Addition the Fun Way Addition Kit by City Creek Press
We were privileged to review City Creek Press earlier this school year and their Online Times Alive program. We were so impressed with how well this worked that they blessed us with Addition the Fun Way Student Addition Kit! Not only was I able to use this with my 4 and 8 year olds but my 10 year old benefited from it alsoπ.
This was a physical book, workbook and flashcards. There is also a digital version available for download making this super handy for all family sizes. Its very budget friendly and all the materials are good quality so they hold up to lots of use. This was good because honestly my kids really liked this program and my 4 and 8 year old frequently looked at it on their own.
Addition the Fun Way is setup so your kids learn by imprinting pictures and stories in their minds. Each number from 3-14 are a unique character and 1 and 2 are pictured as climbing stairs. For example if you are on step 1 and you climb 1 stair you have 1+1=2 and if you are adding 2 you are really climbing stairs fast and stretch out to climb 2 at once so 1+2=3. These are actually illustrated with the stairs.
These are the characters as follows: 3 π Bee, 4 πͺ Door, 5 π Drives, 6 π· Sick, 7th Street, 8 Gate, 9 Sign, 10 Fix-it Men, 11 Popsicle, 12 Dozen, 13 Friday, 14 For the King. These might sound funny or even silly but they work FANTASTIC! All three of my older kids memorized these without any trouble and my 10 year old who had always struggled with mixing up 8 and 9 was able to finally get it!
So of course not only are the numbers able to be easily memorized but the actual problems are too. Each one has a short, funny story to put memory hooks into your children’s minds. According to everything I’ve learned about right brain learning this is of absolute necessity. But even if your child is technically a right brain learner it just makes it so much easier for them to learn! What’s not to love about that?
Its funny to hear my kids randomly mention the “9 Sign” or “3 Bee” as they all just really clicked with this form of learning!
I would read each lesson or have my 10 year old read the lessons aloud (for reading and math practice). Then i would ask my kids to retell the story and corresponding problems/answers. This method worked great! The workbook has tons of problems to practice on also.
Do I recommend Addition the Fun Way?
I think this program is EXCELLENT and helps establish a firm math basis but it has another benefit: the kids learn from an early age to love not dread math. How amazing is that??
I have been very pleased with both programs we reviewed from City Creek Press and highly recommend them to my homeschooling friends. They’re very parent friendly and student friendly. How can you go wrong with that!