Pre-Algebra Concepts

For those of you who pulled your children out of the institution's to homeschool looking for an amazing Pre-Algebra math book, THIS IS IT! In fact, the company Math Essentials by Richard W. Fisher has multiple math books available and we have just about every book. My daughter has absorbed this math so quickly and easily. She has become a math whiz. The way Richard lays out the review exercises on each page keeps their brains fresh from the previous days math lesson so they don't forget. The amount of problems is NOT overwhelming at all and straight to the point. His 4 minute free videos on each lesson are SOOOO easy to understand, he's very clear, and helpful in explaining all scenarios of the problems you may work through. I have actually spoken on the phone with Richard recently and this man was incredibly kind, genuine, and you can tell he put his heart and soul into these books. In fact, being a 41 year old mom homeschooling for the last two years, I finally know how to do math better as an adult than ever before because of his books!!! I HIGHLY recommend ALL of them. They are worth every penny and the best part: NO COMMON CORE GARBAGE! It's solving math simply and easily....the way it should be. No more Bill Gates brainwash.

I am homeschooling my kiddo for 2 subjects and this series of books is the best! We were doing Saxon math and while I loved the constant review and learning lots of things, I felt that he wasn't getting a solid grasp of each concept because there wasn't enough practice on the daily lesson. This program gives 12 problems for each concept, 2 to do together and 10 to practice on their own, plus 6 review problems of previous concepts and always 1 word problem. I love it! We watch the video of the lesson, I walk him through the first practice problem, I have him talk through the second one and then I let him go. After he is done I quickly check the answers, which are in the back, and can see if he got it. If not we rewatch the video and try again the next day. If he has it I can see immediately and we move on! No more hours of homework and pulling teeth!

I would give this 5 stars EXCEPT I'm finding wrong answers throughout the book. For example on page 66, #3 on the top, #9 on the bottom and the word problem are all incorrect on the answer sheet. Then on page 66 there are answers for 1-10 on the answer sheet in the back but only 8 word problems to do.

An excellent math workbook. The explanations are obvious. my 8th grade son loves it

My son is behind in math and is using this to catch up quickly. I have used it in the past with another child and a friend who is a tutor uses this curriculum for the same purpose. It is perfect for catching a kid up quickly. The videos help a lot.

I have successfully homeschooled one son, who is now in college and on the dean’s list- this is to point out that I am a pretty good judge of education materials. When it comes to curriculum we have tried all the secular options. My 12 year old is good at math, but most curriculum are overly convoluted and assume both parent and student are coming from a place of math hatred or fear. Math essentials is the opposite! Concise and not bogged down in unnecessary fluff. Each lesson is clearly laid out and there are free online videos available if needed. I especially like the review section each day- enough to solidify concepts without being too much. Highly recommend!

I picked this title up to brush up my pre-algebra skills for a college placement test and it went really fast but I gave it a low rating because the typos in this book are incredible - I can't believe an average level proof reader didn't catch the mistakes in the answers - if I were more faint of heart, I would be totally confused. The mistakes are needless - answer 9 instead of 19, n being referenced in an equation that only involved x, just silly stuff. I would not recommend this if your math skills are not pretty fresh or your confidence level strong enough so that you know the answer you got is right and the answer key has a typo almost every other page. All in all, even with those misgivings, I was pretty impressed that my review went that quickly - knocked off the book in about 5 days of casual test reviews while watching tv. Much credit must be given to the author's simplicity of teaching methodology - putting a simple rule out there, show how it works, then ask the reader to work on several (average 17) problems on that rule. THen check yourself on the answer key and move on. The last time I did math was 40 years ago but it came back lickity split. Though I still have no clue why we needed to know all that stuff but I guess I didnt' go into a science profession but my husband who did, feels the same way. But like a good Jeopardy program, this book can be taken lightly for a quick refresher, warts and all, just to test yourself and get some understanding of where you are on pre-algebra. It doesn't hurt to stay one step ahead of my kid to keep him impressed. And its never too late to go back to college to pursue an in-demand as opposed to esoteric profession of starry eyed youth. Money pays the bills and boring but practical, in demand careers should never be underestimated.

As a veteran homeschool mom with a strong math background, I’m loving this workbook. It covers the basics my son needs to shore up before algebra. Explanations are clear. Lessons are bite-sized - important to not bore kids. Each lesson contains a brief review. Answers are in the back for quick correcting (I removed for security.) If you're a teacher who needs elaborate explanations or long pages of problems, this might not be for you. But I'm enjoying this author and considering more of his works in the future.