TOS Crew Review: Math Tutor DVD

As a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew, I was sent two Math Tutor DVDs to review. The first is from the Young Minds series and it's called Numbers and Counting. This DVD shows the students sets of numbers as animals and objects like trucks. There are also some puzzles that allowed you to count to connect dots by counting and a game where you saw part of a picture and the kids had to identify what animal it is.

The Basic Math Word Problem Tutor contains the following topics and has an 8 hour running time:

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

The cost for the Word Problems DVD is $26.99 when ordered from the MathTutor DVD website and $19.99 for the Young Minds DVD. Right now there is an offer to receive 60 minutes of free online live tutoring if you become a MathTutor DVD customer.

The Young Minds DVD I would say is meant for very young children and with the recommendation of kids 2 and under not watching TV (from the American Academy of Pediatrics) I'm not sure it captures the intended audience. J4 enjoyed it at first, but he was not captivated for long. If you are young enough to really enjoy it, you probably shouldn't be watching it.

I had E11 watch the sections on dividing fractions and dividing decimals because those are two things he sometimes mixes up. I thought the instructor was easy to understand and thorough in his explanations. I think this is a great resource if you are having trouble conveying a concept to your student or if you are not a math scholar or even a person who understands the concept well enough to teach it. E11 grew bored quickly because the instructor spends a lot of time explaining the problem before he begins to solve it. E11 is not the kind of student who would benefit from MathTutor DVDs. He likes to read how to do it and get on with it. Typically, this is a great way for him to learn math. However, this would be a great tool for a child who really is stuck. Any parent of a school-aged child could use this series to supplement a math program.