With Book 1 students learn to count, add and subtract using manipulatives and a numberline, then transfer to intermediate methods of adding and subtracting in preparation for doing mental computation. They are taught to write equations and to solve different kinds of problems in picture form as preparation for solving word problems later on. There are fresh approaches to column addition, time, money, missing addends, and other first grade skills.

With Book 2 students learn to derive all of the addition facts efficiently by taking maximum advantage of a few memorized facts from which the others are easily derived. They learn an alternate way to subtract. Place value is taught in easily mastered steps which develop the critical skill of seeing a 2-place number as a position in a counting sequence, as a collection of ones, and (simultaneously) as a combination of tens and ones. Then 2-place addition and subtraction are taught in such a way that regrouping is not introduced prematurely. An extensive Problem Solving Section (31 lessons) bypasses reading and teaches the student to distinguish problems requiring addition from those requiring subtraction. Extensive units on time and money emphasize hidden critical steps. The final unit introduces easy ways to derive multiplication tables.