The Verbal Math Lesson Books 1 - 3 Review and Giveaway

Do you remember when I did the review (and giveaway) for The Reading Lesson? This program was truly a sanity saver with teaching my daughter how to read. Using it, we were no longer butting heads and she was understanding it and reading it. I was proud of her and she was proud of herself.

Now, these same folks have come up with The Verbal Math Lesson, and I am hoping it can be the same sort of sanity saver as The Reading Lesson was. 

The Verbal Math Lesson consist of three books and were written by Michael Levin, M.D. and Charan Langton, M.S.

They are broken down into the following age groups:

Book 1: Ages 5-7
Book 2: Ages 7-8
Book 3: Ages 8-10.

We have been working with Book 1 for a few months now and we are taking it slow for both her benefit and my benefit (as this is our first year homeschooling). 

The book says "It's a fun, step-by-step way to learn math without any writing." "Learn math verbally as a game with quizzes and word problems, no dreary worksheets."

After seeing what common core is all about and how they have raised the difficulty in doing even simple math, I was all about teaching (and probably even learning a bit myself) math verbally to my child. No pressure of worksheets, no stress, all verbal. I was at least hoping for no stress or tears.

Each book explains on who is ready for this course. For book 1 your child should be able to count to 100 and recognize the numbers they see. They should also be able to understand the concepts of things like: same as, more than, less than and equal to. Finally, being able to tell the difference between right and left will also help.

As I have mentioned. We have been taking it slow. After doing many worksheets and such, trying to get her in the frame of mind to do things verbally has been challenging. There are days that she really gets it and other days that we have to put it down and go back to it later. It even advises you to do short periods of practice and it will all depend on your child. Says that most children can easily do 20-30 a day, but if they have problems with the exercises that you should go back the next day and do them again. Good philosophy to have as I think that the more practice they have, the more understanding they get and then the more confident that the child feels.

Examples of problem in book 1:

Chapter 2:

1. Count up to 5, forwards and backwards.
2. Count forwards and backwards from 4-10.
3. Count fords from 20 to 30.

These are the type of verbal exercises that are early in the book.

Later in book 1:

Chapter 12

1. How much do you add to 9 to make 13?
2. How much do you add to 3 to make 13?

Oh and don't worry, if you need help for any of the exercises the answers are provided.

Review:

I love how the books are laid out. Obviously, we are still in Book 1 and will be there for while and will probably continue into the next school year for her before we move on as I want to make sure she can grasp the concepts. 

All the exercises are straight forward and to the point, and as mentioned, the answers are also provided.  Easy to understand what is being asked by both the student and the teacher. 

I'm not ashamed to admit that we have had to repeat lessons and have gotten stuck on some of the exercises as sometimes she has a hard time understanding certain math concepts, but she has come a way since we have started it. She doesn't hate math and she doesn't go and hide in the corner when I break our book 1 out. I would recommend that you stay on a little schedule with doing the exercises. Do a handful a day. Don't just try to whip right through the exercises and repeat repeat repeat if you have to. Do it for your child, there is no shame in repeating lessons. Have fun with it and make it fun for your child. They will enjoy it more. 

If your child is struggling with math (or that lovely new math), I would recommend checking out these books. They are great for refreshers or if you are a homeschooler like we are, great for teaching math without paper and pencil and stress.

You can purchase these books (print form) for $29.99 for the set.

Many thanks to Nina and the wonderful folks at The Reading Lesson for asking us to do this review of The Verbal Math Lesson. 

Please check out these folks on facebook:

The Reading Lesson
The Verbal Math Lesson

Disclaimer: I received no monetary compensation for this posting/review. However, I did receive the complete set, free of charge so that we could carry out a proper product review on it for our readers.

Now, the folks at The Reading Lesson have offered our readers a chance to win a complete set of The Verbal Math Lesson. Wouldn't you love to win it?  To enter, just check out the rafflecopter entry below.

Rules: Giveaway will end on: February 3, 2015 at 11:59 p.m. and is open to residents of the US who are 18+. Only one entrant per household please. Winner will have 48 hours to respond to winning email with requested information. Lollipops n' Ladybugs will forward winner's information to the sponsor for shipment of prize.



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