This is sponsored post by Teaching Textbooks. All opinions, as always, are my own!
Yes, we are still using Teaching Textbooks 4.0, and loving it just as much as we always have. This year has been incredibly unique in how we have been using it. Because of that, I wanted to share the five reasons we are STILL using Teaching Textbooks 4.0 in our homeschool. You can find the corresponding video to this post below!
You can grab the 1st 15 lessons of every level free by clicking HERE.
Reason #1: Unique Ability to use both Online & Offline
I talked a lot about how we have been using Teaching Textbooks both online and offline this year due to so much car-schooling in the fall. It still holds true, even though we are no longer doing nearly as much car-schooling. My oldest prefers to have the lesson printed out for her to work on, and then is able to enter the answers and take advantage of all the wonderful reasons Teaching Textbooks works for mom. Mainly all that self-grading and the solutions to every problem! CLICK HERE to see the how we use Teaching Textbooks both on and offline.
Reason #2: Teaching Textbooks is Self-Grading
I mentioned this above, but the fact that this program does ALL of the grading for me is life-changing. Now that my kids are older, and I am grading more work in all classes, the ability to take one thing off my grading plate has been super helpful!
This is Emma’s process. She watches the lesson on the computer. Then she will go and work through the practice problems and regular problems on paper. She will come back, enter her answers, and see how she did. She has the opportunity to see a hint if she needs it online. Or if she gets the problem incorrect she often has a “second-chance” to work through that problem again.
What I love, as the parent, is that I can go into the parent portal and see her running average of the course at the top of the grade book. Then, for each individual lesson, I can see which problems she has gotten incorrect. If she is struggling with a particular lesson, I am able to go in, delete her answer, and then we can go through it together to make sure she masters whatever the concept is before going to the next lesson. She is then able to go back and re-enter new answers into the problems that I deleted previously.
This is one of my favorite parts of Teaching Textbooks. Giving my kids more independence with their learning is important. When they are able to correct their own mistakes, and see where they are struggling is incredibly helpful.
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Reason # 3: Tutoring
Did you know that Teaching Textbooks offers tutoring to students as part of your course enrollment? It is a great benefit to the Teaching Textbooks program. If your student is struggling with a particular lesson, you can contact them in order to get tutoring.
First, you would need the particular lesson that your student is struggling with. Then, you would also need to know the problem numbers. Once you have that information, you will schedule a phone call for your student to chat with the tutor.
This is especially helpful as you move into the higher level maths. If you and your child are unable to move forward with a particular concept, the tutoring will be able to help you. Of course, this is after you have gone through all of the explanations, solutions, and hints that are already given for every lesson.
Reason # 4: Teaching Textbooks has Fun & Engaging Lessons
One of the first things that drew me to Teaching Textbooks is their fun and engaging lessons. There are colorful backgrounds and different stickers you can choose. Also, there are little characters that encourage you through the lesson, which my kids have always loved. Even though Emma is getting into the higher level maths, she still appreciates the ability to go in and change backgrounds, add stickers, and engage in the lesson that way. Anything that can make math a little more fun is always a good thing in my book!
However, if your student needs fewer distractions when they are doing the lesson, you can turn off the animations and have a simple background. For some kids it can become harder to complete the lesson if there are little animations, and audio telling you that you have done a good job. In the parent portal you are able to turn these off or adjust what you want to allow.
Reason #5: Walkthrough of Every Problem
The lessons themselves are quite good. I like that every problem has a thoughtful explanation associated with it. Generally, if Emma gets a problem wrong when she is going through and plugging in her answers, she will first try the hint and rework the problem. If she still cannot get it, then she has the opportunity to watch the solution and explanation in front of her. This is one of the best parts about this program.
Honestly, this is really good for me. I, surprisingly, can still do Algebra and Geometry and find the answers for Emma, but explaining how I did it does not come easily to me. In fact, I realize I have forgotten all of the lingo associated with Algebra – but that is OK, because I don’t need to know it since Teaching Textbooks can do it for me!
The Bottom Line
We continue to love and use Teaching Textbooks for all of the above reasons. I want my kids to continue to have a strong math background and understand it well. We have found that Teaching Textbooks meets that requirement for us. To have something that I can adapt as needed, and still engage with my kids is important, and this is working well for us right now!
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