Professor B Math E-Learning a Schoolhouse Crew Review

If you’re like me, you’ve not heard of Professor B Math before.  Wow!  Have we been missing out.  Professor B is Professor Everard Barrett, a math professor with over 30 years experience in helping children achieve amazing success in math.  The latest means to accomplish this is the Instant Master Teacher E-Learning program.  This is completely in-line with the parent teaching.  The philosophy behind Professor B is what made me fall in love before we had started our first lesson.

    If two people tell the same story, their words are different (and also different from the original version) but the events are the same and are recalled in the same sequence. Hence there is no intentional and laborious memorization of words, as in the learning of a poem. What children effortlessly (naturally) perceive, receive and retain from a story, therefore, is the structured connection and flow of its events: its internal contextual dynamics of relationships. If I say the words “woods”, “wolf”, “grandma”, they are likely to immediately reactivate, after all these years, a structured dynamics of relationships entitled “Little Red Riding Hood”. This is the genius in virtually all children for learning mathematics. Our methodology activates this universal genius for mastery learning of math by ensuring that children experience it the same way they experience stories: as connected and flowing. Similar to their experiences with stories, children will then learn and retain math without memorization or remediation: two of the major pillars of conventional mathematics education. 

This fits so well with our Charlotte Mason leanings and natural learning methods.  What if you, the parent, lack confidence in math?  What if you are unsure how to teach?  That is where the Instant Master Teacher part of the program comes in.  The lessons are scripted and illustrated step by step so you don’t have to be a math genius to help your child to be one.  Simply sit down with your child and read the lessons with him.  The words of the bee are what you read.  Your child is learning (truly learning, not just memorizing) math and you are learning how to teach it.

Because of this natural learning, not forced and fragmented memorization, your child can learn the equivalent of 3 years worth of traditional math in as little as 10 months (roughly one school year).  This is great for those students who have struggled and may not be “at grade level” or the child that easily “gets it” and is bored by traditional curricula.

I have been working with just two of my learners with this program.  My soon-to-be 4th grader and soon-to-be 3rd grader.  These two girls could not be more different in their feelings for math.  The older of the two, H, has “hated” math pretty much “forever”.  This is the first math she has enjoyed doing and that she understands – thoroughly.  The lessons are paced just right for her and she is really enjoying the time of just the 2 of us working together.

Her younger sister, L, is our “math whiz”.  She quickly catches on to most math she is presented and loves to go through math workbooks just for fun.  She did not enjoy this as much.  The pace is a bit too slow for her.  The lesson we did on place value and place name was especially tedious for her.  I did figure out halfway through the lesson that I could skip through the repetitive parts.  Not that you can skip the middle of the lesson, but I could go to the next part without waiting for that section to be finished.  This eliminated a lot of the repetition–I wish I had tried it sooner for her.

Both of these girls are visual learners.  The bit of basic animation was very helpful for some of the concepts that weren’t quite sticking with use of manipulatives and traditional means.  The break up of the lessons into shorter (most of the time) “chunks” fits well with our way of doing school.  I appreciate and understand the way Professor B is set up to be done with a teacher (parent or sibling) and not just to park your learner in front of a screen.  I just wish we had more than one computer (and probably a few more minutes in my day) to use it with all of my children.

We have been blessed with 12 months access, so I look forward to rotating my learners and spending some time with my soon-to-be 1st grader and Pre-K 4 year old daughter with this as well.  There are pdf workbooks to continue the learning away from the screen as well.  I like being able to use the same program with multiple children.  There is not a built in tracker for where you are in the lessons.  This is both a problem and a blessing.  I can easily pick up where I need to depending upon which child I am working with.  I keep track on one of my handy index cards where we are with each child.

You can check out samples for Professor B Math E-Learning or even sign up for a free 30 day trial (call 678-765-6655).  You can pay month to month at a rate of $20 for one level.  You can add a second level for $15 and the third for $10.  There is a placement test for determining the best level as well as information as to what is covered in each level on this page.  There is also the option for a longer subscription – just call or e-mail (info@profb.com) for the details.  You can find Professor B Math on Facebook, too!

Other members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew also reviewed Professor B Math E-Learning.  Their reviews can be found from the Schoolhouse Crew blog.