Papers Designed for Math
Neatness Problem After Switching from
Worksheets to Text Book
When my children switched from workbooks to textbooks, they had trouble
producing a neat, orderly math paper. Checking their work was very
difficult! So, out of necessity, I had them do their math on paper that
had blocks drawn on it. One math problem was to be worked per block. This
helped with the orderliness, but not with the neatness. My solution with
the neatness problem was to have them write the numbers 0-9 neatly across
the top of the math paper before each lesson. This helped to remind them
to write neatly throughout the lesson. During grades 4 and 5, it helped
each of my children to have a multiplication table handy when they did
their math and by the 6th grade they had no need of the table any
more. 
The printable math work paper below has all of the features that might help your child make the switch for workbook to text. After a while your child will not need to use this paper. My children later used sewn composition books. I wrote about that below.
Daily Lesson Paper
Some of the daily lesson papers state:
"Show your work. Write one problem in each
block."
If your child is confused about this when using the graph-block
paper, explain that the "block" is the large rectangular area
that is enclosing the graph lines.
To mom: When your children are learning a new concept it is important for them to "show their work." That means that they should write out the entire problem and work it on their paper, not on scratch paper. This is important because if they make errors, you can see what they did wrong. This makes correcting more productive.
It isn't enough to just say, "You missed this one." You should go over the missed problem, find the error that your child made, then go over it with your child. You will discover that many errors are simple errors, [adding instead of subtracting, not carrying numbers, forgetting to borrow, copying the problem from the book wrong]. Learning to be neat, and then being neat, helps with the simple errors. Once your child is aware that he makes these simple errors and realizes the importance of neatness, and paying attention to the pluses and minuses, then he should do better. [It's a process.] Until then, gentle reminders about neatness and carefully copying the problems are in order.
Doing problems "in their head" is ok after they have learned how to do new concepts and as long as they are not missing the problems. If they start missing the problems, have them show their work again so you can determine what they are doing wrong.
The math lesson paper is divided into 10 blocks per sheet. One set has a graph in the blocks and the other one does not. Then you have the choice of using the files with or without the multiplication printed around the paper.
"Show Your Work"
With Multiplication Facts
Without Multiplication
Facts
"Show Your Work"
With Multiplication Facts
Without Multiplication
Facts
Does Not Say "Show Your Work"
The Sewn Composition Books
We used the sewn composition books for our daily math work all the way through high school. I have stacks of them. They usually do not come apart and they are comfortable to use. There are no wires, the pages are not perforated, and the notebook is easy to handle at a table or on the lap. My older son divided the pages by drawing a line down the center and then several horizontal lines to make several blocks. Later, he stopped drawing the lines and did neat work. My daughter's work was nightmarish to grade for a long time. She eventually assisted me by drawing a bold circle around her answers. Later she did neat work.
When I required them to show their work in the composition books, I had them reference the work. The work was usually on the left side facing page. They both did it similarly. They circled the "work" and referenced it with the problem number such as #1.
We preferred the "Mead Five-Star in a Class By Itself" composition book because of the college rule and a flexible cover, but they became almost impossible to find. For the last few years we used the easy to find wide rule composition books.
