Guys, I have a confession to make.
I take on too much! I just… have lots of interests and lots of things that are important to me and sometimes I overload myself. For example, right at this very moment I am planning three different vacations, directing a challenge class at my Classical Conversations community, learning all about blogging and writing this blog, running an etsy shop, and teaching kids in China ESL through Skype. Oh yeah, and home schooling my own kids and carting them to all their activities.
Sometimes I have to look at my schedule and decide what to cut and what I can make easier for myself. Where am I not giving 100%? Why am I not giving 100%? What could I do to make it better?
This past year it became glowingly obvious that one of the areas where I was faltering was working on math with the two older kids. Sometimes with everything else on my plate, I would just not have time to correct their lessons. And here’s what would happen, in a vicious loop:
- They’d complete a lesson and ask me to grade it.
- I would MEAN to get it done but eight other things would pile up on my desk on top of the math book and it wouldn’t get done.
- They’d come back for their math book and do the next lesson, never even knowing if they made mistakes in the previous lesson.
- They’d complete the next lesson and ask me to grade it.
Sigh. Sometimes they’d get to the end of the book and I’d have to start them at the beginning again because I’d realize they hadn’t really grasped any of the concepts. And it’s not their fault at all–it was completely, totally, all on me. I needed to fix this problem but wasn’t sure how.
Enter Teaching Textbooks. Last year, directing Challenge A, ALL my students (other than my child!) used Teaching Textbooks. That so many mommas who obviously had similar educational goals as me were using it caught my attention. My kids finished up the books they were working through and we dove into Teaching Textbooks for the first time.
So how does it work? It’s like magic. OK, maybe it’s not MAGIC, but it’s as close to magic as you can get when discussing math curriculum. Depending on which version you are using, the child either logs onto the website or loads up a disc on the computer. They watch a lesson, and then they do the problems and enter the answers into the computer. The computer tells them which ones they did correctly and which ones were wrong. I am able to go in and delete wrong answers so that they can try, try again. And again. And again if necessary. We don’t move on from a lesson until they can get 100% on the current one. Math is marathon, not a sprint.
At the time we first switched, someone offered me Pre-Algebra for my daughter, so she used the disc version. But my son finished his other book up right as Teaching Textbooks released their newest version, 3.0. Teaching Textbooks 3.0 is all online! What?!? No discs! No books (unless you want the book–it’s still available but you can absolutely work without it.) If you hate clutter like I do, you will LOVE not having a book or discs to drag around the house. Also, there’s no “I can’t do math, I can’t find my book.” Math is available from any computer, phone, or tablet at any time. *Insert evil mom laughter.*. And we have a MacBook–no disc drive. So we had to use an external one to load the discs. One more thing to have to find before doing math. But no more! Teaching Textbooks 3.0 is saving my butt in more ways than one!
When you log into TT3.0, you can log in as a parent or as a student. Now, my computer will only save the password for ONE, not both. Hmm. Obviously, I have mommy brain so I had it save the password for ME and not my child. I just told him what his password was and to remember it.
Big Mistake.
Middle Child is pretty smart. And he realized quickly that my password was saved in the computer. I caught him logging into the parent side and erasing wrong answers on quizzes. B-U-S-T-E-D, you are busted! (Are we the only family that sings that song on a daily basis? Anyway…). So the moral of that story is don’t save your password. Learn from my mistakes!
Here are some cool features of the new 3.0 version (you know, besides the clutter free miracle that we already discussed).
- You can access the e-book on the website so that you can still read the lessons with your child or if they learn better from reading rather than through the lecture format. I love that it’s flexible to different learning styles! (And it’s the same textbook from the previous version, so if you already have it and decide to switch to 3.0, you can still use the book you have!)
