Pre-Algebra with Mr. D Math for Middle School

^{Disclaimer: We received this product for review purposes. As always, we are not required to write a positive review. All opinions are honest and my own. This post may contain affiliated links.}

We have an up-and-coming middle schooler here and we are starting to explore Middle School core courses and electives to fulfill our state’s requirements.

Aside from our required core subjects, we have the option to choose electives in different areas such as photography, journalism, swimming, art, foreign language, and/or music, which can be pretty fun because it gives us the chance to study something we normally wouldn’t.

We were given the opportunity to review both Mr. D. Math’s ASL and Pre-Alegra courses.

What is Mr. D Math?

Dennis DiNoia, the creator of Mr, D Math, holds an M.A. in Education from the University of South Florida and has been a Florida State Certified Secondary Mathematics Teacher since 1988. Mr. D Math courses are designed for middle school and high school students. His focus is from Pre-Algebra to Pre-Calculus with Trigonometry.

Quick Overview:

Mr. D Math has a variety of Live or Self-Paced (pre-recorded) Middle School/High School level Math courses and elective courses to choose from and uses HIS OWN curriculum.

Details

Grade/Age: 6th Grade+
Parent Involvement: Minimum parent oversight; Independent work
Schedule: The pre-recorded/self-paced lessons are set up to be completed within 34 weeks, however, it may still be considered flexible to some. You work at your own pace but, you have until March 1st of the following year to complete the content. Example, you sign up in September 2022, you have until March 1st, 2024 to complete.
Product Format: Online Courses

How We Used it

ASL: I watched the pre-recorded video alongside both my 8-year old and 10-year-old, once or twice a week, and then we practiced with each other throughout the week. Mostly, they practiced with each other. My kids thought that the instructor spoke too fast, however, there’s an easy fix; we slowed down the video speed and paused and rewind when needed. Afterward, they would try to have “secret” conversations.

Pre-Algebra: I sat alongside my son to observe if it was interesting enough for him to sit mostly still and pay attention. It was. He liked it because he saw the problems as code to break. Idk. He sees the world differently than I do. I liked it because Mr. D teaches Math as a language. The way he breaks down the problems teaches the child to “read” the expressions through a math lens and replace them with symbols and numbers.

Also, the pre-recorded lessons are about 10-15 minutes long. The voice-over isn’t NOT annoying. (that’s helpful). Even though this is a video recording, there are practice worksheets that can be printed and answers along with them. Sidenote: We really are heavy on the honor system here, so the self-correction option is super handy in our home.

How the Math Lessons are set up: There are 12 chapters, and each chapter has about 8 units. In every unit, there are about 15- 20 videos/class. All classes are set up the same, video instructions, course work, extra practice sheets, and solutions. At the end of each chapter, there is a spiral review (quiz ~ 5 questions) then an online test (~ 10 questions); all multiple choice.

Full Transparency: After a few lessons, we stopped using it. Not because it is boring, actually my son wanted to keep going, but we haven’t finished his current math curriculum. I need him to master Fractions and Decimals before we head over to upper-level math. But I do hope to revisit this platform in the next year, if he is ready.

Costs

The pre-recorded lessons are at a one-time fee of $197, which includes live teacher support (3x a week) and daily email support. However, if you want to bump that up to include weekly schedule live support it’s an additional $290 one-time payment OR $29 per month for 10 months. (Aug-May Classes). That’s a total of $487 for a one-year course.

Nice Bonus

Mr. D Math really tries to create a sense of community/connection between the instructors and students with monthly contests (video submissions) and prizes, student appreciation posts and weekly announcements.

Overall Impressions

This is what I like about it:

✔️Promotes Independent Student Learning
✔️Flexible – Allows students to learn at their own pace using Pre-Recorded Videos
✔️User-friendly Platform
✔️Leans on Visual Learning but has an option to print out coursework
✔️Encourges Self-Correction

The online platform is very kid-friendly. Both kids were able to navigate the website fairly quickly after walking through it once. My daughter is more inclined to want to learn ASL, so she will happily login to practice during her downtime. However, in our opinion, learning a visual language via pre-recorded videos, without true immersion, is not the most efficient way to learn a second language. I’m not sure if it is worth the cost.

We are happy to recommend Mr. D Math’s Math course; homeschooled or not. The coursework isn’t overwhelming and very low pressure. The video lessons are short and sweet. The classwork takes about 15 minutes to do, at most. Mr. D Math encourages self-correction via classwork and/or quizzes. The child can retake the exams as many times as they want until they reach their goals.

However, some might feel there are not enough practice questions or enough spiral learning. There are no actual challenging (IMO) word problems. This is considered a full curriculum may be enough on its own, but I know me, and I’m extra, I will most likely buy a separate workbook for word problems and extra practice.

I hope you found this review helpful in some way. If you do plan use enroll your kids, please consider using my affiliate link. It really helps to keep this site running and most importantly, finance my homeschool books addiction. HAHA #homeschoolhumor

Wanna know more?

You can start your self-paced/prerecorded courses anytime.

We are very appreciative of Mr. D Math for allowing us the opportunity to review his courses. If you like to see how my fellow Melanated Gold Review Squad Members felt about Mr. D Math and their products, please click on the banner.