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Mr D math reviews?


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I'm looking for reviews of Mr D math. I'd like to know what kind of kid is Mr D math good for? For the math phobic or the math inclined? Is it spiral? Mastery? Daily review yes or no? Are the explanations good? Do they explain why things work the way they do or are they more focused on just explaining how to do it?

I'm trying to figure out what route to go for my oldest when he hits prealgebra soon. Till now what has worked well for him in the past was Singapore PM and now Beast Academy. Things that haven't worked for him are: MUS (too slow)and Teaching Textbooks (hated the explanations, or the lack there of).

I'm also considering Singapore Dimensions, Jacob's algebra, and AoPS.

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Well, dd is using Mr. D math for the first time this year. I am completely un-involved so I am not sure how helpful I can be. Dd says he explains the why behind things, not just how to do it. She is doing the live class and really enjoys it. The work load is not very much-- in fact I often question if it is enough... but dd likes math now, whereas she never has before. I consider that a bit of a win. I agonized for what seemed like forever in choosing an online math. It has been a great fit for my dd who is definitely more a humanities-minded student than math. The website is easy to navigate, which I appreciate. I am considering what to do for my ds who very much seems to be headed into a STEM career. He will be in pre-algrebra next year. I would love to hear more reviews of the depth of this program as compared to other online options. While it works, and it is a great fit for my dd, I still am unsure if it will be best for my ds. 

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My ds is taking Mr D self paced Algebra 2. He has always hated math and struggled with it. At first he was taking hours and hours to complete his work, but he's becoming more and more confident and getting it done in a more reasonable time. There are good explanations about the why. There's not really much review at that level, but more using what you've already learned in the next step. I disagree that the workload is light. Some of the chapters have a lot of problems and it would even take me a long time to complete them. The student watches the lesson and then completes worksheets. They are able to check the answers and then rework the problems until they are all correct. We've used both MUS and Teaching Textbooks. MUS was great through Pre-Algebra and learning the basics, but I wanted more for high level math. We used TT for one year and ds didn't like it.

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We are in our 2nd year of Mr. D's. We started it for geometry and stuck with it for Alg. 2. We will continue with it for senior year more than likely. My dd wasn't math phobic, but her strengths definitely lie in language. Math is not her favorite. She never really had issues with math. She was always at or above grade level whenever I tested her. She did R&S through 8th grade. Then we switched to Alg. using a typical Alg. textbook, and she hated it. She was used to the format of R&S, and hadn't needed much involvement from me in the last year of using it. But the text I chose for Alg which I thought laid out the problems similarly to R&S did not work for her, and for the first time math became a struggle. It was mostly because of her want for independence. She did not want to sit daily with me on her least favorite subject. It wasn't really the book's fault, just her own kind of independence struggle at that time. So we ended up taking much longer in that book, because like it or not, I had to teach her each chapter. The book had too much jumble on it I think. It was also the time that she was a teen going through brain mush in general. So the next year, I tried Mr. D's geometry in the self paced course that I got access to as a member of Schoolhouseteachers dot com. And it was a HUGE hit. She could do the class completely independently and made an A. We read through read alouds for math and continue to for some extra and some working together. But from now on with her I am out of math. Like a PP, I couldn't even tell you if it is necessarily spiral or mastery. I haven't looked into it that much. It got decent reviews and she is able to follow the video and do the lesson and understand it. So it is working for us. She does the Kahn Academy SAT prep linked to the college board for supplementing at least once a week too. 

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My dd is taking Mr. D geometry and likes it very much. He speaks very fast and complex issues can be a challenge but, I'd imagine they would be with any similar format. DD enjoys math and tends to "get it" very easily. She has ADHD and the short, no fluff lessons are ideal. She tends to start and stop the video, forwarding if she knows something already. The quizzes will sometimes include a stray question that wasn't in that lesson but dd loves the fact that she can retake the quizzes with no penalty. She finds that very motivating to figure out why the questions are wrong so she can get a perfect score (and learn more in the process). I typically do not like multiple choice only tests but it suits her well and she is learning. 

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Dd took Geometry and PreCalculus with Mr D.  Math had been a struggle for her and I just couldn't seem to help her despite having a BS in Math.  I wish I had started with them sooner, but my pride got in the way.  She felt that the explanations were very helpful.  There were additional videos she could watch.  My very artsy, humanities girl is now majoring in civil engineering in college.  She did get a C in Calculus this past semester, but that was partly due to having a really bad teacher (the only kids who did well were ones who had taken AP Calc before) and partly due to getting really sick last semester.  She says that this semester is going much better.  She understands things so much better.  So, I'd say that Mr. D helped my girl gain confidence in math.  I sometimes wondered if the work load was a little light.  But, I wasn't involved in the day-to-day.  We did this class to get me out of the equation, so to speak.  

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