We are smack in the middle of our 5th year of homeschooling. In that time, my eldest daughter, Honeybun, has completed 5 1/2 grade levels, my younger daughter, Sugarplum, has completed 4 1/2 and my older son, Doodle, is now in kindergarten!
To say that homeschooling has been a learning process for all of us would be an understatement. I went into this journey not really knowing anything about how to homeschool, my husband and I just knew we needed to make a change for our children and our family.
It’s taken all these years for me to start feeling confident in what system works for our family as far as getting everyone learning in a way that works for them individually and as a whole family. We’ve done workbooks, textbooks, and printable downloads. We’ve been on field trips and to museums, we’ve watched educational TV shows and movies and we’ve read so.many.books.
But it wasn’t until this year that I decided we were ready to take the dive into computer-based learning. Now that Honeybun is to middle-school level learning, I figured it was a good time to have her take more responsibility for her learning and let her work independently on the computer.
It was a big leap for us, not only because we’ve never done computer-based learning before but because I’ve always limited screen-time and technology in general. So, to go from virtually no screen time to all school online was a bit of an adjustment for both of us.
But I have to admit that making the leap has been good for both of us. And part of what has made it such easy transition was choosing the right programs. For math, that program is Teaching Textbooks 3.0. And it has changed everything about how Honeybun approaches and learns math.
8 Ways Teaching Textbooks 3.0 makes Math Instruction Easier (for teacher and student!)
The instruction is built in
I give my children a lot of freedom to do their school independently, on their own time, though I am, of course, always available to help as needed. And part of what made math a struggle for Honeybun for many years was the fact that she wouldn’t ask me for help when she didn’t understand a new concept. But Teaching Textbooks changes that because the instruction is built-in. Each lesson starts with a short, engaging video that covers the topic being covered in that lesson. The instruction gives students the opportunity to learn and practice before working problems on their own which has removed the need for Honeybun to ask for help or explanation, it’s just part of her program now.
Help is also built-in
Teaching Textbooks 3.0 also has features which allows students to try a problem again or to receive hints (both features can be disabled from the parent dashboard). And when a student gets a problem wrong, the program asks if they want to see how to do the problem.
Grading is done for you
One of my biggest failures as a homeschooling mommy is that I’m terrible about actually looking over my kids’ work after they’ve completed it (it’s bad, I know.) But with Teaching Textbooks 3.0, I don’t have to worry about that anymore. I simply log into our family account and I can instantly see how Honeybun is doing with her lessons. I can see the progress she’s made as well as her competency on each lesson.
You can change the answers
So, what if your child doesn’t do so well on a lesson? For us, there’s been quite a few lessons where Honeybun hasn’t scored where I want her to be (I expect 70% of answers to be correct to show competency, but she’s been in the 50s and 60s often). But one of the great features of Teaching Textbooks 3.0 is that I can review the questions with Honeybun, make sure she understands where she made mistakes and then change each problem to correct. Or I have the option to delete the problem (or an entire lesson) from her grade book altogether if I want to.
(HINT: I got Honeybun a notebook for writing showing her work when doing Teaching Textbooks 3.0. This notebook has become invaluable in helping me figure out why she got problems wrong and where her mistakes were. She is now even able to find her own mistakes, sometimes.)
There is also a textbook option included
Every child is different and no one educational system works for every child. That’s why the textbook option included with your Teaching Textbooks 3.0 subscription is a great additional tool. It means that kids who don’t do well with sitting down and listening to instruction (<cough>Sugarplum<cough>) can read the lesson themselves, or a parent/educator can read through the lesson with the child. The included textbook also offers additional practice problems (and the answer key!) so if a child is struggling with a specific topic, they can practice that concept more.
The instruction spirals
The previous textbook based math program Honeybun was using was tough for her because it covered one topic at a time and never came back to previous concepts. So within the program she would go an entire school year without practicing concepts again. And in that time she forgot, a lot!
But Teaching Textbooks 3.0 uses a spiraling method of instruction in which each lesson includes practice and review of previous lessons (it even tells you when the concept was originally taught). This means that there’s consistent practice over time of concepts previously taught and less forgetting how to do things you once new.
You can take a break whenever you need to
Teaching Textbooks 3.0 is set up a yearly subscription. But you have the option to pause the program as needed when you take breaks from schooling, up to three months total. That means that your one-year subscription essentially lasts 15 months and you don’t have to worry about losing precious learning time when traveling, on vacation, or during the holidays.
There is nothing to lose, forget or ruin
I can’t tell you how many times we’ve been out for the day, left for a trip, or moved across the country and my children have conveniently “forgotten” to bring the school work I asked them to bring. Or how many worksheets were ruined by spilled water or “lost” somewhere in our house. But with Teaching Textbooks 3.0 being completely online, so long as you have a Flash enabled device, all you need to remember is your password and you can access the program any time.
Teaching Textbooks 3.0 is currently available for grades 3-7 and also for pre-algebra, algebra 1 and 2, geometry, and pre-calculus. Overall, our experience using Teaching Textbooks 3.0 has been extraordinary and I see it being a program that we continue to use within our homeschooling life for many years, and students, to come! (Luckily, there’s a family plan for that!)
You can grab your own subscription to Teaching Textbooks 3.0 at TeachingTextbooks.com or enter to win a year!
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