Math Essentials Review

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way

My 7th grader is learning Algebra she is quickly discovering that this is not her area of expertise. I have decided that maybe we need to try a different approach and that approach is Math Essentials  you can find it at https://www.mathessentials.net/. Pricing is currently $35.95 considering it includes videos I consider this a fair price. We are using Math Essentials No- Nonsense Algebra as a supplemental and this is how it went.

No-Nonsense Algebra is a complete algebra program that includes free online video tutorials. So every lesson in the book has a video lesson to go along with it. The lessons are taught by Richard W. Fisher. The book consist of 10 chapters:

Chapter 1- Necessary Tools for Algebra
Chapter 2- Solving Equations 
Chapter 3- Graphing and Analyzing Linear Equations 
Chapter 4- Solving and Graphing Inequalities 
Chapter 5- System of Linear Equations and Inequalities
Chapter 6- Polynomials
Chapter 7- Rational Expressions
Chapter 8- Radical Expressions and Geometry 
Chapter 9- Quadratic Equations 
Chapter 10- Algebra Word Problems

The Goal of  Mastering Essentials Math Skills No-Nonsense Algebra is to explain algebra in a way that is easy to understand with shot, concise, self- contained lessons. 

Mastering Essentials Math Skills No-Nonsense Algebra explains algebra in a way that is easy to understand in short, concise, self-contained lessons.

The lessons take around 20 minutes a day to do. We are using this as a supplemental program to help with some of the topics she is having trouble with.  We start each lesson off by watching the video. My daughter goes to the website and at the top she goes to the video library and click which ever video she needs for the lesson she is on. She can then watch a video for the lesson she is currently working on. The videos give her an explanation using an example problem. She says she really likes the videos and says that so far they are easy to understand but felt that they needed to go through more examples so she be sure she had the steps for doing the problem down.

We then move on to the workbook. She thinks the workbook is easy to follow and gives her plenty of questions to practice on. I love how the book is laid out. At the top of each page it tells the student which lesson they are on. At the bottom it gives the chapter. Then each lesson gives you an introduction with helpful hints on how to do the problems. Then down below it will give you some example problems, that are done for you. She calls these the remind me how its done problems. Below that are the practice problems and some review problems which are done to review things learned in previous lesson. I really like that it gives the student review questions so they are not forgetting what they have worked on in previous lessons. 

At the back of the book you will find chapter reviews and chapter test as well as solutions to all the questions and test. You will also find some charts with important formulas and symbols, multiplication tables, commonly used prime numbers, squares and square roots and fraction/decimal equivalents. My daughter wishes the charts were made to be tore out so she could laminate them. That way she could look at them when needed with out having to flip to the back of the book. 

I feel like both the book and the videos give a good coverage of the topics that are included in the curriculum. I don't think there it would be enough content to last an entire school year but it is  a great supplemental program or even a great summer curriculum to fill in any gaps a student might have. 

Social Media Links:

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/math.essentials

LearnBop for Families Review

Its Math time everyone LearnBop is the name of the game. We have been testing out a 12 month subscription to LearnBop for Families  family plan for 2-4 students, as part of our summer learning program. They also have a plan available for a single student. 

LearnBop is a self-paced online math program. It is designed for grades 3-12. It gives you child a one on one learning experience that provides immediate math help. It can be used on a PC or a tablet. We tried it out on an Ipad as well as a PC. Both worked equally well. 

You start out by choosing a road map for your child. You can choose between grade levels or just. Once you have set up the roadmap your child then does a warm-up for each unit to identify any gaps in knowledge that they might need to work on. LearnBop then personalized the roadmap to fit your child's needs. As they work through the roadmap they learn from thousands of videos and step- by step instructions. There is a great progress tracker for the child so they can see how well they are doing along the way. There is also a parent section that shows you just what your child is learning and how they are doing on each section.

My soon to be 4th grader was the one to use this program. Math is her least favorite subject. She started off frustrated, right out of the gate she felt overwhelmed by the questions that were offered on the warm-up. The first one was a word problem and she feels overwhelmed with those. I told her to just do her best and move on. She got through the warm-up and was placed at the beginning of 3rd grade which discouraged her. Multiplication and division are not her strong points in math. She just needs more practice so I encouraged her to start at the beginning and give the program a chance. As she moves through the bops. It gives her a math problem if she can't answer it she can click Hint and it will give her a hint on how to solve it she can also click next hint if she still needs more help. If you do a problem wrong it gives you a chance to try again. If you get it right it tell's you GREAT JOB! and you move on to the next questions. She loves seeing it tell her great job. There are video lessons available. We like video lessons both of my girls find video lessons helpful. After working through several videos I ask her what she though of them. She said the videos explained the lesson well and she could usually understand what she needed to do. They were a step by step kind of video lesson which I find works well for my kids. She doesn't seem to mind watching them which is a plus. I think the combination of videos and hints when she is working on a problem is slowly helping to build her confidence. It is good to see her work through each bop at her own pace. 

She is slowly working her way though the road map its taking time we probably are not as far as some of the other review families, but she needs that time to improve those skills she struggles with. I am seeing subtle improvements in things she was struggling with before. She is working out problems faster and she is less fearful of the word problems that intimidated her before.We will be continuing to use LearnBop as our summer math program to continue building on those areas that are still hard for her. 


Each Crew member used LearnBop in a different way or on a different level. Be sure to click the banner to read what they have to say. I would love for you to share this post on your facebook accounts.

Social Media Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LearnBop
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LearnBop @LearnBop