Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew
We have friends that love martial arts and we have always been impressed with the character traits and physical skill that come from participating in martial arts. However, our family has never participated due to time constraints and other activities. That is until last month when we were given the opportunity to review Family Mixed Martial Arts Videos Preschool Mixed Martial Arts with my six-year-old son. This program from Family Mixed Martial Arts Videos is all digital and asynchronous which was a great fit for our busy family.
When the opportunity arose, I asked my son about it and he was immediately on board. He had already been somewhat interested in martial arts, because some of his friends are heavily involved, so this was a great chance to give it a try.
Product Description
Family Mixed Martial Arts Videos Preschool Mixed Martial Arts is a martial arts and character development program designed for children ages four to seven years. The course begins with an introduction to the instructor, supply list (mostly basic supplies from around the home such as a towel or mat, ball, etc), and an explanation of terms and some fundamentals of the program.
After the introduction, the course is divided into sixteen lessons. You can choose to do each lessons once, or if you feel your child needs more time for mastery you can repeat a lesson until you are ready to move on to the next lesson.
The individual lessons are broken down into five different components. Each component is relatively short, lasting only two to five minutes. First there is the warm-up section, then technique (this is the new mixed martial arts (MMA) technique that is covered in that lesson), the character lesson, review and game (they work on the skill from the technique component), fun exercise, and they finish up with a lesson review. Each lesson can be completed in about fifteen minutes.
When we were reviewing this program, each component was broken down into a separate video and sometimes several videos per component. This is my one complaint about this course. You cannot just turn on a lesson and watch it to completion. You have to click on each individual video (often less than a minute long) to move onto the next section. This is not a huge deal but does mean that it takes more parent involvement and attention than a video that will just play through. However, they have updated it in the last week to make it so that each lesson is combined into one video.
In addition to playing each section of the video, there is parent involvement in some of the other components. Sometimes the child will need a ‘parent partner’ to help with the game or technique. This could also be done with an older sibling/teenager.
Our Experience
My son felt a little overwhelmed the first day because of all of the new information, but quickly figured out the program. After that first day he would request to do the lessons and enjoyed them each day. He also liked to show off his new skills to family members.
Overall, while I felt that the short video clips make it a little clunky to use, it was a good program. We appreciated that the program was step by step and easy to follow even for a young child. There were lots of different games and activities to help keep their attention. The focus on a combination of self-defense and good character traits was well done and beneficial. I would recommend it for children in the four to seven age ranges, but the parent needs to expect to be available to facilitate and assist in the course.
Be sure to click on the graphic below to see what other families thought about Family Mixed Martial Arts Videos Preschool Mixed Martial Arts and how they used it in their homes.
The Schoolin' Swag Blog 