All About Math Review
Unlike All About Reading levels 1-4, I have not taught All About Math at the time of this review. This is a detailed review based on my analysis of this curriculum (which I purchased with my own money). Here I go through each part of the program and give you my thoughts as a homeschool mom and former elementary teacher.
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I’ve used Math with Confidence with my two boys over the past couple of years along with All About Reading and found they complimented each other nicely. So, I am excited to find another awesome hands-on math program to recommend. And, my initial impression is that it has the same high-quality, hands-on, colorful activities that we loved in All About Reading.
Table of Contents:
Approach
Placement Tests
What’s Included
What Else Do You Need?
Lesson Structure
Using with Multiple Kids
Video for Parents
Approach
All About Math (AAM) is based on the same multi-sensory methods that All About Reading is built on. This program is mastery based rather than “grade” based. Meaning the levels do not necessarily align with a specific grade. Nevertheless, they do suggest approximate grade levels that correspond with each level of the program.
Note, as of the writing of this post (Summer 2025), level 2 is expected late summer, and levels 3-5 are expected sometime in the next year.
Level 1 - Kindergarten and part of 1st
Level 2 - part of 1st and 2nd
Level 3 - mainly third
Level 4 - mainly fourth
Level 5 - mainly fifth
Placement Tests
Level 1 Readiness Assessment
Although Level 1 is intended for Kindergarten to First Graders, this program is not broken up into grades in the typical fashion. It includes material typically taught during kindergarten and first. However, you may wish to pre-assess your child to confirm that you are buying the appropriate level for them.
There is a link to the pre-assessment on the All About Math Level 1 product page. Look for Placement Test 1. This includes 1 PDF page with a list of questions for the parent to read through and answer in order to decide on the readiness of their child.
Level 2 Readiness Assessment
Level 2 is supposed to be available for purchase in the summer of 2025.
This is also linked on the All About Math Level One product page. Look for Placement Test 2.
From reading the Level 2 Assessment, I believe it would be appropriate for a child entering second grade. Level one would be a lot to skip over unless a child had already done kindergarten and first grade math. However, use the assessments to check for your own child.
This is a 9-page PDF with teacher instructions and student activity pages to fill in. After assessing, if this is above your child’s level, I think you could quickly go through the beginning lessons of level 1 to build confidence and then slow down when you reach the skills they need to work on.
What’s Included
The All About Math Level 1 Materials include both teacher and student materials. The current cost for this is $119.95. (Some additional materials are needed to do the program - see below under “What Else Do You Need?”)
Teacher’s Manual
Student Packet
Student Activity book (full color; perforated to easily remove pages from the book)
Brinda’s Math Tools - reusable cards - some in black and white and others in color. These are lightly laminated for durability.
Progress Chart
Themed Stickers (used on the Progress Chart)
Teacher’s Manual
I’ll delve into this more in the “Lesson Structure” section below. In the meantime, here are a few notes about how the teacher’s manual is set up.
First, it is a paperback book just over 500 pages. If you prefer your teacher’s manuals spiral-bound (like I do), you might want to take it to a FedEx or similar store to have them rebind it for you. I’ve done this with my All About Reading books and my Math with Confidence teacher’s guides. Be sure to also have them add a plastic cover (and back) to it for durability!
Section 1
The beginning of the teacher’s manual includes over 20 pages of information for you! But don’t be overwhelmed!! They are broken into sections such as: “Is your student ready for AAM1?” and “How much time should I spend on math?” This section will answer many of your questions and provide a great overview of the program before you start.
Section 2
The second part of the teacher’s manual includes all 60 lessons, complete with step-by-step instructions so you can pretty much open the book and start teaching (unless you want to prep some stuff first, like cutting out game pieces).
Most of the lessons are around 6-8 pages of in-depth instructions. Remember the lessons are not necessarily intended to be completed in one day. Also, these lessons each include a reminder to mark your progress on the Progress Tracker, etc. so you move much more quickly through the pages than it sounds.
