A+ Interactive Math - Family Math Package - A Crew Review

Math is the one subject that gives our family a headache challenge, and it can be a difficult task to find a curriculum that is a good fit. I feel like I am ever searching for that perfect one, the holy grail if you will, of math curriculum. So, I was excited to have the opportunity to review the Family Math Package from A+ Interactive Math (by A+ TutorSoft Inc.) . Poor Math, it's a course that often gets a bad rap. Even though it has hardly been a favorite part of my daughter's educational experience, I have always encouraged them to see the subject as a way to teach them how to think differently, and that it aids in their brain development. They love hearing me say that again and again, ha!

A little about A+ Interactive Math (by A+ TutorSoft Inc.) , specifically the Family Math Package ...

This is an online computer program, with access for students in kindergarten through Algebra. The packages offer options for 1 student, or up to 10 students. The courses are designed to keep it streamlined, flexible, and easy to use for parents and students. Do you struggle to plan lessons, administer tests and quizzes, track progress, etc. ? Well, this program does all of that for you. You also have the ability to move up or down a grade level as you find necessary. Worksheets are available in pdf, if like my daughters, your student prefers a physical paper to complete their work. Progress reports keep track of areas that are strong, as well as areas that need a little more practice. The multimedia lessons are interactive, with cute animation and sound effects. The instructor has a female voice, and speaks fairly slowly, which is likely to be a great help for students that need a more relaxed pace as they learn new math concepts. And reference sheets, I can' forget those! There are a LOT of colorful reference sheets from prime numbers, to order of operations, to exponents, that can be printed out and tucked away to review as needed.

Using the Family Math Package ...

The first step is getting acquainted with the layout of the website. It can seem a bit daunting at first, but once you've made it over that slight learning curve, you'll be good to go. First you'll sign in, and click the launch icon, which will bring up your student's page. There is a short video tutorial to walk you through all of the steps. Once you've watched that, you can begin your lessons. On the left side of the page is where the lessons are located. It says Table of Contents. There is a numbered list of the topics to be covered. My girls are working through Pre-Algebra, so the first topic is Numbers Review. If you wanted to find those lessons, you would click on the Numbers Review, then on the "+" sign, which will open up all of the lessons under that topic. You can then work through each one.

For each lesson, there is an interactive video lesson to introduce the concept. That  is followed by a short set of questions to check comprehension. Once those have been completed, you can move on to the independent questions. You will also find printable worksheets to accompany each lesson. These can be found at the toolbar near the top of the page. Incidentally, this is also where you'll find access to the progress reports, quizzes and tests, lesson plans and more. As a parent, you will need to manually update each lesson's status, as in whether it is "in progress", or "completed". At the end of each lesson, there is a pretty, and colorful certificate of completion that can be printed for your records.

View your child's progress-they do it for you!

A sample of the printable worksheets

Reference sheets!

Just a few of their certificates

During this review period, we put aside the math curriculum that we had been using, and worked only with A+ Interactive Math (by A+ TutorSoft Inc.) . Both of my girls worked fairly independently 5 days a week, with me close by in case they needed any help. The lessons are pretty short, about 15-20 minutes long. That seems to be a perfect length of time for my daughters, as they can get frustrated quickly with certain math topics. Overall, they gave me positive words about his program. They like the length of the lessons, the progress certificates, and the interactive aspects of the course. There were only two things that they might like to see different. The first is the rate at which the instructor speaks. It's very slow. I think that this is great for students who need more time to absorb the information, and for certain lessons, my daughters agreed that slow was helpful. For those areas where they understood the work with no problem, having to wait for the dialogue to be over before they could move on was a little frustrating. The other part that they would like to improve is the way to log in. There are several pages to "launch" before getting to their  main page, and they would like a process that could happen in maybe just one click. That was it as far as what they would change, and they are so small, that I count this program as a success for our family. My oldest definitely wants to continue with it. And if the kids are pleased with their math course, so is this mama!.

Other  Crew members reviewed this same program, as well as the Adaptive Math Curriculum Online . That program differs from the Family Math Package  in that it first requires a placement test. It then provides questions and problems at the tested level. It finds any learning gaps, and then creates an individual plan for the student. Like the program that we reviewed, it  offers the same interactive lessons, records and tracking features. Courses are available for grades 1-6, and Pre Algebra. Both programs are really good, so go take a look, and choose your course!

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Read Crew reviews about the Family Math Package as well as the Adaptive Math Curriculum Online by clicking on the banner below!