I don’t know if anyone has told you, but having kids in 3rd, 1st, and preschool is about as hard core as when they were 5, 3, and 1.
There’s a lot going on each day. Kids are by and large still in need of a lot of guidance, and there’s one of me and three of them.
I have seriously considered sending my kids to school more times than I can count over the last year. Even my mother in law said I needed a break. It’s been a long road.
So, when I was given the opportunity to try out Teaching Textbooks, I took it as a sign. This is the break I need.
The following is a review of Teaching Textbooks 3.0. I have been compensated for my time, and as always, all views expressed are my honest opinion
I may lose a couple a few followers by saying this, but I love math, and I really like teaching my kids math. I honestly look forward to it, most days, and my kids like it too, but something had to give. There’s only so many hours in the day that I can be in full teaching mode before my patience is too thin to continue with the love and support I want to give.
I’ve started really asking myself what my priorities are. Of course, math never leaves the “must-do” list, but I’ve started to realize it doesn’t need to be on my personal “must teach” list. I can hand this off to another capable hand and give myself more time and energy to focus on teaching my kids about our faith and the more nuanced subjects like history.
Online Math Curriculum
So, we gave it a shot with Teaching Textbooks 3.0, their online version of the well-loved DVD program that’s been around for ages. My daughter, Aamina, is able to complete the lecture, lesson work, quizzes and math facts review games all online, independently.
Aamina started with level 3, and so far she’s been doing 2 lessons a day as there is some overlap with the concepts she was learning in Right Start Level C. Now that we’re almost 30 lessons in, she’s hitting some new concepts and we’ll likely slow down to a normal pace again.
Independent work
Honestly, one of my biggest struggles with this age is that my kids aren’t really doing much independent work. Even though Aamina could probably do more independently, she doesn’t like to work alone, and she doesn’t generally like to work with another teacher. She’s my one kid that is attached to me at the hip.
We’ve tried to find her a tutor for Quran or Arabic, but she makes it well known she does not want to work with anyone else.
So the fact that Teaching Textbooks 3.0 is all online and not with another teacher works out very well for us. She doesn’t feel shy and shut down, and she can just log on and do her work.
Best part? While Aamina’s working on math, I can work one-on-one with her younger sister!
Rather than extending my day so I can accommodate two kids that need one-on-one time, I can have one kid working independently while I work with another kid. It’s honestly been a life saver.
Math curriculum
Teaching Textbooks has been around a LONG time and there are numerous reviews about the curriculum itself from places like Cathy Duffy Reviews and the like. I can say that much of what you’ve read about it before is true.
The curriculum is not as rigorous as some others at this stage (Level 3), but Aamina has so far liked the pace of it and she seems to be doing quite well.
I’ve also heard from friends that their kids used Teaching Textbooks through the high school years and their kids are doing well in their college math classes. I mean, that’s basically the goal, right? To get them to the next step in their adult life?
How it works
It’s quite simple: You and your student have separate log ins for the Teaching Textbooks 3.0 interface. Your student can view their lessons and their grade book themselves. Each lesson starts with an interactive lecture and finishes up with practice problems. Each practice problem offers the student a hint, if they need (you can turn off this feature if you want), and feedback if they didn’t get the problem right. This immediate feedback has been great so they can see the logic that went awry right away.
Parent account
On the parent’s side of things, I can change whether my student is offered a hint or a second chance at a problem, and one feature I’ve found really cool is the pause feature. Since I’ll be traveling for over two weeks, I can just pause our 12 month subscription and come back to it when we’re ready.
Within my portal I can also check the grades of any of the students that I have using the program and see a detailed breakdown of their progress, including printing out a grade report to keep for my own records.
Here a detailed break down of just one lesson and the work she completed
Overall impression
I can say that Aamina looks forward to her math lessons and I feel good about the work she is completing. The interface is fun, the content comes in short bits and is interactive, and there is a lot of hand holding available if the student needs it. Also, there is a review game every five lessons to practice math facts for memorization.
Sometimes I worry about the price of a curriculum that I need to buy for each child, but Teaching Textbooks has lowered the price of 3.0 in comparison from their DVD version to accommodate. At $43.08 for Math 3 (higher grades are have a slightly higher price), it still comes in at less than half the price we were paying per year before, plus we won’t be paying the cost of printing an eBook three times over.
I do wish there was some way I could have her be independent and still use manipulatives, but I have decided that my time and attention is better served on subjects that are not taught well online, and allow her to learn math online. At this point it is a tried and true way to learn math concepts and work through a solid curriculum independently.
About Teaching Textbooks 3.0
A couple things to note about the online version of Teaching Textbooks
- You can print a physical copy of the book if you so choose
- You can use a placement test to determine which level is right (and a FREE trial to boot!)
- Large families are given a discount for 4 or more students
- Teaching Textbooks 3.0 can be used on mobile devices, and you can read a little bit more about how it works.
- Your subscription is for 12 months (plus any time paused) and for one level. When your child needs to move to the next level, it will need to be purchased separately, just like the buying patterns of print materials.
Teaching Textbooks FREE Trial
I highly recommend giving Teaching Textbooks a try and taking one thing off your plate. It’s been such a breath of fresh air for our homeschool!
In the free trial you can try any of the levels, up to lesson 15 for FREE, without any time limit, and no credit card number required!
Plus, right now is the perfect time to give it a shot before you start the next school year and make final decisions about curriculum!
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