“Can I be next? Please? PLEASE can I do math now?”
If you’ve ever taught elementary school—or even just been in a classroom—you know this is not normal.
Kids don’t usually BEG to do math.
They don’t line up behind each other, eagerly waiting their turn.
They don’t come find you during recess and noon break, hoping to be included.
And they definitely don’t get bummed out and sad when you tell them they’ve learned all their math facts and there’s nothing left to teach them.
But that’s exactly what happened in our classroom. And in a pilot program at a school in Onion Lake, Canada. And in countless homes across the country.
When I tell people about this, they look at me like I’m making it up.
So let me tell you the whole story.
It Started in a Private School Classroom
Years ago, I was working as a teacher’s aide in a private school classroom with thirty 1st to 3rd graders. I watched, day after day, as kids struggled with math. The same discouragement. The same checked-out body language. The same quiet belief that they just weren’t “good at this.”
I’d already developed my method with my own daughter—the one who had HATED math until we tried something completely different. I’d seen it work with her. I’d seen her favorite subject become…math. (Still kind of mind-blowing to me!)
But would it work with a whole classroom? With kids who weren’t mine? With struggling learners and “goof-offs” and kids with every different learning style imaginable?
I asked the teacher, Angela Johnson (who was wonderfully forward-thinking), if I could try.
She said yes.
What Happened Next
The results were…I don’t even have words.
Runaway success. Our class SOARED AHEAD of all the other 1st to 3rd grade classes at the school.
But that’s not even the best part.
The best part was watching kids transform before our eyes.
We had kids lining up behind each other to be next to work on their times tables. TIMES TABLES. The thing most kids dread!
Hard cases—the kids who couldn’t sit still, who goofed off, who had “given up”—came up and gingerly asked if they could do it too. They simply couldn’t resist the enthusiasm of their classmates any longer.
One little boy we’ll call “the tickle boy” had come begging THREE TIMES before he finally got a turn. He really needed the practice, but as we moved through the cards, he suddenly realized he was understanding it and he started to LAUGH as if he were being TICKLED.
Every answer he got after that tickled him so much he could hardly hold still.
He came back every break thereafter. He was getting it!
The Friday Rush
This email from Wendy Creed, a teacher in our Onion Lake pilot program, still gives me chills:
“Friday we got to the Chief Taylor school and put down the table in the common area. Within SECONDS every chair (12 of them) was full of children and others standing around, many BEGGING to have a turn doing the math. We just laughed and hurried and got our cards out and started with the ones closest to us until the bell finally rang and they had to go to class. Every class we go into the children PLEAD for a turn.”
Within SECONDS.
Twelve chairs filled IMMEDIATELY.
Kids BEGGING.
For MATH.
The Part That Made Me Cry
Remember I mentioned that kids get sad when they finish?
When we told the kids in our classroom that they’d learned all their times tables and division facts—that they KNEW them all now—their shoulders slumped. Their smiles turned upside down.
They were completely bummed out.
“But…can’t we do MORE?” they’d ask.
“Is there anything ELSE we can learn?”
“Do we have to stop?”
In our Onion Lake program, one student who was the first to finish said: “I liked it very much. I had fun and I learned a lot. Now I’m teaching it.”
Another kept asking, “Can I get some of these cards? I want to practice every night.”
These are real quotes from real kids. About MATH.
What About Ricky?
I have to tell you about Ricky because his story represents what’s possible.
His teacher warned us: “His math skills are very low and he has no attention span and doesn’t come to school very often.”
Not exactly a promising start, right?
After one month (just seven sessions—because he didn’t come to school very often!), Ricky passed off Deck 3 (The Great Brain). His eyes were shining. Huge smile. He didn’t want to leave.
His friend—who was known for being good at math—had just been introduced to Deck 3 but hadn’t gotten it yet. Ricky came over wanting to tell him all the answers. He was now a WHIZ at it.
Then Ricky got puzzled. He looked at his friend with genuine confusion:
“What happened? He has ALWAYS been way ahead of me in math.”
Ricky—the kid with low skills and no attention span who barely came to school—suddenly realized he was AHEAD of the “smart” kid.
Do you know what that does to a child’s self-concept?
The Skeptical Principal
At first, the principal was very skeptical. Teachers using some new method that wasn’t “approved curriculum”? She wasn’t having it.
But then she started seeing the results. The excitement. The transformation.
By the end, she was coming to us wondering if we could get to the 7th graders before they left in June. Hoping to reach the 6th graders as well.
When the high school wanted to borrow us for a couple afternoons a week, she said, “No, tell them, no. This is working so well we don’t want to spoil what is happening.”
Her smile and acceptance? Wendy called it “a sweet relief.”
Why Does This Happen?
You might be wondering: what makes this so different? Why do kids react this way to MathHacked when they resist traditional math teaching?
Here’s the secret: From the very first moment, kids discover they’re smart.
Not told. DISCOVER.
They’re not memorizing meaningless facts.
They’re not using external crutches they’ll depend on forever.
They’re not being forced or pressured or made to feel bad when they struggle.
Instead:
– It feels like a game
– They’re in the driver’s seat
– Their brain is the hero
– They get to feel successful immediately
– Each step builds their confidence
– By the time they get to the hard stuff, they believe they can do it
We’re not entertaining them or bribing them or making math “fun” with gimmicks.
We’re giving them the experience of feeling CAPABLE. Of watching their own brain figure things out. Of realizing “Hey, I’m actually really good at this!”
And once a kid feels that way? You can’t keep them away.
This Could Be Your Classroom (Or Your Home)
Teacher with 22 years of experience, Wendy Creed, told us:
“In all my years of teaching I have NEVER seen anything so perfectly constructed to teach multiplication. The decks are carefully calculated to bolster the self-confidence and the kids are totally amazed at how easy and fun it is. Every teacher I have taught this to says the same thing that I think: ‘Oh, how I wish I could have been taught this way. I would have learned to love math.'”
Whether you’re a teacher wondering if this could work in your classroom, or a homeschool parent hoping to see your child light up about learning, I want you to know: it’s possible.
Kids BEGGING to do math is not a fairy tale. It’s what happens when the design is right and the teaching style unleashes their natural love of learning.
It’s what happens when they get to discover—not be told—that they’re smart.
And it’s absolutely, completely, 100% achievable.
Even in your home. Even with your child. Even starting today.
Want to see this transformation in your home or classroom?
Learn more about how MathHacked creates this kind of enthusiasm—and how you can implement it even if you have just one child, not a classroom of 30.
For Teachers: We offer special classroom pricing and implementation support. Contact us to learn more about bringing Confidence-first Learning to your school.
For Homeschool Parents: See the transformation in just the first deck. 30-day money-back guarantee.
P.S. If you’re skeptical (like that principal was!), I completely understand. This does sound too good to be true. That’s why we offer the guarantee—try it, see the results, then decide. We’re that confident it will work.
