MATH - A+ Tutorsoft, Inc. Review

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When I was trying to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up, I decided to become a teacher. There were two things I really wanted to be able to do: see the lightbulb go off when children were learning math and when they were learning to read. Upon completing observations and learning about our current public education system, I actually decided to bow out of becoming a school teacher and to instead education my own children at home through homeschool.

Math is still a subject that I have a passion about. I’ve always loved it and I really want my children to get a great grasp as well. A+ Tutorsoft, Inc. is a company that produces quality mathematics instruction for students all the way from 1st grade to Algebra 1! A+ Interactive MATH is a CD Software program that makes math simple for the homeschooling family. Within the program, you get all sorts of great interactive features, including a teacher account and the student account. There is lesson tracking, certificates of achievement videos for the kids to watch to help teach the lessons, interactive Q&A sessions, in-program testing and quizzes, fun illustrations of concepts, and so much more. It is very organized and engaging as well.

The entire curriculum is divided into different sections so that you can see exactly what skills your child is working on. With my son, we worked on the 1st grade CD program. I wanted him to work on very specific skills since we’ve actually worked on a few of the things included in this curriculum already, and it was very simple to navigate through the menus to choose exactly what to select to work on each day. After doing the program for a few days, he got the hang of it and was navigating through it on his own. He enjoyed being able to pause the videos in order to be more interactive and to give himself time to answer the questions posed in the videos. For example, the video might say, “What number comes next?” and then give a brief pause before answering the question by visually demonstrating the answer as well as listing it. My son figured this out and began to pause each video immediately after a question was raised so that he could take his time answering it on his own before checking to see if he was right. I thought this was a great feature because he is a perfectionist, but also loves solving puzzles. For him to be able to take this into his own hands to allow time to work the problem gave him confidence in his abilities without rushing him! This also gave him precious practice before moving on to the assessments.My son did enjoy the certificates of achievement that I was able to print out for him as he completed work each week. I liked that I was able to view how well he did on each of the various parts of the program and I was able to monitor his progress. We also printed out worksheets that correlated with the lessons and were able to further reinforce the concepts taught away from the computer, making this program more than just a software program.There was not a lot of fluff in the curriculum. It was to the point and thorough enough to teach the student what they need to know before moving on to more complex lessons. If a child is struggling in a particular area, the parent or teacher could easily allow them to review the lessons and work the worksheets as well. It would be easy to relate the lessons on the screen to a real-life situation using counters or pencil and paper as well. In other words, the lessons on the screen can easily translate into real-world lessons, particularly if a child is struggling and must have extra practice. There are recommended lesson plans as well, which can help keep parents and students on track! There are solution guides for all exams and worksheets, as well, which is an invaluable resource to parents. This helps walk the parent and child through the steps to solve the problems step by step as taught and featured in the A+ Tutorsoft MATH program.
As I worked through this program with my son, I thought that it was certainly a little bit above the level that I would have placed him in. While my son is a kindergarten student, I generally consider him VERY gifted in math. However, this 1st grade program was challenging for him. He was able to master SEVERAL of the concepts, but still others were too difficult for him at this time. I will try again on some of those more difficult concepts, such as money and fractions, a little bit later in the school year. I love that I can do that with this program, as it is super simple to jump from section to section and completely skip things as needed or to review things over and over if needed. I was very fond of the tutorials that were offered in this program, both for the student to use as a navigational help, as well as for me as the parent. The program literally walks you through the features of the program and helps you get the most out of it.
My son had a great time using this. He didn’t beg me to stop with math. There were very natural beginnings and ends, so he knew that when he finished his video, Q&A, and any assessments, that he was done for the day. I loved the natural breaks in lessons. He appreciated getting the certificates. We both appreciated the worksheets! Overall, I found this to be a solid program and plan to continue using it with my son. I have been quizzing him on some of the lessons and have found that his retention from using this program is very good and that he is better able to verbally explain math to me now that he’s been exposed to the videos in this software. I think that hearing it explained so frankly has helped him to express it as well. This is something I didn’t expect, and it is a neat little take away! 🙂
If you are interested, A+ Tutorsoft, Inc. provides many FREE resources to try out to see how you like the program prior to purchasing. The grade level CDs cost $99.99 per grade for the standard edition or $124.99 for the premium edition. There is an awesome 50% OFF Special Promotion through the end of MARCH! The coupon code is: SPOFFER50

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this product through the Schoolhouse Review Crew in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.

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