Your Business Math Series : Product Review

Math isn’t exactly a class favorite at our house. The girls both work really well independently when completing their math lessons but they aren’t big fans of drills or extra practice. A few years ago I was looking for something fun to add to Amelia’s math lineup that would keep her engaged and make her want to practice math. I stumbled across the Your Business Math Series by Simply Charlotte Mason and it sounded just like what I was searching for.

We started with the Pet Store option because I thought that might interest Amelia the most. She was worried at first since it’s recommended for ages 8-12 and she was just turning 7 at the time, but I ensured her that I would be there to help and guide her the whole time.

How it works

The first task is to create your “store” name and logo. Logo creating and graphic design is right up her alley, so she was thrilled at this first task. Then you dive into preparing to open your store by ordering inventory and creating price tags for your items. The concept took a minute to stick but after she worked through her first month in business she was hooked. I actually had to tell her we needed to slow down or she was going to finish the book within a few days!

The skills utilized in the book are those that would otherwise be mundane tasks – adding, subtracting, multiplying, etc. Instead, each “business month” in the workbook Amelia was calculating sales tax, figuring mark up/percentages, writing checks, recording in a ledger, calculating profit and running her own business.

After she worked through 2 months with my guidance, she was able to complete the other months on her own. I checked her work afterward and we discussed how different scenarios affected her business that month. It was fun to see how she was developing a business mindset, even when she would get frustrated that her costs increased and she had a loss for the month.

Using as a supplement

We used Your Business Math : Pet Store as a supplement to her regular lessons in Teaching Textbooks. I didn’t schedule it as I wanted it to be something “fun” that she got to pick up and work on. She completed it much quicker than I had anticipated though so we proceeded to discuss small businesses, ledgers and other concepts on our own.

We originally purchased the printed copy of the Pet Store edition. Since she enjoyed it so much, Amelia is now going to work on the Sports Store edition, which we purchased as the PDF and printed on our own. I love any resource that I can locate, purchase and print immediately, especially if the girls are already excited and don’t want to wait for something to ship to us!

My thoughts

I felt that Amelia learned a lot about applying mathematical concepts into real world situations by completing this program. It was just enough work to keep her engaged but not overwhelm her while completing it in addition to her regular math curriculum. We completed Pet Store over the course of 3 months. It could definitely be spread out over a semester if needed. There are also lots of opportunities to follow rabbit trails and discuss small business operation in more depth. I highly recommend this as a great way to make math fun – we’ve already started on Sports Store and Gwen is now starting into the Pet Store edition. You can visit Simply Charlotte Mason and download a sample page if you’d like to explore this product further!

This review was not sponsored, paid for or created as a result of payment. I purchased these products on my own and wanted to share my thoughts.