As a homeschooling mother of three I am always looking for inexpensive but effective ways to homeschool my three children.
While I have been homeschooling from the beginning, my oldest is now 11, it still seems that every year is a new adventure.
Which curriculum will I use this year?
Will I use the same curriculum I used last year?
As I thought about the answers to these questions, I started to focus in on my 8 year old. I took a very laid back approach with her since I have been trying to follow the “Better Late than Early” philosophy by Dr. Raymond Moore. His approach advocates that you don’t subject your children to formal, scheduled study before age 8 to 10 or 12, whether they can read or not. You can read more about his formula here.
We go to the library weekly and I try to read to them; however, not as often as I should. Math has been just the basics with an abacus.
Now that she is 8 I decided to scope out some curriculum to help us with some structure.
This is when I was given the opportunity to review Evan-Moor’s Math Fundamentals Grade 3.
There are several benefits to this program.
First, there are Math Models for every lesson.
The math model example tells the parent what to say to the child, shows a picture of it and then it allows the child to create their own model either on paper or using manipulatives like counters if you have them. This helps your child to truly understand the concept.
I must say that I was a little taken aback when I saw the models. I thought the workbook would be full of problems to complete like a regular worksheet. In my mind I had envisioned just giving her the workbook and letting her complete it on her own. This is not the case with Math Fundamentals. Math Fundamentals seems to be focused on helping the students get the concept, which is a good thing.
The second benefit to this program is that it is correlated to current standards.
As a homeschool parent I often wonder how my children would measure up to peers their own age. Math Fundamentals takes all the mystery out of it by aligning the workbook to standards and placing them at the bottom of every page.
The final benefit to this program is the Suggested Teaching Path.
I should have paid attention to page 8 when I first opened the workbook, so a word to the wise, don’t skip the intro section! The book is not presented in teaching order which can be confusing. For example, it is suggested you start with Multidigit Arithmetic which doesn’t occur until page 63, then go to Solve Problems with Multiplication and Division on page 11, Use Properties of Multiplication and Division page 29, Multiply and Divide within 100 on page 39, jumping to Perform Multidigit Arithmetic page 77 and back to Solve Problems and Identify Patterns on page 49. Thankfully the Suggested Teaching Path explains all of this, but if you skipped this section like I did initially it can be frustrating.
There is an answer key included at the end of this workbook to make sure your child gets the correct answer. Evan-Moor’s Math Fundamentals are available for students in grades 1 – 6.
What’s the verdict?
If I were Siskel & Ebert Evan-Moor’s Math Fundamentals Grade 3 would get three thumbs up, one thumb down (They have two hands each right 😊). The thumbs down because I would like more problems for them to practice to ensure that my child understood the concept. Three or five problems for one concept just doesn’t seem like enough practice for me. I would want to explore what else Evan-Moor had to offer in terms of practicing a specific skill.
