Inside: Do you have a kids that need help with math? I found a great resource to help students remember foundational math skills through simple daily practice.

Some Students Just Need Help with Math

Do you have a student who doesn’t retain the necessary math skills from one year to the next? Do you feel like it is hard to move forward when there are foundational skills that need to be mastered? Sometimes students need help with math.

At times, it may be severe enough your child requires a tutor to help him understand specific skills that aren’t sinking in. But a lot of times, he only needs review and practice to reinforce these concepts so he’ll retain them.

Without all the proper building blocks in place, it’s hard to build a strong base for higher level math skills that will follow in upper grades.

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Quick but Effective

I love when I find materials that can solve a problem quickly and effectively. Daily Mental Math is one of those products.

It is a series of workbooks for grades 2-10, that does a fantastic job of teaching and/or reinforcing essential math skills. In addition, your child will develop better concentration while doing mental computation and learn strategies for solving problems.

How It Works

Each book has daily drills that cover 40 weeks of lessons. The new concepts are introduced at the beginning of the week and then reviewed throughout that week’s exercises but continue on throughout the book. This series is split into three levels.

The Different Level

Early grades (2-3): The lessons in second and third grade are five days a week with 10 problems each day. It covers basic math computation like addition, subtraction, and multiplication. It also reinforces skills such as perimeter, area, measurement, shapes, patterns, and much more.

Middle grades (4-7): Students at this level complete drills four days a week with 20 problems each and then have a quiz on Fridays, which is found in the back of the book. Concepts such as double-digit addition, advanced time, multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, geometry, and more are covered.

Higher grades (8-10): These students complete exercises four days a week with 20 problems each and also take a quiz on Fridays. The higher grades cover problem-solving, pre-algebra concepts, Roman numerals, percentages, geometry, advanced measurement, and more. The difficulty increases as they progresses through the year.

The daily problems only take about 5-15 minutes to do depending on the grade level. There’s a page in the back to record his scores and keep track of progress. This helps identify areas he’s struggling with and needs more practice.

The lower levels have a space for self-assessment where the student can graph his scores or circle an emoji face showing how he feels about that day’s results.  

Each book has reference charts in the back, which are a great tool. The student can refer to these when he needs help. Answer keys are sold separately and they contain some extra tips for the teacher or parent on how to best use the book and give strategies for mental math.

Great Value

This series is very reasonable at $8-9 each for the workbooks and $6 for the answer keys, but they’re even cheaper if you use my link below and purchase through Christian Book Distributors.

My Experience

I have used these books for several years and really like them. I buy them a grade level lower than each of my children are in, so they are practicing skills that have already been taught, not what they’re learning that year.

It helps to strengthen any weak areas and prevents further loss by keeping old skills fresh in their minds while moving on to new concepts. None of my kids have minded doing this extra math each day because it really does only take about 5-15 minutes.

Practice Makes Better

Here is a video talking about how everyone is capable of becoming better (notice I didn’t say perfect) at math. People who practice more perform better than those that don’t. Simple as that! Maybe not quite that simple, but you get where I am going.

If you need help with math and are looking for something that won’t add a lot of time to your child’s day but does a great job of strengthening the skills needed for a solid foundation, this may be the answer.

This program is well written, packs a good punch for the little time it takes, and is going to give the extra practice needed to increase your child’s abilities.  

Click on the picture below to purchase Daily Mental Math at a discount from Christainbook Distributors.

Do any of your children struggle to remember concepts in math? What have you tried?