Eedi – affordable online maths support for kids + win an iPad

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Today I’ve teamed up with Eedi, the online maths support tool, to help you give your kids the confidence they need to thrive at maths. We’re also giving away a brand new iPad, so read on for more details!

 

I watched an interesting series of Instagram stories this morning from my friend Fritha all about maths. She was talking about the process of teaching her son, Wilf, maths at home and how it brought back traumatic memories of her own experiences of maths at school.

‘When Wilf started explaining the maths he is doing,’ said Fritha, ‘my head just said ‘I’m not good at this, I don’t understand.’ My brain just switches off and starts panicking. I was ‘top set’ throughout high school, largely because I had so many coping strategies to ensure I kept up, which involved lots of memorising. Because I got left behind somewhere in primary school though it was fully high stress, surviving and getting A grades but with no actual understanding of what I was doing. I basically had a breakdown during my last year of school and just wrote ‘x = 4′ for an entire paper.’

I wonder how many people this would resonate with when it comes to maths? That feeling of getting by under the radar, but without the real understanding or self-belief to thrive?

I know that I was lucky in that maths always came easily to me at school and I loved the buzz of new concepts slotting into place in my brain. As I got older though, through A-level maths, my degree and then actuarial training, there were definitely times where I felt lost and it was honestly terrifying. I would look at the page and genuinely just not have a clue what I was reading or how to make it make sense and it gave me, albeit later in life, an insight into how so many children must feel doing maths at school.

I actually taught maths one-to-one during university as a part-time job, and what I learned through that was that so much of maths is just about confidence, about overcoming that instinct where your brain starts to panic and believing that you can do it, that you can understand – it might just take some time or someone to explain it in a different way.

Ironically I didn’t seem to be able to transfer this to supporting my own children with their maths, and would often find myself frustrated, snapping at them – ‘just LOOK! It’s obvious!’ NOT helpful parenting at all.

If Eedi had been around when my children were younger I would have definitely signed up and spared us all my impatience.

Eedi is an online maths platform for children that really taps into that idea of confidence being key. It focuses on children in years 6, 7 and 8, where habits and beliefs about yourself and your abilities are really starting to solidify and where that extra confidence can have a real impact.

Children can choose to study any topic, at any level, at any time, whether it’s to do their homework, revise for tests or stay ahead by learning new topics. Over 100,000 children, parents and teachers use and trust Eedi and 98% of children say they feel more confident after just one lesson, which is an amazing statistic isn’t it?

I spoke to Sally*, a year six teacher, about why this age group is key and how she saw Eedi helping to support learning.

‘My current year six class is really struggling,’ says Sally. ‘They’ve only just come back into school and I can see already that so many of them have lost their confidence with maths especially, even though I’ve been doing my best, alongside parents, to keep them engaged. As hard as we try, we’ve just not been able to give them the one to one attention they need – even without the pandemic that’s hard enough, but the last 12 months have made it virtually impossible.’

‘Year six is such a pivotal year,’ explains Sally. ‘It’s when you’re preparing them for the transition to secondary school, where everything is going to be new, the pace is faster, and teachers don’t have that existing relationship with each student. If a child’s confidence is undermined at this stage, it can be hard to come back from. I can totally see how Eedi could make a difference – being able to practice the concepts they struggle with, and watching worked through examples is really useful. Anything that helps children to feel more capable and confident is a huge plus.’

So is Eedi just another database of maths tutors?

No. Eedi is something very different and much more affordable. Rather than pay a lot of money for hourly sessions once a week with a teacher, Eedi membership gives you unlimited access to as many online lessons as you like, plus live teacher support. Lessons are conducted via chat on a laptop or tablet, rather than voice or face to face video calling, as Eedi’s research has shown that children find this more engaging. Lessons last around 20-35 minutes on average.

Children are given questions relating to the particular topic they want help with and if they get the questions wrong they are supported with worked example videos and additional questions. Difficulty is adapted over the course of the lesson to meet individual need.

 

When you first create an account as a parent you get to trial a topic test and a short lesson so you know exactly what to expect, before showing your child around and helping them get set up.

The chat based lessons look just like your child is chatting to a friend and are very easy to navigate. In fact, I found the whole set up process very clear and intuitive. At no point was I stuck for what I was meant to do next.

I could totally see Belle absolutely loving Eedi when she was younger. She’s always struggled with face to face interactions and has never liked asking for help, so this kind of chat based lesson would have been ideal for her – all the benefits of personalised support but delivered in a much more low pressure way.

How much does Eedi cost?

When you first sign up to Eedi you get a completely free two week trial, to give you the opportunity to make sure it’s right for your child. After this Eedi costs just £7.99 a month, less than £2 per week.

If you use my code though – SLUMMYMUMMY – you can get your first three months of Eedi at half price.

How can Eedi be so cheap compared to an online tutor?

Eedi uses smart technology to augment what its teachers can do, meaning they can offer a much more affordable but equally effective solution. Much of this comes with the prep work and years of experience of their teachers. They’ve mapped all of the topics that children need to cover each year. For each topic, there are dedicated videos and resources, covering questions and common misconceptions.

The live chat lessons use smart algorithms to identify what content would help each child learn better. Eedi also monitors lessons at scale, and focuses on children who are not making progress during lessons. Armed with a lot more context, teachers can jump in to intervene as required.

Win an iPad with Eedi

Eedi is currently available on laptop or tablet and so Eedi has very generously agreed to offer Slummy Single Mummy readers the chance to win an 10.2 inch 32GB iPad RRP £329 PLUS a whole year of Eedi completely free!

To be in with a chance to win, simply complete as many of the entry mechanisms as you can in the widget below. The first one takes you to Eedi to sign up for their newsletter – signing up is worth three entries and unlocks the bonus entries so make sure you tick this one off first!

The competition will close at 11.59pm on March 31st 2021 and full T&Cs apply.

Good luck and don’t forget to go and visit Eedi to find out more about how Eedi can help your child gain the confidence they need to succeed in maths. Get three months half price with the code SLUMMYMUMMY.

 

Win an iPad + a year’s subscription to Eedi

*Not her real name