Grade 1 Subtraction

Great book, my son is very excited being able to work on his own. I know Kumon is all about learning through repetition, but for regular workbooks for the home, it should not be this repetitive!

This book is 96 pages in length, and as the name suggests consists of drill sheets for basic subtraction (up to 20). It does also include a very limited amount of addition, in the form a few pages of addition review at the beginning of the book, and some equations that mix addition and subtraction at the end, such as "10 -8 + 6". These books were designed to be used in Kumon tutoring centres, where an instructor would evaluate the child and select the correct level for the child to begin with. As a home educator, I have had to use a bit a guess work as the books use American grade levels. The American 1st grade would be for ages 6-7 and the equivalent of British P1 which is ages 5-6. In Northern Ireland though, my son is in P2 at 5-6 because of the very early school starting age. If choosing a book yourself, I believe it is better to choose a book that is a bit too easy than one that is too difficult. There is nothing wrong with reviewing the basics, but starting with too a high a difficulty level not only leads to frustration, it can leave gaps in child's learning, making future skills harder to acquire. The idea behind this series is to help a child develop absolute mastery at each step before progressing to the next. So if a child is really struggling in school, I would start with the book for the previous year, or even earlier if needed. It is far better to choose books by ability then age level, and again, better to review subjects the child already knows a bit then struggle along with ones that are too many steps ahead of the child. This book is presented as paired worksheets which are meant to be completed in a specified time frame. The idea is for the child to quickly move through each set, committing the facts to memory. An average set of pages might contain as about 40 equations. I give my son 10 minutes to complete this, which usually allows for me to take a quick glance over his answers, and if one is incorrect, he can change the answer provided the clock has not run down. If he completes his pages with 100% accuracy in the ideal time limit though - he does less pages which has proved sufficient motivation for him to work quickly and accurately. If used for a younger child though, I would recommend dispensing with the time limit. My son of course would really prefer to play computer games to do worksheets, but he does prefer these to other workbooks because he can get finished quickly, and they are simple and easy to understand. I was hesitant to buy these at first as they are a bit more expensive then most maths workbooks. However, they also have more pages, so the cost per page works out less, and devote a significant amount of time to each subject rather then quickly breezing through them as many books do. I would really recommend that anyone home educating give these books a try, but I would also recommend them strongly for parents of children who are struggling in maths at school. I believe spending even 15 - 20 minutes a day with these books would really help children to master any basic steps they may have missed out on in class and quickly catch up to their peers. My only complaint at all with this book would be that I did not find out about these sooner. In my experience, these are by far the best books we have found. ( I also review on dooyoo and a longer version of this review may be found there).

I purchased this to support my daughter in practicing various first-grade subjects. The book follows the same program as her school, making it easy to understand and a helpful resource for her practice. I feel confident it will make learning more enjoyable for her.

Great addition to our homework club! Super easy to follow along and kids enjoy the questions so it makes learning fun!

Good the child is motivated to do the exercises