Student Packet
Student Activity Book
I was pleased with the quality of the activity book. It has full-color, standard-weight paper. I can see through from one side to the other when the page is on the table, but it’s not a deterrent. My guess is it’s about a 28 lb. paper (if you’re a paper snob like me). There is a mixture of double-sided and single-sided pages.
Most of the double-sided pages seem to be game cards that have a picture on one side and a math concept on the other. You should easily be able to separate the lesson pages if desired, because they do not print different lessons on the same piece of paper. I really appreciated this because I tend to prepare ahead of time so I have little to nothing to do prep-wise the day of.
I would prepare the activity sheets the same way I do the All About Reading activity pages - in a 3-ring binder with secure-top sheet protectors. I pre-cut all the activities. And then I use them again for each of my kids. Here is an article showing how I prep the AAR binder.
Brinda’s Math Tools
I am impressed by the quality of “Brinda’s Math Tools". They are 8.5x11-inch pages printed on coated cardstock (not laminated but still pretty durable). The quality was very nice - much nicer than I had expected, and a much nicer quality than the All About Reading flashcards, just for reference.
Additionally, the cards included in the math tools are perforated for easy separation.
What Else Do You Need?
All About Math Manipulatives Kit
This is a one time purchase that you will use for all levels. You may have these supplies already on hand. But you will need these manipulatives - whether you purchase the kit or buy them piecemeal. If you have previously purchased some of these supplies for other math programs, you may wish to just fill in the gaps rather than purchase the whole kit.
The Kit Includes:
50 Two-Color Counters
100 Connecting Cubes, 10 each in 10 different colors
40 Counting Bears, 10 each in 4 different colors
Base-10 Blocks, 1 thousands cube, 10 hundreds flats, 50 tens rods, and 100 units cubes
Dry-Erase Pocket
Storage Bin with locking lid
51 Fraction Tiles, 1 whole, 2 halves, 3 thirds, 4 quarters, 5 fifths, 6 sixths, 8 eighths, 10 tenths, and 12 twelfths
Ruler
Protractor
Note: The highlighted items above are used in higher levels (NOT in level 1). So, if you are purchasing the manipulatives individually you can hold off on those until you need them.
Lesson Structure
The following information is found in the teacher’s manual.
Teacher Info (in a yellow box)
As with their other programs, a yellow box follows each lesson’s title. This section is intended just for the teacher. If you have not taught this level of math before (or even if you have!) it is very helpful in explaining what is going to be covered - and often why it is presented this way. It also includes the supplies needed for the lesson.
Each yellow box includes:
Objective
You Will Need
Before You Begin
(Occasionally it will include other items like “Math Vocabulary” or “Don’t Forget”)
The Objective is always followed by the words “your student will learn…” All objectives for Level 1 are included in the Scope and Sequence at the back of the teacher’s manual (Appendix A, pp. 495-498). (Other levels should include this same format.)
Next they have listed what You Will Need for the lesson. The items listed in this section will include the pages from the Student Activities book as well as manipulatives required from the Math Manipulatives box. Any additional household items required for the lesson are also included here.
Finally the teacher is given some information for Before You Begin. This part previews what is covered in the lesson and, more importantly, why. Here they share tips for knowing whether your child is “getting it.” This section also shows how the current lesson fits with what has been learned previously and how it flows into the following lessons.
Occasionally the yellow box will include other sections like Math Vocabulary or a Tip (often in a blue box). But these are few and far between.
Review
Each lesson starts with a Review. For the first four lessons an activity is included in this part. Then, beginning with Lesson 5 the book refers you to the student’s Daily Review Tracker. You will use this tracker to mark the date that the student begins a concept as well as the date it is mastered. (So…if you are using level 1 with more than one kid, you will need to make a copy of this tracker for each of your kids.)
New Teaching
The meat of the lesson is found in the New Teaching section, which includes both hands-on learning as well as written activities.
