thin metallic sheet in between. The three sheets are laminated together with a rather thin laminate (I honestly couldn't tell at first if this was the packaging to be removed - it wasn't!). Nevertheless, I decided to give it a try and hung it on the wall. My first grade daughter very happily proceeded to draw x's over all of the even numbers (this was fun!). We discovered soon afterwards that our markers (Expo2 dry erase markers) would not erase from this board. We tried two different kinds of dry-erasers, a special dry-erase board spray and finally windex and paper towels.

I want to make clear that Customer Service at Nasco was very easy to deal with in getting my money refunded. But this is a product I recommend avoiding.

Review Date:

2-1-05

Reviewed by:

TitleSort:

Magnetic Hundreds Board

Math 7: A Teaching Textbook

Author(s):

Greg Sabouri

Shawn Sabouri

Subject(s):

Grade / Age level:

seventh grade

Resource Type:

Text

2006

Review:

My son began this school year with Saxon's Math 76. It was his third year of using Saxon, and while the first year had helped a lot with his accuracy and consistency, he was starting to burn out on it. Math 76 wasn't working so well for him (perhaps just his learning style) so I began looking around for something else. Then I heard that Teaching Textbooks had just come out with Math 7. After some investigation, we got the CDs (the book wasn't yet available, but TT offered free PDF downloads to customers) and my son started on it.

From the Product Description on the Teaching Textbooks website:

The Math 7 Teaching Textbook™ . . . features automated grading, step-by-step audiovisual solutions, and lectures that contain lively animation and sound effects. Math 7 covers all of basic arithmetic, including fractions, decimals, and percents. The program also teaches a fair amount of geometry (e.g. how to find the area of a circle). Other topics include statistics and probability, simple graphing concepts, equations, and inequalities. There are even several chapters dedicated to math in the real world.

The CDs are available for Windows or Mac, but not Linux. Each chapter presents a topic, broken into several lessons and with a unit test at the end. Each lesson begins with a lecture, which is presented in audio with accompanying text displays. The student may be invited to fill in the answer to a sample problem after being shown an example. After the lecture, there are usually five practice problems on the new topic and twenty mixed practice problems covering both old and new topics. The problems are often amusing and the presentation is clear and easy for the student to follow. I've also been pleased to see "real life" topics such as taxes and stock listings included in the lessons.

The program automatically checks the answers and offers a second chance for arithmetic (not multiple choice or true / false) problems. It then computes a percentage correct for the lesson as a whole, not including the 5 practice problems. Solutions are included for all the problems, so if the student misses it, he can see how it should be done. The automatic grading aspect is a big help, with one caveat, below.

Teaching Textbooks recommends using the following procedure:

view CD lecture
review lecture info in workbook
work out problems in book
enter answers into computer for checking / grading

However, for the most part, we have just used the CDs and my son has worked the problems on scratch paper. He has liked this program much better than the equivalent Saxon 76.

Occasionally, when reviewing with my son, I have found that he can use their method to do something, such as finding the lowest common denominator, but does not understand why the method works. So he became confused, for example, when he went on to multiplying fractions. (In one case, you cancel the excess matching factors, while in the other, you cancel both matching factors. Understanding why you cancel avoids this kind of confusion.) It isn't clear to me whether this is a student issue or a program issue.

One other item I should mention is that the workbook lacks an index, making it tedious to find a particular concept quickly.

Publisher:

Teaching Textbooks

TT advertises their product as not needing any parental assistance, e.g. from their FAQ page:

Q7. Can students work through the program completely on their own with no help from Mom or Dad?

A. Of course! That’s the whole idea behind the Teaching Textbook™.

However, the definition of the associative property as given for both addition and multiplication is wrong. The property described in the book / CD as the "associative property" is actually a combintation of the associative and the commutative properties. Please see my post on Unity of Truth for more details and the correct definitions of the properties.

I find this sort of error to be troubling as I imagine many students and parents would not catch it, especially as the product is billed as self-teaching. TT's response to this concern was less than satisfactory. They wrote:

As for the properties, we have rigorous definitions of the commutative and associative properties in Pre-Alg. and other books. At the Math 7 stage, we feel it is more important for the student to acquire a general understanding of the underlying concepts rather than overwhelm them with technical definitions. That's why we didn't draw a precise distinction between these properties.

I find this surprising as many state standards consider the associative property to be an elementary-school level concept (for example second grade in California). Further, when I checked the Algebra 1 book, I found that the same error is repeated, and in fact expanded on, there. I quote from Lesson 26, page 126:

You already know the rule that two numbers can be added in any order (the commutative property of addition). Well, it turns out that this rule can actually be extended to longer strings of numbers. ... So our new rule is that a string of numbers (however many) can be added in any order. The technical name for this rule is the associative property of addition.

This, unfortunately, is wrong. The associative property is not the commutative property "extended to longer strings of numbers." It is a completely separate and independent property. Nor is it the rule "that a string of numbers (however many) can be added in any order," although it is one of the properties that makes that rule possible.

After the above quote, the book correctly lists the equation defining the associative property, but then goes on to say things like:

That means the expression 3 + x + 4 + 1 can be rearranged any way you want and its value won't change. So 3 + x + 4 + 1 and x + 3 + 4 + 1 and 1 + 4 + 3 + x are all equivalent.

This example concretely shows the confusion on this topic by moving the operands around. This is possible only with the commutative property. The associative property does not allow rearranging of operands. Please see here for more on the commutative and associative properties.

Though these problems have been disappointing, overall, I would still recommend this program.

Binding:

Spiralbound

Number of pages:

588 pages

Additional notes:

Also includes answer key and 4 CD Set

Purchasers of the original CD edition, which contained several errors in the solutions, can exchange them for corrected CDs. Please contact Teaching Textbooks (customerservice@teachingtextbooks.com).

Review Date:

3-13-2007

Reviewed by:

Suchi Myjak

TitleSort:

Math 7: A Teaching Textbook

Math Facts Now!

Subject(s):

Resource Type:

2003

Review:

Advertised as "No Clowns, Trolls or Space Aliens...Just a math program that works!", this program really is just a simple way of drilling math operations. A simple menu allows you to choose your operation, number of problems to solve and how much time to do it in. You can even write in a reward that will be offered when the child achieves at a certain level!

My nine-year-old son really loves this program. He says he likes being able to choose the operation and doing some of his Math without having to write everything out. He basically thinks it's fun time on the computer, but I know that he's learning his math facts too.

Publisher:

Math Facts Now! CD-ROM for Windows 3x

Perspective:

Number of pages:

95 pages

Additional notes:

Windows 3x, 95, 98. ME, XP

Review Date:

2-2-05

Reviewed by:

TitleSort:

Math Facts Now!

Math Memory

A Game of Concentration to Build Math Skills

Subject(s):

Resource Type:

Review:

Creative Toys, 1997, 140 study cardboard cards in a standard game box

This is a fun and well-made math version of the classic Memory game. Instead of finding matching pictures, children match equations with answers. (Equation cards and answer cards look different on the backs so you can select one of each.) The answer cards have a sample equation for each operation printed in the corners. Equations are color-coded according to operation so you can easily sort out ones that you aren't currently focusing on (it's also a little difficult to use all the cards at once - there are so many!)

Review Date:

2-1-05

Reviewed by: