Honest Thoughts About All About Math [All About Math Review]
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I really didn’t think I would be this excited about a math curriculum, but here we are. If you’ve read my blog or read about our reading journey, you know how much I love All About Reading. I finished it with my then 3-year-old a little over a year ago. Then, last year, when looking for a math curriculum, I was dreaming about the same type of curriculum for math. In fact, I spent lots of time on Reddit forums after searching “All About Reading for math.”
We are a part Montessori family, but I am not wed to it for everything. For reading, I was aware it had some gaps. Last year, we did the Montessori math sequence and absolutely loved it. I find Montessori math very magical, but I was looking for a more open-and-go, scripted type curriculum to go along with it. My son does return to the Montessori materials sometimes, but he also craves more novelty and the challenge of games that shift regularly. In genral, he does not thrive on repetition as much as many children. He would master materials quickly and not be interested in returning. In addition to Montessori math, we used Math With Confidence Kindergarten last year. It was lovely, but a little slow for my son.
This year, All About Math came out! Initially, it was just level 1, which my son was beyond, but then, near the beginning of the school year, level 2 came out. I had already chosen a different curriculum, but decided to shift gears. My only regret is that level 1 was not out a year ago! My son begs to do the math games every day. He tells everyone how much he loves math. Every day, as we start our day, he asks what the “theme” will be today because of the All About Math themes. He is learning so much and moving quickly into abstraction of multiple concepts, which I wasn’t seeing as quickly previously.
All About Math is incredibly hands-on, games-based, and unique, but it also isn’t for everyone. I am going to share why we love it, and then some reasons it might not be the best choice for someone else.
Why we love All About Math
First, a bit about why we love All About Math. All About Math is absolutely filled with games and devoid of worksheets. This makes math hands-on and fun. If you are familiar with All About Reading, the games are very similar. If you’re not, they tend to be simple games that focus on the math concept but in a way that makes it more of a connecting and fun experience. It is similar to what I always seek to do when introducing Montessori materials, but it is all laid out for me. The games are all included in the student packet, which means there is no gathering of random household objects. I personally love this. I cut out all the pieces, we play, and I save the games. I put each lesson into a plastic sleeve so I will be able to pull out the same materials for my next child.
I love that worksheets are not part of the curriculum. The lack of worksheets is wonderful if you have a child who is more advanced at math but is still very young. While my son does like worksheets as well, a year ago, when he was ready for more math, worksheets were not a good option because of his pencil control. Now, since he does like them, I include some Singapore Dimensions worksheets. These are not the focus for us, but they have been a good addition to our math curriculum picks. I firmly do not believe worksheets are the best way to learn math, and I love that All About Math offers an open-and-go math curriculum that doesn’t use them. Overall, I’m not a fan of worksheets, but especially if you are looking for a curriculum for a younger child who is advanced in math, this is the top choice in my mind, simply because there are no worksheets.
The scope of All About Math is very unique, at least from what I can see. I believe part of this is because it does not conform to Common Core standards. I mentioned Singapore Dimensions earlier. It does conform to Common Core, and while I do find that it goes deeper than other curricula, it is limited by that. All About Math has its own scope. This means it moves into bigger numbers more quickly. It does not move at the speed into bigger numbers that Montessori Math does, where numbers to 9,999 are introduced in primary, but it moves beyond 0-10 more quickly. I find the speed All About Math moves was the perfect speed to allow my son to move toward abstraction before another concept was introduced. Not every child will necessarily move to abstraction that quickly, though, and All About Math does not expect that. I have noticed less emphasis on shapes than in Singapore, which is my one complaint about the scope.
All About Math places a huge emphasis on word problems. Nearly every problem is a word problem. There are some equations to solve as well, mostly in games, but most of the time, the child comes up with the equation themselves from the word problem. Beyond the simple fun of the games, this is probably my favorite part. This prevents simply memorizing numbers but has children apply what they are learning. Children have to listen to the numbers and figure out how to put those numbers together to solve the problem. This shows higher-level thinking. Additionally, we’ve all been in a class where a child asked, “When will we ever use this?” I love that word problems show real-life applications. Each lesson has a different theme to keep things interesting. The word problems align with the theme. Every day, my son excitedly asks what the next theme will be.
Why All About Math may not be for you
I have made it pretty clear I adore All About Math, but now for some disclaimers of why it may not be for you.
All About Math is pricey. We used Math With Confidence last year, and there is a huge price differential. I bought the manipulatives through All About Math, which adds to the cost. You definitely can source them elsewhere, but this just felt easier for me, especially since I was switching last minute. In retrospect, I probably would have sourced my own. I think I also would have stuck with the Montessori golden beads in lieu of the base 10 blocks included. There is no particular reason for that other than we had been using them for months, and he prefers them. I do save all the activities, so I will not have to rebuy new ones for my future children. That probably should be a blog post in itself, but I have a binder for each level of All About Reading and am now doing the same for math and spelling! I never have my son write on paper or glue things on. If it says to glue, we just place and if it says to write, we put it in a sleeve protector and use dry-erase.
If you are looking for a curriculum your child can do independently or semi-independently, this is not for you. All About Math is very parent-intensive. They recommend 20 minutes a day of teaching math. During that time, you are fully on and involved with the learning. Most of the lessons have a new teaching portion, then an activity or two. The activities are games that you play with your child. I can go on and on about why I love this method, but it is a dealbreaker if you want to teach a lesson, then let them do the rest alone. Personally, I love pairing with Montessori math, which has many more opportunities for independent work after the initial lesson. This means my son can work on math there without me, but this is not necessary. All About Math offers plenty itself. It is scripted and open and go, so you don’t have to prepare much in advance (see below for a picture of a prep page!), but it does require active teaching.
All About Math is unclear about grade levels and scope throughout the year. For us this hasn’t been an issue, but if you plan to go between traditional schooling and homeschool, this could be more of an issue. I mentioned the scope and sequence is a bit different, but it goes beyond that. There are 5 levels of All About Math, but none of them are grade levels. They suggest level one is mostly Kindergarten and some of First Grade. Level 2 is the rest of First Grade and Second Grade and then the levels after become somewhat aligned with the grade level (3 for 3rd grade, 4 for 4th, 5 for 5th). However, this is not a one-to-one correspondence. We have been doing level 2 alongside some Singapore Dimensions First Grade work (because my son likes having the worksheets), and so far, All About Math is moving faster than Singapore. We are on lesson 22 of All About Math (so not yet halfway through), and I had to pull out the 1B workbook to find aligned work. That aligns with their claims about grade level, but I cannot speak to how that continues. As I mentioned previously, there is not as much work on shapes in All About Math as in some other curricula, though I assume that will appear in later levels.
The actual planning of a year of lessons also isn’t clearly laid out. This can be a good thing, as children do learn at different paces. We cannot expect every child to grasp each concept at the same speed. In fact, this slow speed was one of my issues with Math With Confidence that we did last year. However, this can be a bit stressful as you navigate fitting a level of math alongside a school year. Level 2 is 58 lessons. They do not expect you to finish a lesson a day; in fact, they say that some lessons could take a full week. Assuming a 180-day schedule, you want a lesson on average about every 3 days. Some will take longer, some shorter. Instead of going by lessons per day, they advise spending 20 minutes on math and then picking up again the next day. If you do year-round schooling, most lessons could take you a week, and it wouldn’t be an issue! We do not time our lessons, and I truly do not know how much we pass the 20-minute mark. It has just never been helpful for us to time it. We stop when it feels right. Personally, we’ve found that a lesson is rarely done in one day, despite him grasping these concepts we’ve covered so far very quickly. When we did All About Reading, we usually did a full lesson a day, leading us to finish the full program quite quickly. All About Math, however, has two and sometimes three activities/games per lesson. We usually do one activity or game a day. Most lessons take us 2-3 days because of that. You could skip activities if your child has already grasped the concept, but one thing my son loves about All About Math is the activities! That said, at less than two months into the school year, we are on lesson 21 of 58, so we are more than on track to finish during the school year.
If you have been interested in All About Math, I hope this review is helpful! We have truly loved it. It is not the best pick for everyone, for the reasons I discussed, but, I do believe it is the ideal pick for others. I am happy to answer any other questions you may have.
