As a busy, working, homeschooling mother of three I am always looking for inexpensive but effective ways to homeschool my three children. 

This year my youngest, who is 6 years old, has finally made it to the “big leagues”! 

He has been begging for work which looks more like his older siblings but I have been hold back with him since I’ve adopted 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. 

Since my youngest is not 8 yet, I didn’t want to push him too much.  We have been counting aloud to 120 by tens and by ones and I would be content with that but he alas is not.

Since I was scoping out curriculum for my eight year old I decided why not check out the curriculum for him too.  I’m happy I did.

I was given the opportunity to review Evan-Moor’s Math Fundamentals Grade 1. 

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.   Based on my philosophy of learning, I think this is ideal for my six year old because he is not bogged down by worksheets.  It’s a simple teach and go.  Math Fundamentals is focused on helping the students get the concept. 

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. 

Pay close attention to page 8 when you first open the workbook, 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 Counting and Number Sequence on page 83, then jump to add and subtract within 20 on page 51 back to Equivalency and Unknown Numbers on page 73, to Place Value on pages 103 and 119 all the way back to Operations and Number Relationships on page 37 and Word Problems on page 11 to name a few.  Thankfully the Suggested Teaching Path explains all of this, but if you skipped this section 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 1 would get four thumbs up (They have two hands each right 😊).  It has the right amount of problems for emerging learners. Since I don’t want to tax his young mind, three-five problems at his age was perfect. Great job Evan-Moor!