Little Homeschool on the Prairie: Accelerated Individualized Mastery (AIM) for Addition and Subtraction Review

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.

I’m excited to tell you about Accelerated Individualized Mastery (AIM) for Addition and Subtraction from Math-U-See. My family received a physical set and accesses to the digital components the program which gives you 12 month access.

AIM is intended for kids 8-16, this is for kids who have not mastered certain concepts with single digit addition and subtraction. This set can be used with multiply students. This isn’t an independent curriculum and will involve a parent/teacher working one on one with a student and not teaching it in a group setting.

If you aren’t sure if your child has mastered their addition and subtraction facts they recommend you take the Before AIM Assessment. There is a short 2 minute video and a PDF to download. This is done verbally and recommended you do this in 1 to 2 minute sessions and then take a break several times. You want to see if they can answer the math equations in 3 seconds or less, without using their fingers, or needing to use tally marks and such. If they answer all the problems or score a certain percent then you will not need AIM. More information is provided on the PDF. I appreciate that this assessment lets you see if you really need to purchase it. It may not be needed for your student.

What’s inside the box?

Inside the box I had a piece of paper that had my code to grant me access to the digital component of the program. You will need to either create an account or log into your Demme Learning account.

After you locate your item in the Digital Packs page you will need to add the digital pack to your cart. Once you’re in the checkout section you will see an area to add your code that is on your paper. This will give out a zero balance and you are ready to complete your order.

AIM Resource Guide-is a teacher’s guide. It gives you the information you need to teach your child the steps using a step-by-step techniques on each of the 22 Lessons. In each lesson it will inform you of additional activities and reviews and also if there are online worksheets and activities.

It is recommended that each lesson doesn’t exceed 15 minutes in a sitting. This isn’t a full math course and should take your student around 6 to 8 weeks to complete. Depending on your child it can be used with your current math curriculum or you can shelf your current math program while using AIM.

You don’t move forward with a lesson until they have mastered all the facts in that section. You can monitor it by coloring the Addition & Subtraction Facts Mastery Chart (found in the Digital Toolbox) by having them mark the ones they know. Another way is with the Fact Check Cards flashcards. Each flashcard has 3 stars at the bottom that they have to be able to recall the facts quickly. You will continue to revisit all the problems throughout the lessons to maintain that math fact mastery. To be more successful they recommend that you don’t jump around in the lessons as with all Math-U-See programs they build upon one another.

The guide is laid out the same for each lesson that will walk you through it step by step.

Prepare: gives you an overview of what you will do-watch, read, study, and gather.

Materials: A handy section so you can grab all the items needed for the lesson.

In the margins are several reminders, resources, exceptions, related facts, and material to print out in the digital resource section. They vary with each lesson. Some lessons may take several days to complete depending on mastery of the concepts.

The lessons are broken down in sessions. These steps I mention are general as they vary some. There are games to play like Build-A-Fact, Math Toss, and several other in the Digital Toolbox. You can use the Digital Manipulatives, and other resources you will have access to.

Session A: Present the Lesson Instructions

This session involves watching the lesson video showing you how to use the blocks for that particular math fact family. (Videos can be gone over in other sessions too.)

The main purpose is to Build, Write, and Say while working through the Session A.

Session B: Demonstrate Understanding

My daughter told me in the part that she is the teacher as she had to teach the skill of what she learned back to me using the blocks.

We would also use the Fast Check Cards and work on word problems. If your student struggles in this session you have to work on a few more steps. You usually will print out some worksheets online.

Session C: Transition Math Facts to Visual Memory

Depending on if your student can draw, write, and say the math facts will determine your lesson plan.Usually you are going over new Fast Check Cards and reviewing ones already learned.

You want them to try not to rely on the blocks as much when figuring out the problems. It's like taking off the training wheels except you are slowly taking away the blocks. You also add in games to work on mastery.

