Math Wrap-Ups: Opinions?

[JudoMom]

Are these worth the money? I'm looking for another way to practice math facts. I was considering a kit with 5 wrap-ups (mult, div, add, sub, and fractions) as well as 4 CDs (it looks like they're titled the Wrap-Up Raps?) for $50. Does anyone have the CDs? Are they worth the extra cost or just annoying? TIA :001_smile:.

[In The Great White North]

We had wrap-ups w/o CD and it failed to entertain. Quizzing them for M&Ms in the car worked much better:001_smile:

[Lori D.]

No CDs when we had wrap-ups years ago. My math struggler did use the wraps-up some our first year of homeschooling -- but it seemed to teach him more about memorizing the wrap pattern than the actual math facts. Over the years, we also went through Math Shark, GeoSafari, Times Table the Easy Way, Math-It, and a few other methods.

A combination of skip count tapes, Schoolhouse Rock: Math, and triangle-shaped flashcards are what finally seemed to work here. Triangle flashcards work with number "families" and therefore greatly reduce the number of math facts needed to memorize; for example a card with 6, 7, and 42 in each corner of the card drills 6x7=42, 7x6=42, 42/6=7, 42/7=6 -- depending on which corner you cover up with your thumb.

BEST of luck, whatever you go with! Warmly, Lori D.

[Lucky Mom]

We didn't have the CDs either. The wrap-ups were only fun the first few tries...Maybe the CDs would be more fun, but it does seem like a lot of $$. We used the Math U See drill page (for free).

Lisa

[Chris in VA]

Addition wrap ups didn't work here--just busy work. I'm not sure my daughter really realized the connection between skip counting and multiplication, either.

I just asked her--she said it (skip counting) only makes her know them in order, and doesn't really help when I "throw them at her, like 8x6!"

[JudoMom]

Thanks for the responses. I guess I'll put my money toward something else (my mom gave me some $ and I'd like to buy something(s) for school). We're spending the next few weeks cementing math facts, so I'm looking for something else to add to our fact sheets, 3 corner flash cards, math war games, and Quarter Mile Math.

Any suggestions?

[Stacia]

My kids seemed to like the wrap-ups ok, but the biggest issue w/ them (imo) was that a wrap-up is hard for little hands to hold -- it was hard for them to juggle holding the non-used part, while maneuvering the string into the correct indentions on the other part. And, I don't think it was a coordination issue on the part of my kids because they're both pretty physically adept & good at handling tiny things too, but wrap-ups just seemed awkward.

I recently sold all of ours at a used curriculum sale.

Maybe you could spend your $ on a fun math game -- like Muggins math or something. Or a book w/ dice games, etc....

[Narrow Gate Academy]

We don't have the cds either, but my girls love the addition and multiplication wrap ups. DD2 has used the addition one extensively to work on her addition facts. We time each key to see how fast they can solve them, which seems to make it lots of fun.

[Kathy in MD]

..... My math struggler did use the wraps-up some our first year of homeschooling -- but it seemed to teach him more about memorizing the wrap pattern than the actual math facts. ........


My ds also memorized the wrap pattern. A big waste!

The only thing that helped him was Math the Fun Way, followed by about a year of drill. The drill didn't work until ds had the stories to help him.

citycreek.com

[kalanamak]

filllllller

[Mamagistra]

Any suggestions?

I'm looking at Flashmaster (http://www.flashmaster.com), which has been recommended by many here. :)