Puddle Jumping: Homeschool Review Crew

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My daughter has math anxiety, but it didn't really start until she began learning multiplication and now division, and I am sure she has huge learning gaps when it comes to arithmetic. So, I was thrilled to get a chance to review the Adaptive Math Curriculum Online from A+ Interactive Math (by A+ TutorSoft Inc.) as a way to close her math learning gaps.

I received access to the Adaptive Math Curriculum Online – This program is considered to be a skill-based learning model that spans First through Sixth Grades as well as Pre-Algebra. It is completely automated. First, the program has the student take placement tests after you enroll them in a grade level. Mini tests are then generated for the major math concepts which will gauge the student's skill level. The tests automatically adjust the level of difficulty based upon the answers the child is providing. When it detects a learning gap, it will automatically create an individualized plan for the child to follow.

The generated plan includes video lessons, interactive review, practice worksheets online, automatic grading in tracking and re-test.

Other members of the Homeschool Review Crew got the chance to check out the Family Math Package – As the name implies, this program is a package that comes complete with all of the grade levels from 1 to 6 and Pre-Algebra and Algebra I. Each of the grade levels includes a comprehensive course with video lessons, interactive review, practice worksheets, chapter tests, automatic grading and tracking. With the family math package, PDF versions of the lessons, worksheets and tests are available. This package allows the parent to move the child around to the appropriate grade level and gives them full control of moving the child up a grade or back to give them review.

What is the Adaptive Math Curriculum Online?

I received one year of access for up to ten students to A+ Interactive Math by A+ TutorSoft Inc. for the Adaptive Math Curriculum Online. Since the lessons in this program use Adobe Flash, whatever browser you choose to use will need to support Adobe Flash. If you want to work around this to use on your iPhone, there is a browser called Puffin, which I use on my iPhone to run Flash-based sites, that works a bit like a PC on your iPhone. At any rate, I had it accessbile to use with this program but mostly used the math curriculum on my laptop.

This is what I would describe as a tutor online that first has the student go through a series of placement tests before generating a process of learning through online lessons and quizzes. Included are 17 tests that each vary with how many questions are asked. While one test stopped after about 10 questions, another seemed to ask as many as 30 questions. I assume this is dependant upon how well the child already knows the skills being tested. For our level, Grade 4, these included:

Number Sense
Addition
Subtraction
Multiplication
Division
Rounding and Estimating
Decimal Numbers
Fractions
The Number Line and Number Comparisons
Graphs
Time
Money
Measurements
Geometry
Elementary Algebra
Probability and Statistics
Word Problems

Once you take the placement tests, lessons are generated and presented in a list. The student clicks on the individual skill and watches a lesson that is much like a whiteboard presentation with numbers and demonstration of how to perform the particular tasks at each skill level. Then, the lesson is followed by an online test. As the student gets the answers right, there is a lot of encouragement. If the answer is wrong, it gives immediate feedback and then allows you to review how the problem should have been solved.

The program is heavily focused on test questions or worksheet style questions and answers followed by attempting to give your child the skills needed to come up with the right answers. The instruction is very similar to what you would find in a classroom but does not show the actual teacher or a classroom filled with kids but rather uses a whiteboard/chalkboard style of teaching with a voice over explanation. There are colorful 2D style graphics a bit like you may find in an actual print math textbook but is mostly math problem solutions demonstrated in between tests. The nice part is that it is tailored specifically to your child's skills and learning gap needs.

How Did We Use It and What Did We Think?

When I first heard about A+ Interactive Math, I was jumping up and down excited and couldn't wait to share it with my math-phobic kiddo. I thought, "Oh, how I wish math was taught online when I was learning it in school." (Note: Computers were just beginning to shrink from being the size of an entire room when I was learning division, they were certainly not in everyone's home, and the internet was not even yet a dream for the future). I saw tons of potential for using the online format with step-by-step instruction and frequent quizzes to be ingenious. To my surprise, and for whatever reason, however, all three of my online-media-loving children resist doing their school work through an online format. This baffles my little brain since at least one of them spends most of his time online coding and programming, and the other listens to music all day if I let her. The child I had chosen for this review is seen quite frequently in front of her Surface tablet creating pixel and manga art, so I am left baffled as to why the idea of doing school work online is a turn off for them.

Nonetheless, putting her initial online aversion aside, she did give the program a shot, and while I'm not ready to completely throw out the need for pencil and paper hands-on math practice (which, by the way A+ Interactive Math doesn't try to eliminate but rather they present themselves as help to bridge learning gaps and not a complete replacement curriculum), I am pleased with the success!

I think there are a lot of pros in the program. For one, she's already become less fearful of division because of the way A+ Interactive Math explained it as a series of subtractions. After hours of offline struggle, before using A+ Interactive Math, just a few minutes into the program, and Immediately - It clicked!

She also really enjoyed the encouragement the program provided with screenshots and several "That's right!" type of interaction.

I see it as more of a private online tutoring session. The Adaptive Math Curriculum Online starts by first having the student go through a series of 17 placement tests before it generates a report. It didn't take long for me to figure out that these questions are fairly lengthy and that my daughter needed time in between each test so as not to do them all in one sitting. So, I did not have her take all 17 tests in one day. I was happy to discover, after taking a few of the placement tests, that the program had put together a set of recommended lessons for one of the sets of skills, so I decided to stop taking the placement test when the division skills were testing as extremely lacking. I clicked over to notice that A+ Interactive Math had designed a series of lesson plans for the division, so I decided it was best to focus on mastering division before proceeding with any more of the testing process for now, and I'm glad I did since it didn't take very long into the lessons when a lightbulb came on for my daughter's division phobia.

The program is solidly put together with the content, and how they can accurately determine the child's skill level based upon answers to the placement test has me amazed. It certainly had my child's skill level pegged with the lessons it generated in terms of content. One thing I personally liked is that the lesson videos were to the point and were not distracting with mock classroom audiences as some other teaching video lessons may tend to do. The program also keeps the parent up-to-date and generates some nice, helpful reports.