Improving Math Fact Fluency: A Review of Page A Day Math

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

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One of the skills in mathematics that we haven't been focusing upon as much in our homeschool is math facts – and being fluent in math facts. For example, we haven't spent time reciting the addition or subtraction tables. I was thinking about how to incorporate those skills into our homeschool over the coming summer as well as how to introduce multiplication to our son when the opportunity to review products from Page a Day Math arrived. There are so many great products available from Page a Day Math that will help build math fact fluency as well as help your children work on their handwriting skills. While we used a variety of their products that we downloaded digitally, we received the Addition Starter Kit in the mail to use with our younger son.

Why Is Math Fluency Important?

In order to feel confident in mathematics, students need to be fluent in math facts. When they can quickly add, subtract, multiply, and divide smaller problems, they will be able to carry that information onto more complex problems and situations. We have found good products to help our children work on math fluency. Page a Day Math provides products that make math fun and engaging in addition to helping. It is an incremental math book program where children learn new topics and continue to improve their existing math fact fluency by reviewing previous skills.

What Is Page A Day Math? 

I love the origin story behind Page a Day Math. The creator's daughter was struggling with mathematics at the age of six and her teacher said the young girl was not good at math. While other families may have accepted that statement, they did not. So, her mother made math worksheets and flashcards for her daughter, who soon caught up and did even better with daily practice.  (You can read more of the story here: Our Story.) It is so important that all children realize that they can be a math-proficient person. 

Each series of math books focuses on one specific math operation – addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. The Pre-K Math Starter Kit is aimed at children ages 3-5 with 10 books (we used the digital version with our daughter). The Addition Starter Kit is for ages 5-7 with 10 books that have 14 days of practice per book (we used the physical set for our son). The Subtraction Starter Kit is for ages 6-8 with 13 books that contain 40 problems per day. The Multiplication Kit is for ages 6-8 with 12 books. They are perfect for first through fourth graders who have already mastered addition and subtraction fact fluency and are ready to move on to multiplication. The Division Kit is for ages 6-9 with 12 books for children who have mastered math fact fluency in addition, subtraction, and multiplication.

In addition to the Math Kits, Page a Day Math also offers Math Flashcards, Math Review Books, Handwriting Books (both print and cursive options), and stickers, temporary tattoos, and bookmarks featuring the five lovable dogs of the Math Squad - Mo, Zo, Bo, Jo, and Flo. We received a sample of the stickers, temporary tattoo, and book in our box and they are great! Our kids were very excited to see them.

Our daughter couldn't wait to check out the stickers!

What Are We Using in Our Homeschool?

We are primarily using the Addition Start Kit, for which we received a physical copy, and the digital download of the PreK Math Starter Kit. I have also been including some of the worksheets that we were able to receive digitally:

• Meet the Math Squad! My First Counting Coloring Joke Book 
• I Can Write My Name 
• I Can Write in Cursive 
• Multiplication Starter Kit 
• Subtraction Starter Kit 
• Adorable Adjectives 
• Beautiful Biology 
• Cool Chemistry 
• Fun Physics 
• Places and Spaces 
• Scenic States 
• Super Sight Words

As the Starter Kits – both physical and digital – are designed for a student to complete one page a day, we have been doing that since we received them. They are very easy to print out but I also like the books. They are smaller than a normal-sized workbook which makes them easy to hold.

Most homeschooling days, our younger children start their day by completing their Page a Day worksheets. Because the pages require very little instruction from my part, they can work on them independently while I get their next activity set up or ready. They also do not take very long – maybe 10 to 15 minutes depending on how distracted they get. I have found they are also a great way to start the day because they help build confidence.

What Do We Think?

There are many things that I like about Page A Day Math:

• The design of the physical books 
• The variety of the materials available 
• The inclusion of fun characters (The Math Squad) 
• The storage system of the physical kit 
• The ability to print multiple copies of the digital products (for when both children want to color the same picture from the My First Counting Coloring Joke Book)
• The helpfulness of customer service 
• The ease of using the worksheets and the physical books – I can hand them over to our children and they can work on them by themselves 

I really love the look of the Addition Starter Kit. Storage can often be a problem with homeschooling materials but not in this case. All the workbooks fit nicely in the box. I have been keeping the current workbook our son is completing in a folder with other printed pages from Page a Day Math.

Each of our children has their own folder where I keep the printouts and the book that our son is currently working on. 

If you are using only the digital versions, you can print using just black ink like I have been doing or print in color. If you are only printing the actual pages that your children will be completing, and maybe the certificate, you will not need to use much colored ink. I appreciate a digital product that does not require lots of ink when printing. Below you can compare the difference between the certificate I printed out and the one from the book to see how much colored ink is necessary.

Our almost second grader started using the subtraction sheets from book one of the digital Subtraction Kit while we were waiting for the Addition Starter Kit to arrive. He was a little frustrated because he found the pages that I printed out for him to be too easy. So when the Addition Starter Kit arrived, we looked through the first several books to see where he thought he should start. We did complete the assessment pages that came with the digital Subtraction Kit which indicated he needed more practice with subtraction fact fluency, so we will use Subtraction Book 3 when he finishes working through the addition books. I have noticed that he has been more quickly answering addition questions. So I believe that his math fluency is improving using the books.

One of the Subtraction assessment pages.

Even though our daughter seems to have a firm understanding of kindergarten mathematics, I wanted to use the digital Pre-K Math Starter Kit with her as she needs work on mastering her facts. She can add and subtract but I would like her to work on fluency so she can answer the questions more quickly. She also needs to practice her handwriting skills so I appreciate the way the math books are designed (so that she can practice writing her numbers) and I love the additional handwriting books that we were able to download. I have been printing out pages from I Can Write My Name to help reinforce the letters she is practicing in her other homeschooling assignments.

I printed out the pages that matched up to the letters our daughter was working on in her other homeschooling work.

I look forward to completing the workbooks – both the digital and physical ones – with our children. As our son moves through the Addition books, he will work on counting and adding 7, 8, 9, and 10 to numbers 0-10. I also look forward to start using the multiplication digital books with our son after we have spent some time going over the multiplication flashcards that I have printed out.

As our daughter works her way through the Pre-K Math Starter Kit, she will practice tracing more difficult math addition equations as well as trace even and odd numbers. We will also move from just practicing tracing letters to tracing sight words and other words using the variety of digital handwriting workbooks.

We are also slowly introducing cursive handwriting practice to our son. I like how the pages have both upper and lower case letters on them to help him practice.

Do You Want to Learn More? 

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There are so many great products available from Page A Day Math. Be sure to check out the rest of the reviews from the Homeschool Review Crew to see how they used the many products in their homeschool to help support math fact fluency!