Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.
When my children were young, I loved teaching math. We would pull out all of the manipulatives and have a great time learning. Somewhere around fifth grade, math started not being nearly as much fun and became a more stressful part of our homeschool day. I am always looking for math programs that will work well for my children and make math less of a struggle. My daughter was ready for pre-algebra this year and wanted to try pre-algebra Teaching Textbooks Math 4.0 from Teaching Textbooks.
Program Overview
Teaching Textbooks is a computerized math program. Once a student account is set up, the student can log in and complete lessons at their own pace. The lessons include instructional videos, practice problems, and tests.
The problems and tests are automatically graded by the computer. After watching the videos the student had five practice problems that did not count towards their grade.
Next, they did a practice exercise with 20-24 problems for their daily work. When a student gets a practice problem incorrect, they could get a hint and a second chance to fix the problem. If they missed it a third time, it was counted incorrect and they were given an explanation of the correct answer. The tests gave two chances but no hints.
Differences Between 3.0 and 4.0
When we started using the program in the spring we were using version 3.0. That version was web-based and required my daughter to be connected to the Wi-Fi. The new 4.0 version is app-based and while it connects to Wi-Fi, it also downloads lessons so that they can be completed without Wi-Fi.
This was a great perk when we were traveling. We went on a long road trip while she was doing this program and she was able to complete lessons while we were riding.
They also made some changes to the answer entry that made it quicker and updated it so that you could see a current average in the grade section. My daughter really likes to keep track of how she is doing and appreciated this feature.
Opinions and Conclusions
As a busy mom, I loved that this was one subject that I didn’t have to teach or really manage. I could easily log in and see how much she had done, her scores, and any other information. I was also able to reset lessons if needed.
It was simple to set up and manage. I also appreciated that the tests encompassed work from previous lessons so that she is getting some review as the year progresses.
Elizabeth’s Opinion
“I really enjoyed this program it has made pre-algebra easy. Some pros with the new version are that I can use my number pad or keyboard to type in answers. When I was first in the program, I had to use the one on the app and that made it so it took longer, They give you an overall average in the 4.0 version which is really nice, and one other really nice thing is that I can do math offline with the 4.0 version so that allows me to do math in the car. Some cons are that there was a lot of review in the beginning, which I did not like. The other thing is while you are online you have to remember to download the lessons in order to do them offline, it would have been nice if they were all downloaded when you got the app. ” Elizabeth, Age 13
While I have not decided on our plans for next year, my daughter has asked to continue with Teaching Textbooks for Algebra 1. In my opinion that is a big endorsement.
Find Out More
If you are looking for a computer-based math program, I recommend checking out Teaching Textbooks Math 4.0. Make sure to click on the graphic below to check out how other Crew Members used it in their homes.
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