MathTacular

[melmichigan]

Would anyone be willing to share their experience with these DVD's? Please include DC's ages when they used them and pros and cons. :)

[Spryte]

My son watched these around age 5 - 6, and they were a big hit. We watched some of the youtube videos first, he loved them, and I ordered the first DVD. (This reminds me I should order more!)

 

My son would watch the videos and then get out his manipulatives and play. He would teach me, or DH, or even the dog. He is a little film maker, so we have many movies of him at that age, working with his math manipulatives and demonstrating concepts.

 

The only con I can imagine, at this point, is that we used this for fun only, and didn't schedule it - we may have gotten more out of it if it had been scheduled.

 

Then again, the beauty of it for my kiddo was that he watched the DVDs for fun, and it didn't feel like "school."

[BatmansWife]

We just received our set yesterday. So, I can't tell you much about it yet. But.....my 7 year old LOVES it. We got this set....which is pretty pricey. But, the price is better than Sonlight. We already have a lot of the manipulatives laying around....but I went for the complete set anyway. This way it's new and more "special" for dd and she'll keep them all in the box. She loves all of her new MathTacular items that arrived so neatly packed; she said everything is beautiful. :lol: Everything is very nice and arrived super quick. I'm really excited about it and know that my dd will love this for a long time. I want to get the Science ones now too; Discover & Do. I think Sonlight is the only place to get those though.

[Parker Martin]

We got the DVDs for my son when he was three years old and asking to learn about math all the time. He loved them then, and he still loves them now at four and half. He's learned a lot from them. His ten year old aunt once sat down to watch with him, and she seemed to like them too.

 

Pros:

- Entertaining

- Appealing to a wide range of ages

- Covers many topics

- No inappropriate content that I've noticed

 

Cons:

- I noticed a couple technically incorrect explanations (but that's out of hundreds and hundreds)

[BatmansWife]

I forgot to say that even though we just got this yesterday, we right away watched about a handful of clips or episodes (not sure what they are called). We started watching the DVD that comes with the manipulative package (it's different than the 1 - 4). Anyway, we watched one at a time and then stopped the DVD & got out her matching manipulatives from the kit and and did what Justin did. My dd learned odd and even within just a few minutes. Justin had a few great ideas for teaching that and now I know she'll always know how to figure out if a number is odd or even, even large numbers. So, that was pretty cool.

[Ewe Mama]

We have 1, 2, and 3 (I think 4 will be under the Christmas tree this year ;)).

 

Our children (ages 3-8) LOVE these DVD's. They play with their manipulatives and take turns pretending to be Justin and Amber.

 

Some of their favorite expressions come from these DVD's. ("You've got to break it down now!" said while shimmying head to toe) Speaking in really bad German accents, wearing togas and being Justinius I while learning about Roman numerals.

 

It's good clean family fun! And it's educational so you can make dinner while they watch. ;)

[*Inna*]

We borrowed the first DVD from a friend and I watched it with my almost 8 and 5.5 y/o. They loved it!

 

I think it's a fun way to shake things up with math. :001_smile:

[veggiegal]

My boys loved them when we got them last year, and have watched them through a few times. I also (when I remember, sigh) play them the relevant bits when we are covering a new topic in math, like when we hit factoring, or prime numbers. The videos are silly but cover a lot of math in a very kid-friendly and kid-accessible way.

 

I would not recommend the newest DVD though, number 4 about problem solving. While we watched it, it was no where near as well done as the others, IMO, and its also the kind of thing your kids will watch once (the 6 year old gave up from boredom before we got thru it all), and not again. I admire the idea, but the execution--solving long-winded problems (too long! they don't even fit on the screen at once!) over and over again (too many problems! I think there were 27 in total) to save a prize pig....oy. The fact the problems start with something your average 4-5 year old could solve, but end with problems many junior high students would find challenging is also a problem. Too wide an audience range. IME and YMMV.

[BatmansWife]

My boys loved them when we got them last year, and have watched them through a few times. I also (when I remember, sigh) play them the relevant bits when we are covering a new topic in math, like when we hit factoring, or prime numbers. The videos are silly but cover a lot of math in a very kid-friendly and kid-accessible way.

 

I would not recommend the newest DVD though, number 4 about problem solving. While we watched it, it was no where near as well done as the others, IMO, and its also the kind of thing your kids will watch once (the 6 year old gave up from boredom before we got thru it all), and not again. I admire the idea, but the execution--solving long-winded problems (too long! they don't even fit on the screen at once!) over and over again (too many problems! I think there were 27 in total) to save a prize pig....oy. The fact the problems start with something your average 4-5 year old could solve, but end with problems many junior high students would find challenging is also a problem. Too wide an audience range. IME and YMMV.

 

Well to be fair, each one has a suggested age range and grade level.

 

#1 is for ages 4 - 7; grades preK - 2nd.

#2 is for ages 7 - 10; grades 2nd - 4th.

#3 is ages 8 - 11; grades 3rd - 5th.

