I don’t know about your BrownBoyGenius, but Le Kid hates worksheets. Back when we were homeschooling, anytime I approached him with a math or English worksheet he would immediately rebel. After having to battle over worksheets almost daily, I decided I needed to figure out what actually worked for him. And like so many other kids, that meant digital content.
Because my son loves tech gadgets—the iPad, Xbox, and lately my laptop—I’m always on the hunt for web-based educational apps and websites that will keep him entertained and help him brush up on new skills.
UMIGO (pronounce “you me go”) is a vibrant site full of short “appisodes” and activities that’ll help your genius fortify his math skills. Each lesson helps kids improve their effective reasoning and problem solving abilities in such a fun and engaging way they won’t even know they’re learning.
So far, UMIGO, which is short for “you make it go,” is only geared toward children in first and second grade. Although Le Kid is heading to the fourth grade in the fall, I still sat down with him to have him assess the site.
His verdict? “It’s fun!”
See, you can even do UMIGO in bed.
The colorful website was super easy to navigate, and included both visual clues like the big green GO button and sound clues to help kids find their way around each lesson.
UMIGO covers topics like skip counting, measurement, addition, fractions, and greater than/less than through catchy songs (that will get stuck in your head, don’t say I didn’t warn you), and interactive quizzes. By the way, if your kid does enjoy worksheets (uh, I did growing up), UMIGO also has downloadable handouts and activities you and your child can work on offline as well. And here’s an added bonus: each lesson is aligned to Common Core standards, so you know it’s legit!
Sample offline activity.
While Le Kid and I really liked trying out UMIGO (and he even got up and danced to the “Pizza Party” song on fractions), my one gripe is that the lessons and activities aren’t extended to all elementary levels. It would be cool to use something like UMIGO’s appisodes and songs to help kids with multiplication and division, something Le Kid is still trying to master, or higher-level math. But hopefully, that’s in the works.
On June 19, UMIGO kicked off the Summer of UMIGO, which aims to help kids beat the dreaded “summer slide” where they either forget a lot of what they learned during the school year, or just fall behind. UMIGO has also partnered with the National Summer Learning Association, which hopes to reach 700,000 (!!) kids this summer through both online and in-person learning events (find one near you).
Overall, both Le Kid and I enjoyed UMIGO and I think it’s another great tool to help your BrownBoyGenius extend his learning this summer. And thanks to partial funding by the US Department of Education, UMIGO is also FREE to use! You can’t beat that!
Have you used UMIGO? Share your thoughts below!
p.s.: You can find UMIGO on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
Disclosure: This post was made possible by support from UMIGO. However, all opinions are my own.
