Hi, Everyone,

DS8 and I decided to work on Descartes Cove, but it's been so long that we can't remember/figure out how to operate the dial on the first thing - where it asks 1 yd. = how many square feet. Can't type the answer in the box, and can't figure out how to move the dial. If we put the cursor in the very center, it turns green, but we still can't seem to turn the dial.

Any help?

And sorry for the boring post. It's been a busy fall and I do check in to at least read from time to time. Hello to everyone and welcome to all the new people who've joined in the last few months.

Sorry, questions! We don't have Descartes Cove, so I can't be of any help. But I have downloaded the demo and the game looks wonderful. So if you find your answer, could you report back about what you think of the game? The level of challenge that it provides, verses the cost of the game? I would love to hear from you, or others, who have tried it!!

Hopefully, someone else will chime in with the answer...

Try dragging the little pointer on the dial.

Be aware that the Homeschool Buyers' Co-op has this for $105 instead of $150. Still pricey, but not nearly so much! Anyone can join the co-op--afterschoolers welcome! They often have some really good deals.

https://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/index.php?option=com_epp_offer&Itemid=689

Note also the FREE math videos--pre-alg, algebra, & geometry--if you use the 100 Smartpoints that you get for joining the co-op:

http://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/hotmath-school-videos/

Sorry for the "commercial" (har har!), but it seemed relevant to the discussion.

Yes, that's where we got it.

Ebeth, DS8 loves it, but he needs my help setting up the problems. He's only had 3rd grade math.

Cathy, that's what I thought but it won't move. Very frustrating!

That's weird. I wonder if the software is somehow incompatible with your mouse. We can just click and drag the pointer where we want it to go.

Thanks Kriston!!

I went looking for the game on the Homeschool Buyers' Co-op a few weeks ago, just after we watched the demo movie. For some reason, it would not load the page back then, and I concluded that the deal was over. I'm quite happy to see that it still exists!! $105 is still pricey, particularly with holiday bills approaching. But I am being very, very tempted! A nice review from someone would definitely push me over the spending edge!

Questions, what type of computer are you using? And are you using the full version or the trial?

BTW, I can't seem to find the trial version link. If anyone has it, please post. I'll poke around a little more.

JB

Questions: I just saw your post after having wondered away for a bit. It sounds like a great game. I could see from the demo movie that the problems were pretty challenging. One of the problems on the movie was an algebra problem with 3 equations and 3 unknowns. I'm not sure if my DS8 will be motivated by it or frustrated by it. Hopefully that is one of the harder problems.... ?

It is mostly geared for middle schoolers, ebeth, so it is NOT easy material. We have it--I couldn't resist the group buy. But I haven't given it to DS7 yet. He's not quite there yet.

My goal is to use it as a motivator to learn the stuff. I don't think it's for teaching the math so much as it is for using what they've learned in a problem-solving manner once they know it.

Oh, and some of the levels are definitely easier than others. I think DS will do well with the geometry and the measurement levels already. That should keep him busy for a while, while we gradually get to the pre-algebra, algebra and other stuff.

Does that help at all?

DS and I do Descartes Cove together. He is fascinated by it and will work on it with me for an hour at a time. I'm teaching him math the way DH teaches the kids to cook. He sees me do math, I talk about the problem solving process, explain definitions and I let him do little jobs like add up numbers (chop celery?) and anything else that he already knows how to do.

That way he is exposed to lots of interesting concepts and higher level reasoning. He loves it so I figure it can't hurt

Yes, I think that's probably a very nice mom/son time.

That's what I'm probably going to do unless the problem is something that DS7 has already mastered. Then hopefully he could do it on his own. We'll see...

Hi,

I'm back. Restarted the computer today and the dial was working again. Weird. (And I'm using the full version on a PC with Vista Ultimate)

Even though my DS couldn't possibly do Descartes Cove on his own, I ordered it to take advantage of the favorable pricing and figured I'd put it away for a while. Then I opened it to see what it looked like and DS wanted to try it - and loves it. I was following Cathy's lead on this one - math enrichment with mom (Thanks for posting that info a while ago, Cathy).

We started with measurement, as that is all calculations. There are conversions from square inches to square yards, Fahrenheit to C, some exponents, nanometers, etc. I'd have to tell DS what the various units were and then help him set up the multiplication problem. Figured then he could learn to multiply 3.67 x 42 and learn about decimals, etc.

Quite frankly, he has no clue what he's doing, but he hated math after EPGY last year and he wants to spend a day doing Descartes Cove. So I figure let him have fun while making him do the calculations and he'll start to absorb it - and maybe start to enjoy math. He's always learned better by stealth mode anyway - while doing something else, he absorbs the information. I think this is a better introduction for him than a piece of paper with all the conversion formulas on it.

Of course, he's had rather unique issues in school.

One thing I really like about Descartes Cove is the "secret" book with definitions in it. That way, if DS needs to know a definition (what is a perfect number?) to do a problem, it teaches him not to just throw up his hands and say, "I don't know how to do this!" Instead, we can look it up in the book or use the gold coins to buy a hint.

I've also let him use a calculator for some calculations that he doesn't know how to do yet. The problems take us a long time (and a lot of diagrams and scratch paper) to do. But he seems to enjoy them because they are not repetitious.