Math-U-See

I mentioned in a journal post a week or so ago that we'd ordered, and received, the books and blocks of the Math-U-See curriculum. At the time I mentioned it in relation to my fear of a strict curriculum and an inability to find a way to use it that was loose and open. In retrospect I laugh, and I also chide myself for not knowing better. It's not like anyone was saying to me "hey, you bought it, now you must read and follow the directions." And it's not like I don't have a mind of my own. And when the the pages upon pages of study, test, and review seemed a little daunting at first I just let Calvin do as he would with them and put it out of my mind until I was more comfortable.

We picked the blocks back up this week because while we were exploring the middle ages I wanted him to have a better grasp of the time difference, and he also seemed interested in this. If this is to be a review I will first say that, just as I suspected, the books are both unnecessary and a little dry for my taste. That being said, Calvin seems to enjoy having the practice work sheets to play around with and if I just let him do what he likes with them they get at least a little use so they aren't a total waste.

The blocks, though, are exactly the manipulative I was looking for. They provide a very visible, tangible element to conceptual learning—ten units make a ten, ten tens make a hundred, and you can be absolutely sure of this not because someone said so, but because you can see them, feel them, count them, compare them, and snap them together. Calvin took to the concept quickly and smoothly, and he really enjoyed the exercise as well. The blocks are relatively nice. I love their weight and feel and, though I'm usually a bigger fan of wood than plastic, I like how well these blocks snap together, which is something wood blocks wouldn't really do.

My only real disappointment is that we paid good money for the storage boxes which we were assured had been made especially for these specific sets of blocks, and all of them fit in nicely, albeit with a few gaps in some of the partitioned squares, except for two of the tens. Really? You're selling custom made wood boxes, at $40 for the pair, and you couldn't even custom make them to hold all of the blocks in your double set??? Even I can look at the boxes and see where a partition could have been shifted in one direction just enough to make room for those two tens, and these blocks are not my livelihood. It may be a little thing but I think I'm going to harp on this one for a while, and the company will probably get an annoyed letter.

So we'll see how things continue to play out, but for right now the blocks themselves get my A vote, the books get my B vote, and the boxes are an utter failure.

Comments

[Ethan Demme]

Glad you are using and enjoying the blocks. Here is a brief explanation of the extra tens.

We recently added extra blocks to our set which made it so two of the tens don't fit in the wooden box. We are in the process of redoing the wooden boxes to accommodate the extra tens but we went ahead and added extra blocks before we had finished with the wooden boxes.

I'm sorry for the inconvenience and if you would like to return the boxes we will take them back.

The address for annoyed letters is PO Box 8888 Lancaster, PA 17604

Feel free to email me if you have any other issues.

Thanks,