Sansu Math is a version of the Tokyo  Shoseki  series New Mathematics. This is Japan’s most used math series. They focus on fewer topics to be able to go more in depth with each one. The system allows each lesson to build off of the last lesson taught. This helps kids take their time and be able to get a strong grasp for the topics. The third grade set has eighteen units.  There is a lot of multiplication and division in this book. The units also cover shapes, fractions, math sentences, graphs, time, measurements, and more.  Combined this in turn makes up one hundred seventy one lessons that take about forty five minutes to complete.

There are two teachers’ books and the child’s textbook. Each book covers half of the lessons. The guide book starts out giving a breakdown of the lessons and color coded green and gold to tell which needs more practice time. Then you have a section that helps you be able to read the guide book.  Each unit has the page with the answers and then tips and teaching prompts to teach the lesson to the child. I really loved the support sections that give tips for the children that maybe struggling with the topic you are working on.

The textbook is easily read and follows along great with the teacher’s guides. The instructions are clear to read and the color pages make it a bit more fun. There is space to do your work or allow them to do it on a separate page. There is not an overwhelming amount of work on each page which is nice. The lessons flow into the next ones which help with kids that get confused just jumping around to new topics.

My daughter is dyslexic and this has made her behind in math. We have always had issues with keeping her interested in the work and not feeling overwhelmed. This program really is great and slow paced for kids that may have learning issues or just need the extra time to figure things out. My daughter has done much better with the lessons than she has with anything else. We are able to work slower and not feel like we need to keep moving before she has a solid understanding of the topic that is being taught. Other math curriculums we always felt the need to get through the book even though we were going through some lessons that she never really grasped that well. We are still working through the book but we highly recommend it. There are five books in this elementary series and if you have a child with learning disabilities or just does better with a slower paced curriculum this is the one for you. I really wish we would have known about this way of learning math a long time ago. I will miss it when we have went through these series but I am confident that it will give her a strong understanding of her work that she will be able to move into middle school lessons with ease.

-Product review by Samantha Massey, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, January, 2017