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Teaching Textbooks is a math program for Grades 3 through 12 using a lecture to teach new concepts daily along with a handful of practice questions and somewhere around 20-25 daily review questions. Quizzes occur at the end of each unit.
Digital and online editions offer video lessons with examples of how the concept learns, and a few practice questions to cement understanding of that lesson.
The remainder of the daily lesson is review questions for things learned throughout the year – typically between 20-25 questions. In the digital versions, “buddies” give hints when students are stuck and also auto-grade your child’s work. A parent portal allows you to see your child’s gradebook as well as access an answer key. A workbook is available to view or print if you or your child prefer.
High school programs cover Algebra I and II, Geometry, and Pre-Calculus.
Currently available options are Versions 2.0 – CD-ROM and printed workbook, as well as the online version 4.0 (HTML5 edition) which uses a series of apps which are downloaded to your computer or device.
- Online / Digital / CD-ROM / Print
- Self-Grading
- Minimal Parental Involvement
- Grades 3 - 12 (Pre-Calculus)
- Review / Spiral Method
- Parent Dashboard for Gradebook
Want to check out other math curriculum options? Start Here.
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Once my son got started with Teaching Textbooks Math 5 (physical book + CD-Rom version), he suddenly LOVED Math! If he answered incorrectly, the computer gave him a second chance. If he still answered incorrectly, he viewed the step-by-step solution. The lessons are thorough, and there was just enough practice for him to “get it”, but not so much that it became tedious. Any figuring out that needed to be done was written in the workbook. The workbook was also great for going over concepts together with him if a lesson did not go very well (or for continuing on with lessons if the computer crashed and was out of commission for a week or when we were on the road). We don’t put a lot of emphasis on the grades in our homeschool, but did use it as a guide to show us which lessons & concepts he was having trouble with.
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Good for some Kids
I have used Grade 3 through to Geometry of this program. I love this program but it has not been a good fit for all of my kids. I highly recommend doing their placement test and a trial of their program to see if it would be a good fit for your child. Our experiences with it have varied. My oldest is an independent learner and strong academically although doesn’t particularly enjoy math. She did well with the program and enjoyed it and seemed to understand well. If I was recommending it just based on her use of it- I would recommend it hands down. However, my next child who has some struggles did not enjoy the program and it was not a good fit. And my third child who has learning disabilities including in math did not benefit from the spiral nature of the program. I wish there was a mastery version also. I think it depends on the child if it is a good fit or not. The beginning of the year does focus on review so it might seem too easy at first but it gets harder after the program gets going. My kids love the buddies and how you can pick which one- creatures or sounds that can be turned on or off. I love that you can play the audio and then easily go back and play it again. The audio is great for kids who struggle with reading. I love that it marks for you. I love that it gives the kids a chance to “see how to do it” after trying and not getting it correct. I think this program still works best with a parent sitting with the child. Overall, I would highly recommend trying this program to see if its a good fit, but I don’t think its a good fit for every child. It does certainly make the homeschool parent’s life way easier!
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As a mother of 5, switching to teach textbooks for the older kids made homeschool days so much easier! I love the way they teach, give chance for practice, and have immediate feedback for kids when they get questions wrong. My kids also enjoy the stickers and fun backgrounds they can customize.
Teaching textbooks seems like a good fit for my family when we started. All 4 of my kids tried it, the oldest using Algebra 2, next children used Algebra 1, Pre Algebra and level 4. In the beginning the kids seems to be doing well but as they progressed toward the end of the lessons, they were getting artificial results. By this I mean, there wasn’t enough new lesson practice for mastery and quite a lot of review. The other thing we noticed was that because almost every question is multipme guess, they were able to get 60-70% of the questions they were unsure about correct. After scoring an average of 88% in Algebra 2, my oldest went into his math final with a false sense of confidence. He had not gain the level of understanding required to pass much less do well.