Maria's Math News, August 2026

Welcome to the August newsletter!

Math Mammoth news
Money Word Problems with Estimation
How to help a child understand a word problem
Coupon code for XYZ Textbooks
Just for fun!

1. Math Mammoth news

The Canadian version of 2026 edition of grade 1 is available now! (both print and digital)

The changes beween this and previous edition are listed here.

If you have purchased a DIGITAL BUNDLE in the past, you can generate a download link that includes the new edition here (for customers who purchased at MathMammoth.com or at Homeschool Buyers Club).

If you purchased the grade 1 digital version as as separate item, please contact us for the updated file. If you purchased at TPT, you can simply log in to your account and redownload the product.

Learn more and see purchasing info

The traditional August sale is here! Use coupon code AUGUST26 to get 26% off of your purchase of digital downloads at the MathMammoth.com website. The promotion is valid August 29, 2026.

Here are some quick links to get you started:

Bundles (were already discounted — now with a further 26% off)
Worktexts by topics (the Blue Series) — great for filling in gaps
Real-life math — activity workbooks

The main curriculum (the Light Blue Series)
International version
Canadian version
South African version
Lesson plans for the main curriculum

Skills review workbooks — supplemental, extra practice
Review workbooks — to fill in gaps, for summer math
Foundational Word Problems workbook
Discovery Word Problems workbook

Hi Maria,
As you may remember, I am using the Blue Series with my children. At the beginning of our last homeschool year, I showed you how I had set up binders for three of my children, and I thought I'd share an update as I prepare for next year.

About 2/3 through our school year, I had my 7 and 5yo complete the Review book for the grade level at which they had mainly been working - 2nd for my son and 1st for my daughter. This was incredibly helpful as it required them to recall topic areas they hadn't seen in a while and allowed me to clear up some areas of confusion. Now that we are preparing to begin again for the new school year, they each did the placement test. My son took the end of 2nd grade one and is comfortably in range for working at the 3rd grade level. My daughter aced the end of 1st grade assessment, so I gave her the multi level one to identify where she needs to start in the 2nd/3rd grade level work. This process was so helpful because it clearly identified areas of need for each child and enabled me to locate the units and individual lessons that will fill those needs.

An additional benefit that I hadn't anticipated is that the review books and assessments have made it clear how very different their gifts and areas of need are! While my son is far superior to his little sister in his ability to memorize and recall his math facts, my daughter has a much easier time than her brother with more abstract concepts, like regrouping or completing a 10. This is so useful as I work with them.

Overall, I think the Blue Series + Review Books has been an amazing fit for our family, and if a parent is able to take the time to align the lessons with their child's areas of strength and weakness, it is a wonderful resource as a complete curriculum!

Thanks again,
Danielle

The BLUE Series has had some organisational changes.

The book Early Geometry has been split into two, shorter books: Shapes and Early Geometry (2026 edition). Part of the lessons in Shapes have been updated as per the 2026 edition of Grade 1.
There has been a similar change in Add & Subtract 2-A. Some of its content is now in the new book Add & Subtract 1 (plus, that book contains some material from the new grade 1-B worktext).

Several other books in the series have also been updated to reflect the new edition of Grade 1.

As usual, if you've purchased a digital product in the past, you can generate a download link for it here. However, this time there is this exception. The books Early Geometry and Early Geometry (2026 edition) are not the same product, so if you purchased Early Geometry in the past, you won't get a link for the newer (and shorter) book, but for the original one.

Los siguientes libros Mamut Matemáticas han sido actualizados: Sumar y restar 2-C, Sumar y restar 3 y Valor posicional 3.

2. Money Word Problems with Estimation

We have added simple word problems involving money and estimation to Math Mammoth Practice.

There are three problem types: find the estimated total, estimate how much change you get, or estimate how many of a particular item you can buy with a given amount of money.

To reiterate, each question is about estimation, and there is no need to find the exact total or exact change. Students should round the numbers either to the nearest ten cents or to the nearest dollar. In the case of amounts more than $25, rounding to the nearest 10 dollars is also acceptable. The script will not tell you how to round, and it will accept estimations based on these different types of rounding as correct.

3. How to help a child understand a word problem

The first thing in solving a word problem is, you have to understand the words used and the context or the situation of the problem.

If your child or student struggles with word problems, you'd want to check if they understand the wording of the problem.

Here are some ideas.

Have the student re-read the problem. Ask questions that prompt them to re-read if necessary, such as: What do we know? How many cookies does Amy have? (if the word problem is about Amy's cookies) In general, you can ask: "How many.... " so that he'd repeat some piece of information given in the problem.
Explain any words the student may not know.
Become a "storyteller", retelling the problem in your own words.
Ask the child to make a "mental movie" of what's happening in the problem, before starting to solve it.
Ask the child to act it out with physical items or to draw something (e.g. circles and sticks) to represent the things in the problem.
One way to try to check if they've understood the problem, you can ask, "Is the answer going to be more than 100?" (or less than 10, etc.) Choose the number wisely, so that if one has understood the problem, they can easily tell that the answer will, or will not, be more (or less) than some quantity.

4. Coupon code for XYZ Textbooks

I was given a $10 off coupon code to pass on to my readers for XYZ Textbooks. It is Mammoth and that code gives $10 off any book ordered from XYZTextbooks.com.

I realize most of you are not in the target audience. But I just never know, maybe someone reading this would benefit from it... for example, say, to pick up an additional algebra or precalculus textbook. Their books seem to be in the $45 to $70 range so with $10 off you'll get them between $35 and $60.

5. Just for fun!

Thanks for reading! 🙂

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Till next time,
Maria Miller