Indoor Garden Musings: Digital Manipulatives from Math-U-See (Schoolhouse Review Crew Review!)

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Digital Manipulatives from Math-U-See (Schoolhouse Review Crew Review!)

We received this for review purposes!

Product Links: Digital Packs and Epsilon

Vendor Information Link: Demme Learning

Age Appeal: The student needs to be able to do addition, subtraction, Multiplication, and division

Format: Online digital manipulatives (need Chrome or Safari browsers), video lessons, PDF Instruction Manual, Answer Keys (12 month access)

Price: Please go to the website for current prices.

Does your family use Demme Learning’s Math-U-See program? Is it a homeschooling math program your family would like to use?

Math-U-See now has Digital Packs. You will get access for twelve months to everything you would get if you purchased the physical instruction pack.

Our Experience:

My children really enjoy using Math-U-See, so I was really excited for the Digital Pack. Our homeschool library has the fraction overlays, but each set was missing some, so B wasn’t able to do the problems. The Digital Pack solved our problem.

B would watch the video, and use the manipulatives while he was completing his worksheets (a separate workbook is necessary). C is working on Division with Delta, so I had her use the manipulatives when she needed the extra help. I also had her watch a couple of the Epsilon videos, so she had an idea of what she would be doing next.

Mama’s Thoughts:

It was wonderful having this program. I was glad that B had an unlimited amount of digital fraction overlays at his hands. He was always disappointed when he couldn’t do what he needed to do, because some of the physical overlays were missing.
I liked the easy access to the lessons. It was nice that we could use the computer instead of having to find the DVD and get it ready in the DVD player.
I appreciate the instructional videos from Steve Demme. I have the children watch them. After they do that, they work on their worksheets. This works for us, because they appreciate having someone different teach them something.
Initially I thought it was an inconvenience when we had to use Chrome or Safari to use the manipulatives, but it worked out very well. I didn’t even notice we were using a different browser.

B’s Thoughts (boy, age 12, officially in sixth grade):

I like doing Math-U-See, but never really had access to the manipulatives, so this was perfect for me. I liked how fun the manipulatives were to use, one time I made a heart out of the blocks. I relished how you had unlimited access to all the manipulatives, and fraction overlays, and how easy it was to use. I also enjoyed watching the online math lesson videos, for Epsilon, which I am doing. I liked how we had access to the answers to the lessons, as Mamma sometimes has me check my own answers. I would highly recommend this product to kids my age.

C’s Thoughts (girl, age 10, officially in fourth grade):

I think this product would be good for people who need help with fractions.
The digital manipulatives are fun to work with. You never have to worry about losing any of the manipulatives, because it’s on a computer.
I had fun making stairs out of the blocks, when I was done with my work.