Uzinggo Review and Giveaway {closed}

As a former teacher and a homeschooling mom, I know many parents are most anxious about teaching middle school and high school math and science.  Homeschooling moms around the world write into Hip Homeschool Moms asking for advice and help in teaching upper level subjects.  Many of their concerns involve their lack of knowledge, time, and ability to do experiments and provide quality instruction.

Our team even hears from public schooling parents about how they can supplement for a child that is struggling in math or science.  I was recently given the opportunity to review and use an online, interactive Math and Science curriculum called Uzinggo.

It is a COMPLETE math and/or science curriculum for grades 5-12.

Uzinggo is perfect for:

The Homeschooler

Any mom or dad that is nervous or lacks the confidence to teach upper level math and science can benefit greatly from Uzinggo.  Their child can independently navigate through the program either as their full curriculum or as a supplement to what you are already using.  We use Sonlight and I can see how this would be an excellent alternative on days I feel like my child didn’t grasp the lesson as well as I’d like.

The Single Parent or Working Parent Homeschooler

Uzinggo takes all the time and guess work out of preparing for the two most important subjects in upper level academics.  If you are a single or working parent and want to have your student at home, Uzinggo is an excellent resource you should look into.  The program offers reports on a regular basis so that you can monitor your students’ progress and know whether they are progressing at the right pace.

The Public Schooler

Perhaps you don’t homeschool all of your children?  Perhaps your middle or high school student needs a math tutor?  Uzinggo is also perfect for your child.  You can easily use the search feature at the top of the program to type in whatever subject your child was working on in school and up will pop a variety of lessons, examples, experiments, and hands on demonstrations to enhance what your child learned in school that day.

How It Works

Registration was quick and easy.  I simply put in my basic contact information, created a username and password for me and my child and that’s it!  I then was taken into the program where I could get started on a ‘ZingPath’ on a particular topic.

For example, if I wanted to begin a complete unit study on Physical Science, my ZingPath would teach in this order:

• Introduction to Physical Science
• Matter and Change
• Atoms and Bonds
• Periodic Table
• Acids and Bases
• Force and Motion
• Work and Energy
• Light, Sound, and Waves
• Electricity and Magnetism
• Heat

 

  

  

Each lesson your child watches includes lessons, ‘virtual’ science experiment with results and guidance through the scientific process (without the mess!), and each step they take is recorded so that you can see where they are having trouble.

The program works the same for Math.  When working in Middle School math, you can select ‘Working with Exponents and Radicals’ and Uzinggo creates 5 mini lessons that takes your student through everything they need to know!  It’s really awesome!

I thought it was equally impressive that most of the lessons are also available in Spanish!

Uzinggo also offers Prep and Review courses for middle school math and science as well as high school.  Again, this program would be well suited for a child in public or private school, not just the homeschooler.

Motivating Students

The program offers many features that appeal to students in 2013.  From creating your own custom Avatar and earning points for awesome prize drawings, your child will have a measurable incentive to do their best everyday.  Badges and rewards including drawings for Target, Amazon, and Fandango gift cards are offered on a regular basis.

Uzinggo also created a uCare lounge where students can create a virtual room and buy animated animals, people, and furniture with the points they’ve earned during lessons.  Other students can vote for the best room and winners are chosen regularly.

This is a unique motivation that is perfectly suited for middle and high school aged students.

   

Cons

When I was participating in the virtual science experiments, I sometimes had technical difficulties and I wasn’t able to get everything to work properly with my mouse.  Customer service is very helpful, however.  Another aspect that might be a concern to some of our readers was the ‘Karma’ points aspect in the rewards section of the program.  I wanted to make sure that any of our readers that have certain religious convictions will be aware of that word and can address it with their students.

All in all, Uzinggo is a go-to all-in-one Math and Science curriculum that takes much of the guess work out of two stressful subjects for the homeschooling parent and child alike!  Their programs start from just $9.95 a month!  An excellent bargain compared to many of curricula on the market.

Buy it!

You can purchase math or science interactive lessons for $9.95/month, or both for $14.95/month.  If you prefer to pay a year at a time, you can get either math or science for $94.95, or both for $134.95.  Uzinggo is graciously offering a 15% discount to HHM readers (thru 9/30).  Use the promo code HHMoms15.

Win it!

Enter to win a one year interactive math and science curriculum for either middle or high school students.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 Disclosure:  one Hip Homeschool Moms team member was given a free trial to Uzinngo in exchange for an honest review of the program.