E-book version of the text book. - You can easily change your “buddy”. Now to be honest, my daughter used the 2.0 version on her own and I never looked at it very closely. But apparently being able to change your buddy easily is a big deal for kids who are used to the old format. If that’s you, you’ll love this! My football obsessed son was happy to switch to a football player! And you can also switch the wallpaper, there’s a lot to choose from. When you are staring at the screen doing math it’s nice to be able to adjust it to look different now and then!
- You can go into the grade book and delete individual wrong answers so that the child can go back and do JUST the problems missed over again. We use this feature all the time and I love it.
- And you can use it on an iPhone or iPad or any other phone or tablet that allows you to download the Puffin Browser.
Take that in, mommas. If you are on a road trip and your kids are fighting in the back seat, you can hand one of them your phone and make them do a math lesson. See if they ever argue again about who actually crossed the state line into Ohio first!
This. Is. Groundbreaking.
I also need to say that the customer service is phenomenal. When I first purchased the subscription to 3.0 for my middle child, something went wrong somewhere and I never received the email confirmation that it went through (I blame my email service, honestly). I got in touch with customer service and they fixed the situation in probably under a minute. I was so impressed!
Why else do I love Teaching Textbooks (and especially Teaching Textbooks 3.0)? My goal is to work myself right out of a job. That is, my goal is to raise independent learners who love seeking knowledge. I am not force feeding them information anymore–the big kids are 13 and almost 11 now and it’s time for them to be taking on more and more of their education themselves. Teaching Textbooks has given them both the independence to learn math without needing me there right beside them. I mean, of course if a lesson is hard (middle child still cries over fractions, to be honest), I CAN and I WILL sit next to him and help him any way I can. But since about 85% of the time he can work through it alone now, he is free to learn math on his own and he is not stuck waiting on me to be ready. He can work faster, or slower, or whatever he needs to do to understand a lesson. He is in complete control of his math education now. That is amazing freedom for him and a huge part of growing up and maturing. I don’t know too many 11 year olds who get to take that much control of their own education. It’s kind of… beautiful. OK, now I’m getting all teary eyed over MATH. Honestly, who am I?!? 😉
When I first heard of Teaching Textbooks, I hesitated. It sounded too good to be true, for one thing. For another, I had jumped math curriculum several times and was afraid of doing it again. But luckily there are great placement tests available to help you put your child in the right level–and I’ll be honest, it didn’t match up exactly with what they’d just completed in different curriculum. Definitely use the placement test to make sure you are in the right level! (I recommend starting at your guess of the correct level and do one placement test a day in place of a math lesson until you figure it out. If you make your child do multiple placement tests in one day, they will get frustrated and make sloppy mistakes… Not that I know from experience or anything…OK, I do know from experience.)
A subscription gives your student a full year to finish the curriculum–and you can pause it for summer break or vacation and it won’t count against your time. It’s super flexible and works with your family’s schedule, as any good home school curriculum should. And if you have a large family, guess what? They offer a multiple student discount for families with four or more kids so you don’t go broke on math curriculum. Score!
Teaching Textbooks has really taken a lot off my plate. Not just the to do list item of correcting their math lessons, but the guilt and worry, too. I know they are getting their math done, it’s easy to go in and check their progress and see what lesson they are working on, and they have more control over their learning. Everybody wins.
GREAT NEWS! You can get a FREE TRIAL of Teaching Textbooks 3.0 to see if it’s a good fit for your family. Better news? When you sign up for the free trial, you can also enter to win a full year subscription! Plus, you can get more entires in my rafflecopter drawing by following Teaching Textbooks and The Places We Learn on social media. Do as many or as few as you want, each option has a listed number of entries you will get in the drawing. Must be 18 to enter. Contest will end Friday, August 4, 2018.
Good luck!!!!
***Disclosure: Teaching Textbooks has provided me with a year subscription to their curriculum for writing this review. However, we were already using and LOVING Teaching Textbooks before they contacted me about writing a review. All opinions are my own.***
Great giveaway! I Love Teaching Textbooks!