in pursuit of wild things

For the past month and a half my oldest has been using Demme Learning’s Math-U-See Pre-Algebra student texts and Digital Packs. I felt fortunate when we received the opportunity for this review since Oldest needed a new math curriculum for his middle and high school years. The two of us began researching various math curriculums together a couple of months ago for his upcoming seventh grade year and Math-U-See was at the top of his list. Now that he is moving into the upper levels of his education I am giving him an opportunity to help choose his own courses.

Math-U-See’s Pre-Algebra is very easy to use and except for a word problem or two has been mostly hands off for me. For the review we received the student text and test book and a full year’s access to the Pre-Algebra Digital Pack. The Digital Pack includes access to the instructional videos, tests and solutions manuals, instructional manual, a digital version of the manipulatives (on Chrome or Safari) and a few other resources. Honestly, I wasn’t too excited about the digital pack…at first. I prefer to hold books in my hands. Digital just doesn’t seem real to me. However, having access to the instructional videos online has been really nice. I am the sort of person who absent mindedly misplaces DVD’s and teacher’s manuals all the time (glasses, phone, car keys too!). The nice thing about the Digital Packs is you just can’t lose them. I suppose, I should have some profound and meaningful reason for why digital is better but I do not. The fact that I cannot lose these resources (for a year) is my favorite feature. The videos and pdf’s also pull up easily on my phone so he doesn’t have to wait for someone to finish up on the computer before working on his math.

We did play around with the digital manipulatives a bit. They work great on the computer but Oldest prefers the physical blocks and decimal inserts when he is working on his math.

On Monday Oldest logs in at the Math-U-See website and clinks on “View Digital Packs”. This brings him to the digital product page and he first selects the level or course title from a drop down box. He then has the option to select the lesson number from another drop down box. Once he chooses the lesson the video is shown as well as access to the teacher’s manual and all solutions for the lesson. He usually only watches the lesson once or twice a week, reads the teacher’s manual and completes all of the worksheets. We go over any problems he missed together using the manipulatives. By the end of the week he is ready for the exam.

Oldest really enjoys his math with Math-U-See and has decided to stick with them for the remainder of his home education years. I like the Digital Packs as well and plan to continue using them. During the time of this review my youngest was ready to begin his math education. He is having a blast with Primer!

dueling Cardinals

sledding fun

Middle Boy proving that duct tape and boxes are the only toys necessary

Middle Boy unwrapping all of the candy for Christmas goodies

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