Mand Labs Lit: A Timberdoodle Review

This is a sponsored post. Timberdoodle was kind enough to give our family this product in exchange for a review. And you know me, the opinions are always my own honest thoughts.

More and more, school here at Wildwood is less hands on for me and more independent work for the kids.  Especially my high school students. Many of their classes are self-directed.

Like all sorts of educational matters, this is both a victory and a loss sort of situation. On the one hand, hooray for work that I don’t have to lead you through.  Hooray for working out something in your own mind and with your own skills entirely. On the other hand, I feel a disconnect with what they are studying sometimes.

This has been our high school experience in many ways. A freedom and a nostalgic sadness for what was.

Alas.

But also – thank goodness.

There are several subjects that are not in my wheelhouse. Science and math rank high on that list. Therefore, I am on the lookout at all times for ways to navigate that maze and to encourage my kids to explore topics in those fields at their own pace. I am thrilled when there is a way for my students to engage in a meaningful manner with numbers or with scientific laws and methods.

The Mand Labs Kit fits that bill.  It’s appeal was very high to my ninth grader, Bergen. In fact, when the package arrived – it kind of felt like Christmas to him.  I had to make a few guidelines, because I didn’t want him to just play with all of the fun science and lab stuff, but I wanted him to actually use the program.

He’s taking a science class at our co-op so this will be supplemental work for him this year, but I think it would fit really well with a curriculum.  

You can see the kit on Timberdoodle’s website here.

First – the kit is cleverly and intelligently designed.  And I so appreciate that.  There’s a spot for everything and it’s easy even for my highly distracted and wildly untidy son to put it all back in place.  I love this because it makes me not despise the sight of this kit.  In other words, he can set the kit on the table, work on it for an afternoon, and then slide all of the pieces back in their boxes and the boxes back in their assigned drawers and then – voila –  the entire kit can be closed up and set in his room on the shelf.

That’s magic to me.

It’s a very detailed kit. We have not worked our way through the entire accompanying guide book yet and honestly haven’t tapped into the online discussions available yet either, but I like the fact that Bergen has still been able to experiment and learn without even doing the online part yet.

He doesn’t even see this as class or school.  He just sees it as fun and interesting. There are circuits, switches, sensors, wires, probes, pliers and more.

The kit itself is part of the ninth grade curriculum package available form Timberdoodle. (You can see that entire curriculum here.) 

I love that this kit can be stand alone or part of your science curriculum.  I love that Berg can pace himself and dig as deep into a particular topic as he wants. I love that it’s a one stop shop. I don’t have to remember to order various parts online. Everything (EVERYTHING) he needs to complete each experiment and project and assignment is in the one tidy box. One and done.  That is something that is becomingly increasingly valuable to my homeschool day after day.

After we’ve worked a few more months with this kit, I’ll come back and update this post too.

Right now, though, the selling points are strong – well organized, tidy, clever design, thorough supply list, self-paced schedule, flexible as an add on or as a solid part of the curriculum.

I’m so thankful for solid science options for a teacher like me, who fears the science at times – and for a kid like Bergen, who adores the experiments and the science. 

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