Session D: Assess for Mastery

This will determine whether you go to the next lesson. You want them to know all the facts in the lesson. All 3 stars should be marked in the Fact Check Cards.

You can also use the Worksheet Generator and Online Drills afterwards to maintain the mastery after completing all 22 lessons.

Math-U-See Integer Blocks- 29 blocks total. Each block color represents a number like 10 is the color blue or pink is 3. The Integer Blocks are heavy duty plastic and well made.

Math-U-See Coloring Pencils- The coloring pencils are pretty close to the color of the Integer Blocks. You will use these throughout the lessons.

Math Fact Strategy Poster-13 posters 8 ½” x 11” poster flashcards on a heavy duty card stock. Full color illustrations of the concepts showing the strategies in the lessons. Each card in your bottom right side has a letter/number combo to locate it for your lesson example-P8.When you are gathering your material you will search by the letter/number combo.

Fact Check Cards-addition and subtraction flashcards on a heavy duty cardstock. The cards are perforated for you to separate easily. These are used in just about every lesson. They just have the math problem on the front side along with 3 stars that you color in once you have successfully mastered the math fact.

Digital Pack- You will have 12-month access to all the videos, worksheets, digital manipulatives, and additional resources needed to support you teaching your student to master addition and subtraction.

How Did I Use Accelerated Individualized Mastery (AIM) for Addition and Subtraction?

When I started homeschooling my daughter math didn’t start out really good. We had many tears with math and I blamed myself and questioned my ability to homeschool. Back then I didn’t know all of my daughter’s learning disabilities either.

After 2 years of math fails Math-U-See was at our local homeschool convention and I attended one of their workshops. I was extremely encouraged and felt some hope and bought all the blocks, wood block holder, Primer and Alpha levels. We started the Primer immediately that spring and I immediately seen results.

You may be wondering why AIM if my daughter did so well with Math-U-See? Math-U-See is a mastery approach curriculum so she should be set with math. In theory yes-except my daughter (now 17) has several learning disabilities. She regresses often and I find us back at square one going over the basics math concepts(not just in math either). Currently she is working at a 6^th grade level with most concepts. Right now she is in a good place and whizzed through AIM. That might not be the case in 2 weeks or a month!

After I had everything set up I had my daughter do the Before AIM Assessment verbally. She actually got 100% on both addition and subtraction. She was a bit upset that I didn’t time her answers and she insisted on doing the worksheet and write her own answers that we timed.

The videos are only a few minutes long and are concise and to the point explaining the concepts. They are a crucial part of the program.

We worked through each lesson and we actually finished everything in 5 weeks. She did more than one lesson a day. She did get hung up on her addition with the 6 facts and a few subtraction problems but I think it was more stress related with everything going on in the world with the COVID-19.

My daughter is teaching me the 10 facts. She thought it was fun teaching mom math!

We watched the videos together and worked on each session. We did a reverse role many times and I had her teach me each session many times to build her confidence. Having her teach me makes her think about the steps involved and made it a bit more challenging for her. She loved playing the games especially the Math Toss and throwing a ball back and forth calling out random math facts. I was able to Individualize AIM for my daughter’s needs. We added more games and I let her lead to build her confidence up.

She enjoyed the lessons and I think it made her confidence surge through the roof! I’m very grateful for Math-U-See as it has been a huge blessing helping my daughter with math throughout the years. I’m so glad to see this pint size curriculum to help kids who struggle to grasp some of the basics concepts that so many of us take for granted.

What I would love to see with AIM

My daughter actually struggles more with multiple digits in addition and subtraction more often than single digits when she regresses. I would love to see AIM add more kits with multiple digits for addition, subtraction and multiplication and division in the future.

I know that we will need to go back again over addition and subtraction in the future I’m glad to see that you can purchase just the Digital Packet separate without the physical components. I’m thrilled to see Math-U-See create a way to help students who are struggling with mastering addition and subtraction.

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