We have used Math-u-See for years in our homeschool. We use it exclusively for K-2nd grade math, so I am excited to get to share with you a new resource that we just love: Demme Learning Digital Packs.

For all of my children I have used Math-U-See on some level. For Christina, we used it from 6th grade (when we brought her home) until high school.  For Sarah, Anne Mary, David, and Daniel we use it primarily to give a firm foundation for first through third grade math.

Here’s what I love:

I love the manipulatives. We have used them for all the children. It helps me teach them concepts visually and gives them something concrete to touch and use. I can’t tell you how many times they have had questions understanding a concept, then when I use the manipulatives they get it right away.

With just one or two children homeshooling, getting time to work one-on-one with each for math, reading, etc. was no problem. But right now, with two in high school, working and taking dual credit, and three in various activities, plus appointments of all sorts and church and other commitments, sometimes sitting down to do subjects with each child gets lost in the shuffle. I am not terribly worried about it, because Daniel (the one that is needing the most one-on-one help) is young for the math he is doing. If it takes a little longer to get through a subject, he will be fine.

But he does not think it’s fine.  He wants to progress, and quickly.

Then, I was given the opportunity to review the Demme Learning Digital Packs.  I jumped on this chance.

Finally! Daniel can sit down and watch a short video containing the “teacher portion” of a lesson. What’s beautiful is that when Steve Demme is explaining the concepts, he is using the very same manipulatives we use at home. He demonstrates the lesson on a white board and verbally explains the lesson. The manipulatives are even the same color as those we have. This helps further reinforce the concepts in Daniel’s mind.

In addition to covering the lesson, he also goes over review things like skip counting for a couple of minutes at the beginning of each class. Daniel really likes that, and I do, too. I have a hard time remembering to practice those things and it really important. Things that are taught and systematically repeated stick much better than things randomly practiced when I think about it.

Some of the other things I love about the digital packs are some of the other things included:

• Skip counting songs on MP3, so he can play them at his leisure.
• Worksheet Generator: You can select the lesson you are teaching and can review everything up to and including that lesson. You can also selectively pick and choose concepts. For example, he does not need to review (X+0) problems, so I don’t select those. You can print several of these review sheets and use them as extra supplement whenever you need them.
• Online drill: For this you can select which items you want your child drilled on, and he is able to do the math, type in the answer and get immediate feedback. I did not use this much with Daniel (age 5) because I did not feel I could walk away and leave him on the computer. (See further in my review for my thoughts on that matter.)
• You can download a printable skip-counting song book that includes the lyrics, the musical arrangement (very simple) and cute coloring sheets to reinforce the lessons.  We did not use a lot of these, because Daniel was familiar with these from siblings going through math ahead of him. These could be very useful for a mom using Math-U-See for the first time.

What I did not like about the program: I do not like that it is online and is straight through a website. I feel very strongly children should never be left alone with full access to the internet. I would have preferred an app type product, something I could put onto my kindle or an ipad, but have everything else locked out. Using a website requiring a log-in made it a little harder for me. We did use it and love it, but I think he would have used it even more if it did not require my constant supervision.

I was able to sit near him and do other work which helped a lot. Also, Demme’s teaching was so engaging and thorough, I believe Daniel was learning it better from him than he was from me.

There was an additional program we could purchase that included the manipulatives in visual form on an Apple App. Daniel expressed a lot of interest in trying that app. It was not included in this review, so I told him we might try it later.