Until this vendor came up to review through the Schoolhouse Crew, I had not heard of them before. Perhaps you have. Mr. Rick Fisher is “America’s Math Teacher” and the founder of Math Essentials. He has a passion for math and math education. His results are astounding as well. I am so pleased he shares his method! You can read more about Mr. Fisher, his methods and the products on his website.
He offers products to help children get a good, firm foundation in the essentials of math – getting ready for algebra and beyond. These products include shorter books focusing on practice for specific areas of math ($11.95 ea) – geometry, fractions, decimals & percents, whole numbers & integers, problem solving (word problems) and The Mastering Essential Math Skills books are more in depth with some instruction available via DVDs ($33.95 for book+DVD). There are two of these books. Book 1 recommended for 4th or 5th graders. Book 2 covers much the same information and can be used to follow Book 1 or instead of Book 1 with an older student (or adult). Completing these books would have a learner ready to tackle algebra. Or you feel your learner needs more practice or maturity, there is a Pre-Algebra Concepts book. Recently, he has also created an algebra program that is a full curriculum. You may order these directly from the Math Essentials website (where you can also see sample pages from each book).
I chose to work through Mastering Essential Math Skills with my 5th grader who has never liked math. She understands the basics at the time we work on a lesson, but it never seems to stick with her. She also gets very anxious and weary over lengthy work pages and lessons. Each lesson is only 1 page of problems to practice. The pages have review, speed drills (love how these are set up!) and practice on the new things learned followed by problem solving (a story problem). The lessons on the DVD are great for her to be more independent in her work. There is also the advantage of stopping while she works out the problem or backing up to go over something again. She also seems to understand Mr. Fisher’s way of explaining things much better than mine. 🙂 The lessons are short, even for my slower worker. 20 minutes a day is what is advertised. M would finish in about 30 – and sometimes ask to do more. This alone makes me love Math Essentials. I plan to continue this as her curriculum and when she finishes book 1 will continue right into book 2.
These smaller books (fewer pages – 80 in the geometry) focus on specific skills to master. I chose the geometry book. The geometry skills are not high school level, but what would be needed from elementary grades to be ready for algebra and high school level geometry. There are no proofs, but thorough understanding of elementary geometry – lines, angles, perimeter, area, circumference, and volume. These books do not have the DVD instruction, but plenty of practice and helpful hints (to jog your own memory). These pages are set up in a similar manner as our bigger book. Review problems then new teaching. The end of every page has a word problem (problem solver). There is an exam at the end and helpful solutions for all of the problems. There is also a handy glossary at the back. I plan to incorporate this throughout our school year with our regular curriculum (which is very relaxed and student directed) for my three eldest girls (working at 4th and 6th grades). We have not done a lot with formal geometry so this will help fill in the gaps of my scattered approach.
There are many reviews from fellow Schoolhouse Crew members that you can read from the blog.
Disclaimer: As a member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew, I received the above mentioned books at no charge for the purpose of review. I was not required to write a positive review; all opinions expressed are my own (or my children’s).