The Math Worksheet Site

Some of you are coming up from fainting after reading the word "math" in the title.  To you, I truly apologize.  But, if this wasn't of national importance, I wouldn't have taken the chance.

You see, Americans have a reputation as sucking at math.  Right or wrong, we just don't rank among the world's elite when it comes to the most basic of our human thinking skills.  And I think we should put a stop to that.

If you had asked me when I was a tween if I held this view, I would have scratched your eyes out.  I HATED math.  It was the bane of my existence.  And I had every form of the phrase "When am I ever going to USE this?" at the ready whenever I had to learn a new, stupid concept, like fractions or decimals or metric conversions.*

I had a hard time learning my multiplication tables, especially.  I was still working like a banshee in 6th grade to really get them down, when most of my classmates were moving on to uncharted math territory and looking at me like "What the heck?"

I remember Mr. Stefan making this HUGE cork board display with an umbrella at the top of the board, large numbers across the top, and Dixie cups with numbers on them.   The object was to find the right Dixie cup to drop the number "raindrops" into.  In my world, it rained every single day, sometimes more than once, before I truly GOT it.

You may think that this got old.  And, I'm sure, at times, it did.  But, I loved Mr. Stefan and there just wasn't anything I wouldn't do for him.  God love his aspirin chewing soul.**

So, when I realized that my struggles with math were shared by Hoo, especially in the multiplication/division realm, I started looking for mixed review math sheets, to help get him over the hump.  And I found the coolest site in history, if you ask me.

themathworksheetsite.com allows the user to create all kinds of worksheets on addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, time telling, fractions, and more.  And, even better, it is customizable.  So, if your little buddy is having trouble with his nines?  Tell the site to only print nines worksheets.

And, the best possible functionality?  An answer key!!  No more figuring out the answers or using the calculator or falling on your sword when you have to admit you just can't quite come up with the solution.  I LOVE IT.

For the rest of the summer we're doing one mixed, timed review, with addition/subtraction/multiplication and one non-timed worksheet with the bear called division.  I think this little exercise will help Hooman get over the hump and ready for that big return to school in late August.

Check out the site.  It has been billed as the fourth ranked site on Goggle if you search "math worksheets" (and that was back in 2006...), so I'm not the only one coocoo over it.  If you are so inclined, you can also get a membership and discover more stuff I am mentioning here.  If you do, and love it, please comment below and share your knowledge.

For us, though, at this point in our school years?  And for cheap me?  This site is the bomb.


*I think I may still have a point on the metric conversion thing.

**Pretty routinely, he'd pull out this gigantic, economy-sized bottle of aspirin and chew three pills with NO WATER.  I think he must have been pretty desperate.  And had ulcers the size of pancakes.