Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.
For the past 5 weeks my children have been going online to learn math and algebra with MathAndAlgebra.com. Let’s see how it all works, and if it works for my children.
We received a one-year subscription to Mathandalgebra.com, which comprises the following 4 classes:
- Elementary
- Intermediate
- PreAlgebra
- Algebra
Learn Math and Algebra
Student log into the program and then go to the unit and lesson that they are to work on. There is a short video to watch. This consists of a white screen on which the equations are worked out while a gentleman explains what he is doing.
When the video is done, students print out a worksheet and complete it. There is also an answer key available in every lesson for students to check their answers. I am checking my children’s work so I know that they understand the materials before moving on.
The assignment grades aren’t kept in the program, so they’re for practice only. When a student completes a unit there is an online assessment, which is auto-graded and these are the grades kept within the program. Students may retake the assessments as many times as needed.
When a lesson has been finished, students click on a ‘complete’ button to help them show visual progress through the course.
Students can earn medallions and badges as they go…however, my children didn’t realise this until I pointed it out to them! They must have been focussing on their studies…
How We Used It
My children are 10 & 12, so after having looked at the Elementary and Algebra levels, I determined that the Intermediate and PreAlgebra classes were the best fit for them, so those are the ones I’m using for this review.
There weren’t any instructions on how to place a student into the classes. In our case, I had Kallista start at the beginning of the Intermediate class and she’s doing each of the lessons (I think she learned her lesson after doing half of a unit and feeling so confident that she then took the test and didn’t pass as she hadn’t yet become familiar with the remaining content).
For Tristan, I am having him do the test for each unit in PreAlgebra to see how he fairs with them. He did very well on the first few, so I didn’t have him do the lessons in those units. When he came to a test that gave him trouble, then we looked over the test to find out which areas he knew, and which areas he needed to learn. Then he went back and did the lessons which corresponded to those areas.
Both Tristan and Kallista have been using Mathandalgebra.com to supplement their regular math program every weekday. They log in, go to their next lesson, watch the video, and complete the worksheet before handing it off to me to correct.
What We’d Like To See
There are a couple of things that I’d love to see implemented for a smoother user experience.
- Because I have two children using this program (and their worksheets can get mixed up), and I correct their work so that I can keep on top of how they were doing, I’d like the printed worksheets to have the lesson number that corresponds to it (3.2.1, for example) right on the sheet so that I can quickly find the right lesson for correcting.
- I noticed that in PreAlgebra, the answers were given in the answer key for the practice and review questions, but this wasn’t the case for the Intermediate answer keys.
- I would like to see better instructions on how to begin once you are registered for the program as I felt a little lost. A placement test might be a good idea so that students know where to begin. It may not be necessary, however, if there were instructions on how to place a student for optimum benefit.
In Conclusion
Although my previous paragraph did seem negative, those were mainly items that would make the program easier for me as a parent/teacher. As far as the program itself goes, it’s been working really well for my children, and they’ll continue to use it either until the expiration date or they complete the courses.
More than once, I heard my children, particularly my 12-year-old son say that what he learned in a lesson the previous week had helped him with a lesson this week in his main math class, which is great to hear.
I like the dual format of online lessons and paper and pencil exercises, but if you prefer printed workbooks for your students rather than printing the exercises yourself, there is a sister-site, www.mathessentials.net, on which you can purchase the printed workbooks (many include video tutorials as well). On this site you can also find titles in Spanish or bilingual as well.
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