There are some subjects that just make you want to run and hide, and for me, that subject would be mathematics. In previous posts, I mentioned that I believe this is because of a few really poor experiences with my teachers back when I was in school. When we decided to home educate our children, I determined that I would do everything that I could to make math a positive experience for our kids. We have, and continue to, try out all kinds of manipulatives, programs, games and more to enhance our learning. As a member of TOS Homeschool Crew, I was pleased to introduce enVision Math over the past couple of months.
We were given a VERY LARGE workbook geared towards the 1st grade set. Now, I will mention up front, that as I first began paging through this book, that it became clear that this is meant to be used along side other manipulatives, as well as with an online site. It also seems to have been put together with the public school system in mind, so we'll give you a homeschooler's perspective. We were given access to neither, so for the purpose of this review, I will be telling you about our experience with the book alone. Let's get started!
I said before that this is a huge book, and my girls were immediately interested. Open it up and you are greeted with a slew of lovely colorful pages. One of the first aspects that I noticed set enVision Math apart from other textbooks/workbooks, is that each lesson is meant to be pulled out of the book, and then folded into a mini booklet. Now it's time to do the lesson! There are numbers to trace, objects to count, patterns to create, and of course, the adding and subtracting that one would expect to find within a math lesson.
This workbook is great for visual learners, and my 1st grader was no exception. The pages are so colorful and inviting. It also helps that my daughter also loves worksheets!
Having said that, I do have to tell you that there were parts of every lesson that we had to skip, guess what we were supposed to do, or simply wing it. Again, this was due to the fact that we only had the workbook itself. Should you decide to add this to your studies, you will definitely want to get at least the teacher's manual to guide you.How did we like it? Well, what we did have was well received by my daughter, and my kindergartener was very interested as well. She was eager to do the pages every day, and frequently remarked about the "pretty pictures". And for our family, my 1st grader specifically, getting them excited to do math is half the battle ;)
If this sounds like it might be a good fit for your family, go check them out!
* I received a copy of the enVision Math Grade 1 workbook in exchange for my honest review of it, with no additional compensation.
Scott Foresman Addison Wesley enVision Math Grade 1
http://www.pearsonschool.com/
Age: 1st Grade
Price: Student edition alone: $35.00
Check their website for prices of related resources
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My son uses this program in his public school 1st grade class. It is supposed to be a jam-up program if you have all the manipulatives and such (as you mentioned). It's a shame they didn't give you access to all that too.
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ReplyDeleteThanks Alane, I'll be following you back :)
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