Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew
I’ve been noticing over the past few months that Grasshopper’s current math course hasn’t been challenging him very much. For this reason, I applied to review Educo Learning Center with him. We received a one-year subscription and matching workbook from Educo International Inc. for him to work with. I chose the 4th grade level because that’s where he is developmentally and in his math skills.
As I just mentioned, Educo is a combination online learning center and physical workbook. In order to access the online content, each student requires their own email to log in (separate from the parent email used for the educator dashboard). I used my main email for the parent side and one of my supplemental emails (the one I normally use for newsletters and giveaways) for Grasshopper’s student login. Once your student logs in and chooses the level they’re working on (we only have the single, 4th grade level in our dashboard), you’re taken to the lessons page. There are lots of options on this page. You can have your student take a pre-test or post-test for the entire unit, watch the unit tutorials, download practice sheets (which are basically the workbook pages), and take a post-lesson quiz on each section. I started by having my son take the small quizzes, one per day, until we got to a section he didn’t do so well on. That gave us a good place to start the program.
The tutorials are semi-interactive. You have to click each section before it will start, and rather than being a video lesson, it’s more like a Powerpoint presentation. You have to read the information and click each slide in order to continue. When the lesson is finished, you can have your student work through the workbook pages, or do the digital practice sheets.
In order to open the individual presentations and PDF practice pages, you have to turn your popup blocker off. I found this a bit frustrating, not because it’s a difficult thing to do (just click the “options” at the top of the internet page and allow them for the one specific website), but because the lessons then opened in another window instead of another tab. I prefer to run tabs; it’s easier for my mind to wrap around. I can understand why they might do it in new windows, though – it keeps everything cleaner for a child, and they’re less likely to accidentally click into the wrong tab.
The workbook pages are very good. They match the lessons very well, and they also give plenty of space for the student to write their answers. This is a common problem with math workbooks – they’ll often skimp on writing space because it’s “just numbers,” but little kids have big handwriting! It’s really nice to have a workbook that understands this and accommodates it.
When I asked Grasshopper this morning if he wanted to go back to his old math program or continue with Educo, he said he wanted to switch over to Educo. I wholeheartedly agree with his request – it’s a very complete program!
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Blessings,
