{Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.}
You know that we love improving Math Skills in our home and homeschool so we were thrilled to review Mastering Essential Math Skills Book 2 Middle Grades/High School from Math Essentials.
Our Math Book
This program is designed to be used daily. Each lesson will take ~ 20 minutes. What makes this math book different from others is its unique approach.
A close up of a worksheet
Every lesson is divided into 5 key parts: two speed drills, review exercises, teacher tips or helpful hints section, a section with new material, and a daily word problem. That's every lesson in a nutshell. These concise, easy-to-follow lessons help students not only master their math skills but maintain and reinforce those skills with consistent review. Topics in our book include whole numbers, fractions, decimals, percentages, integers, geometry, charts and graphs, and problem solving.
We love the speed drills!
For speed drills, students are given two circles, see above. They are given a number to place in the center of their first circle and as quickly as possible they are to write all the sums in the appropriate space outside the perimeter of their circle. This process is repeated with the second circle only instead of addition, they will use multiplication. I just think this is so fun.
Access to online videos
Above you can see the first video lesson for our book.
The lessons that we have watched so far range from ~ 5-10 minutes. I think they are great, especially for students who might need some extra help or are not completely understanding concepts.
I am tearing our worksheets out of our book because I think they are easier to use this way.
How are we using this book? I have several kids that are in the appropriate age range for this book. I am currently assigning various worksheets to be completed by B and C, trading off. They are both strong in math so this is working well. I really like how this program is set up and it's easy to get into a rhythm. We plan to take a few months off in the summer and start back up again in the Fall until our book is complete. My goal is to help increase their math confidence and help with any math weaknesses or confusion that we find along the way! I'm thankful to have a program that helps me do that.
B working on her assigned worksheet.
C working on his assigned worksheet.
There is an answer key in the back of our book that makes grading easy.
The back of our book also has a great math glossary.
As well as other fun charts like the one above on important math symbols.
I would say that this book starts off simple and progressively gets harder. While I think it is helpful to start at the beginning of the book and work your way through like we are currently doing, you wouldn't have to. You could skip to a particular section and complete it independently. I just want to mention this.
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