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Monkey loves math, but we hadn’t been using a specific curriculum, so I knew he had some gaps in his knowledge. Fortunately, with Adaptive Math Curriculum Online from A+ Interactive Math (by A+ TutorSoft Inc.) we are able to to identify and close any learning gaps in his math skills.
For this review, we were given a one year subscription to Adaptive Math Curriculum Online for up to 10 students. This adaptive program includes the placement tests and lessons for First Grade through Pre-Algebra. The lessons are taught through video and include an interactive review and practice worksheets. With this program, you set your child’s grade level and after the placement tests, you are given an individualized lesson plan to help your child fill their learning gaps.
Other members of the Homeschool Review Crew are reviewing the Family Math Package. This package includes video lessons, interactive review, and practice worksheets, as well as printable worksheets. This option is great for use with multiple students and grade levels, since you can pick and choose which areas to work on. If you want to learn more about the Family Math Package, be sure to click the banner below!
Whether your child learns best by doing, reading, or hearing – A+ Interactive Math has you covered!
How We Used Adaptive Math Curriculum Online
After creating my parent account, I set up an account for Monkey, placing him at his current grade level, 1st Grade. From the parent account, you can adjust the length of time allowed for the placement tests, as well as a few other settings.
I sat down with Monkey to take the placement tests and we quickly discovered that he had a pretty steep learning curve when it came to taking the tests in an online, timed environment. We decided that after 5 failed placement tests, we should be done for the day.
That night I spent some time looking through the program and discovered that you don’t have to take ALL the placement tests before you can start the lessons. Once you’ve completed one test, the lessons for that concept become available. Knowing this, we decided we wouldn’t take any more placement tests until he had completed the lessons and passed the tests for the concepts we had already taken.
Monkey has been using A+ Interactive Math 3 to 5 days a week. Our goal was to do 2 lessons and their related worksheets each day. Most days this was entirely manageable for Monkey and could be done within 30-45 minutes. The lessons for each concept are arranged in sequential order and get harder as you progress through them. So when we got to some of the harder lessons, we decided to do one “hard” lesson and one “easy” lesson from a different concept.
I prefer to be a bit more hands on during Monkey’s school time at this point, so while he was working in the program I always stayed close by. This allowed me to listen in on the lessons and could step in to help if needed. I rarely had to step in though, because of a couple nice features! First, once your student is logged in, you launch their personal workspace. This opens a new maximized browser. This limits the ability to accidentally click out of the window or have multiple tabs open. So if I needed to be in a different room and have Monkey working independently, I didn’t have to worry that he’d be clicking around other areas. Now, if you have an older, more tech savvy child, this feature is easy enough to circumvent, but it worked great for us.
The other feature is the interactive Q&A. After each lesson, the student is directed to go to the review questions. If the student answers a question incorrectly, they are automatically taken to a video review that explains the problem and how to get the correct answer. This way, the gap in learning is addressed immediately.
There are a variety of reports available that make it easy to see exactly what your student has completed and where they need to do more work. Most of these reports can also be accessed from the student account, so they can see their progress as well. From the parent account, you can also review the placement tests to see what areas your student struggled with.
One thing to note, passing the placement test “at grade level” doesn’t necessarily mean that that particular concept is “mastered.” For the Number Sense concept, I had Monkey retake the placement test and he just barely passed it at grade level. There were still a few of the later lessons that he hadn’t reviewed and he still had no idea what “regrouping” was. But since he hit “at grade level,” that concept was closed and we could no longer access the lessons or worksheets. If I had realized this sooner. I wouldn’t have had Monkey retake the placement test until after he had finished all the lessons for that concept.
Monkey’s Thoughts
I really like the frog and the emoji’s in the interactive Q&A. When I answer the questions right, the first time I get one emoji and it says “Good Job!” If I get the next question right, I get 2 emoji’s and it says “You’re doing great! Keep it up!” If a get the third question right, I get 3 emojis and it says “Excellent!” Then, it stays with 3 emojis but instead it says “Awesome job!” If I get one wrong, then it starts over, but if I get them all right it keeps saying “Awesome job!” I like when my mom says it with the computer – it makes me laugh!
Some times the math problems got hard, but the explanations really helped me learn it so I could answer the question right on the second try.
Final Thoughts
This program was definitely a winner for us! Monkey enjoyed the lessons (most of the time) and appreciated that the worksheets were done on the computer, rather than having to be hand written. We will be continuing with this program for the remainder of the First Grade materials. I highly recommend Adaptive Math Curriculum Online for any student (homeschool or otherwise) to help identify and fill math learning gaps!
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