Members of the Crew received two DVDs from Math Tutor DVD to review. Have I mentioned before how many math products we’ve received this year? Here are two more that received mixed reviews in our house.
The first, Young Minds Numbers and Counting, has been a perfect school time video for my younger children. It has, however, proved to be a distraction even for my older ones, as the pictures are gorgeous and the music enticing. As classical music lovers, my husband and I appreciate the use of beautiful, calming music, rather than upbeat contemporary music, in the background. I have several friends with multiple ages, including younger children, and I’m recommending this to them for those times when the little ones need something to do. It costs $19.99 plus shipping.
The second video, The Basic Math Word Problem Tutor, has not been as well received in this house. It is a little beyond my ten year old, who tried watching it with me but soon lost interest. He told me that it would have been good for him as he was learning those operations, but now that he knows them, he doesn’t see the need for it. As I typed that I realized that he sounds a bit arrogant. Math has always come easy for him, so it doesn’t surprise me that he felt this way. While he didn’t find the instructor very engaging, he’s asked me to purchase the Algebra DVDs so he can “get ahead” on his math. Hmmm…summer school anyone?
I appreciate the step-by-step approach to solving word problems and will be using this, whether she likes it or not, with my more math-challenged seven year old. Each lesson is short enough that I’m hopeful she won’t think it too much torture! The DVD contains :
Total DVD Run Time: 8 Hours
Disc 1
Section 1: Adding Whole Numbers
Section 2: Subtracting Whole Numbers
Section 3: Multiplying Whole Numbers
Section 4: Dividing Whole Numbers
Section 5: Adding Decimals
Section 6: Subtracting Decimals
Section 7: Multiplying Decimals
Section 8: Dividing Decimals
Disc 2
Section 9: Adding Fractions
Section 10: Subtracting Fractions
Section 11: Multiplying Fractions
Section 12: Dividing Fractions
Section 13: Percents, Part 1
Section 14: Percents, Part 2
Section 15: Ratio and Proportion
My concerns: Although he states at the beginning that the children should know their basic math facts, he encouraged the children to count on their fingers. I allow my five year old to do that as she is still in the concrete stage of learning math. I do, however, also encourage her to begin to picture the number of objects in her head and we use actual objects as much as possible. I can even understand it in the basic addition section. When he used his fingers to subtract in the long division section, I rebelled a bit. If my kids don’t know their subtraction facts by the time they are doing long division, we need to take some time off the math curriculum and get those facts down.
Additionally, while I don’t think teachers should resort to entertaining the children to provide instruction, I did find his presentation style lackluster. At the risk of offending my math-teacher friends, math isn’t always the most exciting subject to learn. Standing in front of a white board, using only a black marker, the instructor, while knowledgeable, does not captivate the students like other online or video instructors I’ve watched.
The DVD does not require any teacher preparation and does not come with any worksheets. The students could copy the problems from the DVD if you wished a paper trail. Worksheets on CD-ROM are available for other DVDs they have produced.
Each DVD from MathTutor DVD costs $26.99 and with each purchase you receive 60 minutes of live online tutoring from the instructor. You are charged shipping for the first DVD and every other DVD you order is included in that amount.
Disclaimer: I received complimentary copies of these two DVDs for review purposes. The opinions stated here are based on only our experience with the product.
To see what other TOS Crew Members had to say about these products, click here.