And, #4 is for ages 11 & up. The #4 DVD by itself is for grades 4th & up and the #4 workbook with that DVD is for grade 6 and up.

 

Soooo....if your kids were 5 and 8 last year then the info in #4 would probably be too hard for them.

 

It's a better deal to get the entire set....but, it's something that will last quite awhile. My dd won't be viewing #4, and probably not even #3, for quite awhile. I might have my son look at #4 with the workbook. Sonlight shows that this level could even be worked on by a high schooler (I don't know that for sure, since I haven't watched it yet).

[veggiegal]

Well to be fair, each one has a suggested age range and grade level.

 

#1 is for ages 4 - 7; grades preK - 2nd.

#2 is for ages 7 - 10; grades 2nd - 4th.

#3 is ages 8 - 11; grades 3rd - 5th.

And, #4 is for ages 11 & up. The #4 DVD by itself is for grades 4th & up and the #4 workbook with that DVD is for grade 6 and up.

 

Soooo....if your kids were 5 and 8 last year then the info in #4 would probably be too hard for them.

 

 

Ummmm, no, and that was the problem. Number 4 was ridiculously easy in the beginning, and hence dull to my 8 year old (the 5 year old could answer the problems). Much of the DVD the 8 (now 9) year old could follow and solve on his own, but after a while it wore thin. And the "difficulty" of the problems was the same thing over and over again--removing the extraneous info in the problems (which, as I mentioned, were very long-winded). I agree that finding the relevant info and knowing what to do with it is an important math skill, but I felt it was over-emphasized, and other problem-solving skills / strategies could and should have been emphasized more (like drawing a picture, working backwards, using guess and check and approximating in on the answer, etc.). I also did not like the "here's a bunch of english words that mean a given operation in math" sections, as I disagree with this sort of "memorize" method. (I am a firm believer in understanding, not memorizing, when it comes to math). Yes, when you see the word "shared" in a word problem, you'll almost always use division, but they listed words like "of", which, depending on context, can mean a variety of operations. Further, you can often solve a problem in more than one way--including more than one operation at times.

 

As for a highschooler watching the problem solving DVD? Hmmm....yeah, I don't know about that. In terms of that later math problems and content, maybe. But in terms of the hokey storyline ("rescuing my prize pig, via riddles from the Word Puzzler") and bad acting? Not so much. That was the problem with DVD 4 for me--the content, tone, and intended audience were too all over the place. (Unlike the Mathtacular 1-3 which were much tighter.)

 

Don't get me wrong--I love the first 3 mathtacular DVDs and would recommend them to anyone looking for a fun math resource for the K-5 crowd. But I can't recommend the problem solving DVD. And last year when I bought them, there was a bundle from sonlight that was just DVDs 1-3, and at a good price. That's the one I'd go for if it is still available.

[BatmansWife]

Well to be fair, each one has a suggested age range and grade level.

 

#1 is for ages 4 - 7; grades preK - 2nd.

#2 is for ages 7 - 10; grades 2nd - 4th.

#3 is ages 8 - 11; grades 3rd - 5th.

And, #4 is for ages 11 & up. The #4 DVD by itself is for grades 4th & up and the #4 workbook with that DVD is for grade 6 and up.

 

Soooo....if your kids were 5 and 8 last year then the info in #4 would probably be too hard for them.

 

 

Ummmm, no, and that was the problem. Number 4 was ridiculously easy in the beginning, and hence dull to my 8 year old (the 5 year old could answer the problems). Much of the DVD the 8 (now 9) year old could follow and solve on his own, but after a while it wore thin. And the "difficulty" of the problems was the same thing over and over again--removing the extraneous info in the problems (which, as I mentioned, were very long-winded). I agree that finding the relevant info and knowing what to do with it is an important math skill, but I felt it was over-emphasized, and other problem-solving skills / strategies could and should have been emphasized more (like drawing a picture, working backwards, using guess and check and approximating in on the answer, etc.). I also did not like the "here's a bunch of english words that mean a given operation in math" sections, as I disagree with this sort of "memorize" method. (I am a firm believer in understanding, not memorizing, when it comes to math). Yes, when you see the word "shared" in a word problem, you'll almost always use division, but they listed words like "of", which, depending on context, can mean a variety of operations. Further, you can often solve a problem in more than one way--including more than one operation at times.

 

As for a highschooler watching the problem solving DVD? Hmmm....yeah, I don't know about that. In terms of that later math problems and content, maybe. But in terms of the hokey storyline ("rescuing my prize pig, via riddles from the Word Puzzler") and bad acting? Not so much. That was the problem with DVD 4 for me--the content, tone, and intended audience were too all over the place. (Unlike the Mathtacular 1-3 which were much tighter.)

 

Don't get me wrong--I love the first 3 mathtacular DVDs and would recommend them to anyone looking for a fun math resource for the K-5 crowd. But I can't recommend the problem solving DVD. And last year when I bought them, there was a bundle from sonlight that was just DVDs 1-3, and at a good price. That's the one I'd go for if it is still available.

 

OK...thanks for explaining. Good to know.