Category Archives: Math Essentials

(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.)

I have always been intimidated at the thought of teaching Math to my children so I was excited to be offered  Mastering Essential Math Skills Book 2 Middle Grades/High Schoolfor my family’s review from Math Essentials.

Please let me tell you about Mastering Essential Math Skills Book Two. This is a very nice work text. Sturdy, with a nice glossy cover. This book is 158 pages, eight chapters, plus the teacher answers in the book.

The eight chapters cover:

• Whole Numbers
• Fractions
• Decimals
• Percent
• Geometry
• Integers
• Charts and Graphs
• Word Problems

Ath the end, there is a Final Review Section and an answer section. Note: I’d love to see the answers in a separate book, bundled with the work text. Ask me why!

There is also a Resource Section which has a glossery, an Inportant Symbols page, and several charts.

This book, as well as the other books being reviewed by Review Crew families includes online, video lessions to take you all the way through. The courses are taught by Rick Fisher, a Math instructor for  over 31 years within the Oak Grove School District in San Jose, California. His sixth grade students would regularly bypass the seventh grade math program and move directly to a high-powered eighth grade algebra program. The videos are password protected, and you must have to book to get in. For “The Artist,” this was very helpful. A number of times, he really needed them to “get it.” In twenty minutes or so per day, a student can easily refresh skills they have forgotten, or if they are just learning these concepts, these lessons will help the student to better succeed.

Each day “The Artist” watched the video for the lesson, and then do hus book work.

Having just realized he wasn’t doing the review problems, I told him that was going to change. I had been letting him self direct, but between that and the answer section, I think either his dad or I will be needing to do something at the table during Math time! This is what he’s going to see, if he tries looking in the back again!

Neither myy son “The Artist” or I care much for  Math, but he had gone through the No-Nonsense Algebra book from Math Essentials during an earlier review and I went through Math Refresher for Adults. Both of us really learned using them. When I offered him the opportunity to be the student for this review, he happily said that he would. and I had gone through the Math Refresher for Adults. You can check out those reviews here.

Please click the banner below to see what 53 other Review Crew families think about this and two other books from Math Essentials!

As always, I would just love it if you would join me in all of “My Journeys Through Life.” Just go to the subscription box at the top of the blog and enter your email information. After that, you will always know when there is something new happening. I hope to see you here very soon! -)

If you (like me) have always hated math, or if you simply have forgotten a lot of what you learned and need to brush up on your Math skills, Math Refresher for Adults from Math Essentials  is a great way to regain those skills!

I was excited at the possibility of reviewing this book, because as I stated above, I’ve had a very long time dislike of Math. My husband is very good at Math, my best friend is good at Math, but I am Math challenged. I had a very bad teacher in junior high school, and have hated it ever since. In fact, when I found out that I only needed one Math class in high school to graduate, I got it out of the way the first year and never looked back!

I don’t want my kids to be math-phobic, so I thought if nothing else, it would be a good example if they were to see my at least TRYING to learn math.

Math Refresher for Adults has so much to offer! There are textbook and video (online) lessons in a variety of topics such as:

1. Whole numbers, including addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
2. Fractions, including mixed numbers and basic operations.
3. Decimals, including how to change fractions to decimals and decimals to fractions.
4. Percentages.
5. Geometry.
6. Word Problems.
7. Pre-Algebra.
8. Algebra.

And other topics, too!

For the record, it was an Algebra class where the teacher turned me right off of math. And I hate, hate, hate word problems! Math Essentials understands that hate (stumbling block) and instead of calling them word problems, labels them “problem solving.”

The way that Math Refresher for Adults is set up, you could, if you wanted to, just begin at the beginning and work straight through. Or if you are using it to help you to work with your child (homeschooling or helping with homework, for example) you could simply use it as a topical reference. In the latter case, simply look up the topic where the student needs help, and watch the video for tat topic together, working right along with the teacher in the video. Easy peasy!

In my case, I am going to different topics, areas in which I KNOW I need help. In doing so, I’m finding that for years, I have relied solely on calculators for just about every single math operation I needed to do. Now, I really don’t see any problem with my doing so, but it doesn’t really help when it comes to my kids needing some aid in learning a particular area of math.

I have four boys at vastly different ability levels when it comes to math, and I believe this book will help me with the boys. I have two boys at a very early elementary level, one at maybe mid elementary level, and one who worked on No-Nonsense Algebra from Math Essentials last summer, and was very happy when the videos helped him!

We are so far, extremely happy with our experiences with this company!

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As always, I would just love it if you would join me in all of “My Journeys Through Life.” Just go to the subscription box at the top of the blog and enter your email information. After that, you will always know when there is something new happening. I hope to see you here very soon! -)