Love the Key To... Math Workbooks (and Thoughts on Some Other Math Helps)

I first heard of the "Key to..." math workbook series before my kids were old enough to need to learn math, from unschoolers who listed it as their main math curriculum. Years went by before I saw it in real life. I didn't think we needed it at the time. However I now own it, my kids use it, and we all love it.

"Key to..." is a series of consumable math workbooks that focuses on single topics. There are no grade levels associated with them, they go by topic. You need to know that if you want to buy them as you won't find them listed or labeled by grade level. That is also a good thing because there is no stigma for the student if they need to practice fractions they won't have to be subjected to doing some workbook that has a lower grade level than they presently are in. The teacher's key with the answers is sold as a separate booklet.

There is a short and simple explanation of the math concept then practice is done on that concept. The book move along in progression from concept to concept, starting with basics and going to more advanced. If a student needs practice in one area but not the easier area it is easy to navigate through the book and to skip over certain sections to go to the harder material.

If the student does all the sections it is easy to spot their specific area of struggle (if they have one). This makes it easy for the homeschool parent or whoever is using it to realize the issue may be with just dividing with fractions or if they still need to practice simplifying fractions. Once you know what the specific issue is, further customizing the practice or re-teaching just those concepts is easy to do. If you exhaust all the problems in the workbook but need more practice on certain concepts, you could also go online to find free math worksheets with very targeted math concepts.

Conversely, if the student flies through the workbook or specific concepts with perfect or near perfect scores without any help (as my younger son is doing right now) it is a good reinforcement that indeed the student has the concepts mastered. Knowing the areas of mastery is very good information to have. For one thing it may show that the student is "doing enough" math or it may be further proof that the main math curriculum that is being used is sufficient for that child.

This is an affordable system with each workbook being about $3. The more complicated topics may have more booklets. Fractions has 4 workbooks and Algebra has 10, for example. They can be purchased in sets by topic or separately, depending on the supplier you use. (I use Rainbow Resource Center.)

Different Ways to Use "Key to... "

Some people may choose to use "Key to..." as their main math curriculum. We are not using it that way. If that works for your child, you are lucky as it's an inexpensive and easy program to use. I imagine the type of learner who would do fine with this as their only math curriculum and practice would be kids who learn easily by reading text, who are able to learn math concepts quickly.

Other types of learners fare better with hearing the topic discussed. If you are a homeschooling parent I recommend that you figure out what type of learner you have, sometimes if you observe closely and try different methods of instruction you can see what type of learner you have. (Example: those who love Aleks.com for math are usually text-reading-only learners while kids who need to hear the information also report favoring Thinkwell or Teaching Textbooks over Aleks. Those are anectodal stories from homeschooling kids I know, my kids being some of them.)

In the introduction the author of "Key to...", Steve Rasmussen writes that the series can be used for students to teach themselves. The photos in the fractions book show school kids in a classroom using it. He also says kids can pace their own learning and move along as they go by independently learning using the data given on the pages. This is definately not the traditional school-way of teaching! Last I heard "Key to..." is not a common public school math textbook though.

I chose to try "Key to..." first for my older son who was getting confused with fractions. I felt that the math curriculum he used (Teaching Textbooks 5, 6 and 7) moved along too swiftly from concept to concept before he mastered it or before something as easy as remembering to simplify fractions became automatic. Before moving on to Pre-Algebra or Algebra I, I decided to have him to the whole "Key to Fractions" set.

I am now having my fifth grader use "Key to Fractions" to get more practice while he is in the middle of using Teaching Textbooks 6 to get more repetition on the fractions, since so much of Teaching Textbooks is review of old material, as is the core of any "spiral method" of instruction.

Whlie as a general philosophy I hate the idea of tons of repetitive work when it is not necessary the fact is that some kids do need repetition to master a math concept. In my experience teaching my own kids and also in talking to other homeschooling mothers led me to believe that in general some kids need more repetition while others seem to have a short exposure to something then it's mastered and retained in long-term memory, like magic. I try to do minimal work with my kids so they are not wasting time or doing 'busy work' or 'drill and kill' and I watch for when they need extra practice then give more work on those topics only until mastery is achieved.

I suspect that some (if not all) kids may need more practice with some concepts but not others. The kid who may need extra practice doing fractions may not require it for decimals or measurement or division or whatever. Therefore using a math curriculum with a limited set of practice sets per concept may not be good enough for all students for all math concepts. Conversely that also means they don't need tons of practice on every math concept (like Saxon math provides). If the student needs extra practice in certain areas it could come from something like "Key to..." , a paper workbooks, or for more money, something like Aleks.com, an online service for about $20 a month, that doles out math problems for practice until they are mastered then moves the student to the next concept. I like the idea of a customizable program that keeps giving the student problems in their weak areas but there is a higher cost associated with that which may be cost prohibitive for some families.

"Key to..." could also be a good change of pace for a student who may be sick of using one particular curriculum and needs a break but the idea of taking a total break from math is bothersome to the parent.

"Key to..." is a good program to use in the summer to keep a student's hand in math.

"Key to..." is perfect for parents of schooled kids to buy and use for extra practice any time in the year if their child is struggling (even if the reason for the struggle is undiagnosed). As explained earlier, by seeing the areas of struggle versus the areas of mastery the parent will know which concepts need re-teaching or more practice to master. Parents who go this extra mile for their schooled kids will find it suddenly easy to help their child strenghten their weak areas. I'd like to think that any parent would not find this intimidating or scary, however if you are in that situation and are uncomfortable and you can afford it, perhaps going right to Aleks.com and signing your child up and making them do twenty minutes a day every day is a better thing for your family to try.

"Key to..." and even the more expensive Aleks.com are still far less expensive than the $75 per hour it costs for private tutoring in my area!

If you think your child needs extra practice in certain areas of math or if you have a fast learner-natural math lover, try "Key to...".