Reading · Writing · Arithmetic · Music
Advancing mastery-based learning in the foundational disciplines — through free digital tools, research-backed curriculum, and professional development for K–12 educators.
Our Mission
"Every student who struggles with algebra struggled first with arithmetic. The fix isn't remediation — it's fluency, built early and built well."
The Classical Education Foundation exists because foundational skills matter more than any curriculum trend. Reading fluency, writing mechanics, arithmetic fact mastery, and musical training are not optional enrichments — they are the irreplaceable tools a child needs to think clearly, reason precisely, and engage with the world.
We build free, competitive digital tools that make mastery practice engaging for students. We develop curriculum frameworks grounded in research. And we bring professional development to educators who want to do more than cover standards — educators who want their students to own their foundational skills.
Our work begins with arithmetic — and is already at work in music. Chris Roberts's How to Make First Chair has guided student musicians through audition preparation since 2003, using the same disciplined, overlearning-to-fluency framework that underlies every Classic Math Games tool. The competitive, mastery-focused philosophy will continue to extend across all four disciplines.
The Classical Education Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization — ensuring that our commitment to free, accessible tools for every student is not a business model, but a mission.
Programs & Tools
Our flagship work is Classic Math Games — a suite of free, competitive arithmetic fluency games for grades 1–5. One account. All four operations. No paywall, ever. Because it runs in any web browser and is fully available in Spanish — with speech recognition that listens for Spanish-language responses — it reaches students who have historically been locked out of ed-tech by paywalls, download requirements, language barriers, and device limitations. That’s not a feature. It’s the mission.
Grades 3 · 4 · 5 · Multiplication
The flagship. Students speak their answers aloud as AI scores every response. Daily challenges, global leaderboards, classroom tools, a 7-tier rating system, and friend challenges. Often described as the spelling bee for math. Available in English and Spanish, with no download or app store account required. Works on any browser — including the Chromebooks most common in under-resourced classrooms.
Play free at whattimeswhat.com →Grades 1 · 2 · Addition
Addition facts to 20, built for the youngest competitive learners. The hint system uses concrete objects — apples, stars, flowers — grounding every strategy in something a 1st grader can see and count. Same competitive format as What Times What.
Learn more at classicmathgames.com →Grades 2 · 3 · Subtraction
Subtraction facts as the inverse of addition — reinforcing number sense while building a new dimension of fluency. Designed to follow naturally from What Plus What in a teacher's toolkit.
classicmathgames.com →Grades 4 · 5 · Division
The natural companion to What Times What. Division fluency completing the four-operation suite, giving students full arithmetic mastery before middle school mathematics.
classicmathgames.com →
Middle School · High School · Band & Orchestra
The book that started it all. Written by a Texas band director who guided every performing group under his direction to superior ratings, How to Make First Chair gives student musicians a systematic, month-by-month plan for audition preparation — the same disciplined, overlearning-to-fluency framework that now underlies Classic Math Games. Third Edition, 2021.
Learn more at howtomakefirstchair.com →Classic Math Games was built with three access commitments that are rare in educational technology:
Our Pedagogy
Every Classic Math Games product is designed around the Concrete–Representational–Abstract framework — the research-backed instructional model used in Singapore Math, Illustrative Mathematics, and Math Recovery. The hint system in each app is deliberately calibrated to the right cognitive stage for its audience.
Students manipulate or visualize real objects. Counting apples, stars, and flowers. Touching and moving things they can see.
→ What Plus What (Grades 1–2)
Students work with diagrams and models — dot arrays, number lines — that stand in for physical objects without being the abstract symbols yet.
→ What Times What (Grades 3–5)
Students work fluently with pure symbols: 7 × 8 = 56. The goal of the whole suite — automatic, confident, pressure-tested recall.
→ Every game card, every mode
About the Founder
Chris Roberts
M.S. Education (Mathematics) · B.S. Music Education
Chris Roberts has spent his career at the intersection of rigorous discipline and student success. As an award-winning high school and middle school band director in Texas, he guided every performing group under his direction to superior ratings. As a college mathematics instructor in both Texas and Arkansas, he watched firsthand as students who lacked foundational arithmetic fluency struggled not from inability — but from a gap that should have been closed years earlier.
That observation became the foundation for Classic Math Games: free, competitive tools that treat arithmetic fluency with the same rigor a band director brings to daily scales. His book, How to Make First Chair (3rd Ed., 2021), applies the same philosophy to musical audition preparation — disciplined, systematic, measurable practice over time.
The Classical Education Foundation is the umbrella for this work: connecting the arithmetic tools, the music education philosophy, and the professional development experience into a coherent mission.
Professional Development
Chris Roberts brings the research, the tools, and the classroom experience to professional development sessions for K–5 math teachers, curriculum coordinators, and district leaders. Sessions are participatory by design — because the same principle that makes this work for students makes it work for adults: you learn by doing, not watching.
Signature Session
Participants don't observe a demo — they become the class. Every attendee logs in and plays a live round of What Times What together, with the leaderboard projected for the room. Then the Class Report and Individual Report PDFs are pulled up on screen — the same documents you'd hand an administrator or include in a grant application — generated instantly from the session they just played. A smaller group of volunteers then competes in a live Multiplication Bee while the rest of the room watches as teachers. The session closes with structured reflection: what did you just experience as a learner, and what does that mean for your students?
Full room plays live — leaderboard visible
Class Report & Individual PDFs generated from their session
Volunteer group competes in a live Multiplication Bee
Structured reflection & Q&A
Tell us about your school or event and we'll follow up with availability and a custom proposal. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, the Classical Education Foundation can often work outside standard vendor procurement processes.
We'll respond within 2 business days. For urgent requests, email chris@classical-education.org directly.
Common Questions
Whether you're a teacher setting up a classroom, a district leader exploring professional development, or a fellow educator who cares about foundational skills — we'd like to hear from you.
contact@classical-education.org