Review In A Nutshell:
Title: Math Pack

Author: Katherine Koonce & Susan Simpson / Common Sense Press

Overall Rating (1-10): 7

Value (1-10): 7

Flexibility (1-10): 10

Ages/Grades: K-6+

Review:

The Math Pack comes in a sturdy plastic backpack which is exactly what so many Homeschooling (and carschooling) families need! This already gives my busy family an advantage over other materials with manipulatives that quickly get lost in the mess we call our learning environment! The backpack is small and sturdy enough to be carried by the youngest of homeschoolers. If you are a little swayed by good packaging, as I am, you will love the math pack.

But there is more to a good math supplement than packaging, obviously. What is inside the bag is the essence of the program. The Math Pack comes with reproducible activities, math blocks and dice along with a 68-page manual to guide the parent.

I have to say, up front, that if you are looking for an all-inclusive math program, this isn’t it. It’s a supplement and that’s all it claims to be. If your child is a kinesthetic learner, this is a supplement that can be used to enhance your regular math curriculum. Especially for the upper elementary grades when supplements are often faded out, Math Blocks can be incorporated in for students who still learn well with them. My children found the Math Pack to be a really fun way to learn Math. The book was easy to use as a parent and easy to catch on to for the children in my family. The manipulatives required few additional household items – just some graph paper and colored pencils. The guide book is broken down into three sections. In section one, parents and students are guided through an introduction to using Math Sense Building Blocks. This introduction is for all levels. Section two is for Kindergarten through Third Grade level and includes activities with patterns, addition and subtraction, place value, multiplication and division and more. The third section is for grades four through six and up. Multiplication, division, problem solving, fractions, geometry and algebra concepts are covered.

I do have to say that the book is incredibly short. It is a 68 page book that covers 7 or more grade levels! There is basically just a few activities for each of the major concept areas covered. It isn’t enough! Math Pack retails for about $38 which is a little steep. I feel like you are paying for the backpack and I’d rather ditch the backpack and get a more substantial manual. I would love a big thick book full of activities for each grade level. I found the need to take the activities and expand upon them in order to provide more than a few days’ use on any given concept. But, again, it is not meant to be a curriculum in and of itself. Used along side your regular curriculum, it provides an excellent kinesthetic addition to many of the more difficult concepts presented in math.

Bottom Line: This is a great addition to your ordinary math curriculum. It is also a great tool for unschoolers to have at hand. The cost is a little steep for what you get, but the backpack is cool, the blocks are great for kinesthetic learners and the ideas span 7 grades. This is definitely something we will hang on to and pull out over the years.

Buy Now: Math Pack