Within New Teaching you’ll find visual representations to show what you should do with the manipulatives as well as Tips (in blue boxes). As each Activity Sheet is referred to, a picture is included along with the page number.
Each lesson ends with a Math Reflection section where the child is encouraged to ask questions and clarify their learning. Then, the teacher can assess and address any misconceptions.
Extended Practice is included for each lesson to provide any needed practice or reinforcement. This is optional. Seriously, don’t pressure yourself to do this unless your child needs or wants to do it. You could also complete these Extended Practice activities on a separate day if you wanted to spread out a lesson and use this for review.
The Daily Review Tracker should be marked after each lesson with the date that the objective was introduced.
A Progress Chart is referenced after the extended practice for each lesson. - use it at the end of each lesson to record your childs progress. This is essentially a sticker chart that the kid will get to update after they complete each lesson.
Lessons are NOT intended to be completed in one day. Some will take longer. They also have not broken the book into units, chapters, or weeks.
The student activity pages look similar to the way AAR is set up with cards that need to be cut up. You could definitely do it ahead of time if you like to work that way, or you could just cut them out as you start the lesson. I prefer the former approach generally, but in the lesson that I did with my five-year old I let her cut out some of the pieces and she enjoyed doing it.
I found the games in this very similar to AAR games where the kid flips a card over, tells what it is and then “feeds it to the mouse” etc.
Suggestion - mark up the teacher’s guide by highlighting things you want to say or emphasize. I wish that they had the teacher’s words in bold because I found them a little hard to spot quickly. They were also a little wordy for my preference. But you can easily summarize them as you read them over. After you’ve looked over a lesson or two you shouldn’t need to spend much (if any) time prepping future lessons - other than making sure you have the supplies. It really is open-and-go.
Brinda’s Math Fun
After the New Teaching section in each lesson there is a purple-ish box like this that has games or activities to do - and to reuse. The pages for these activities are usually found in the student activity book.
Who is Brinda?
I seriously could not figure out who Brinda was…the author? Someone who created these math pages and really wanted her moment of fame? Nope - she’s the adorable bunny who you see on the cover, and who can be found randomly in the teacher’s guide encouraging the kid with cute little speeches. Here’s an example:
Great job counting! Wow that caterpillar sure loved eating leaves. I like to eat leaves, too, especially lettuce leaves! Hey ‘lettuce’ keep going in math! (Hehe, I always wanted to say that!)
In between her random appearances in the teacher’s manual, your kid can enjoy the games and other activities that are included in Brinda’s Math Fun.
These colorful pages are perforated for easily tearing apart.
What is included?
Dot Cards
Number Cards 0-120 (very cute and colorful with an adorable “Brinda” on the back of each)
Counting Mat (1-10)
5-Frame
Comparing Mat (1-10)
10-Frame
3 Reads Strategy (essentially a chart to reference)
Number Mat 1 to 120 (includes gray and white alternating rows)
Double 10-Frame
Addition and Subtraction Equation Mat
Base-10 Tens Mat
Using with Multiple Kids
Thankfully, the front of the activity book gives permission for copying within your household. SO - you could easily make copies of any sheets that you specifically wanted your kid to write on with a pen or pencil and then repeat with other children. One such page I would definitely copy would be the “Show What You Know” lessons (#11, 22, 34, 41, and 60). The exception to this would be if you are working with two or more kids simultaneously in the same lesson. You would probably want to purchase a separate activity book for each child to have the activity in front of them as you taught the lesson.
It looks like it follows the same format as the All About Reading curriculum with lots of hands-on games and then has some written practice. But the spaces seem to be big enough that you could write on them with a dry-erase (or wet-erase) marker if you put it in a sheet protector. My kids always love using something that’s not a pencil.
Videos for the Parent
All About Learning has also created a series of short videos called “How to Prepare for All About Math.” They give you a preview of the various parts of the curriculum as well as suggestions for teaching it.
