Mathandalgebra.com (A REVIEW)

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL 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.

Math is a tough subject for many kids. Understanding the concepts and really getting them down is important as they move their way up through the "math ladder" to the, often dreaded, algebra stage. What if there were a way to kinda get a student going in that direction quickly? What if there were concepts missed or not completely understood before moving on? What if you want your student to be prepared for their algebra courses when they get to high school (or sooner)? I think Mathandalgebra.com has the keys to unlock some really fundamental math and algebra skills that can help kids excel and gain confidence in their own math abilities.

For this review we received online access to all levels of Mathandalgebra.com for a year. The levels included are Elementary, Intermediate, Pre-algebra, and Algebra. With that subscription we could enroll up to 3 students (1 student plus 2 free), and they can move through the levels freely. I had my elementary student (4th grade) work on this review starting with the Elementary level. It turns out my 4th grader, Alex, really enjoyed this math program!

This is the screen shot inside the first Basic Math Lesson. The video is there, and the button to print the worksheet is just below the instructions (not shown in this picture).

How does this online math program work? It's really simple! There is a video with each lesson that demonstrates/talks about the lesson, teaches the concept, and then the student works on a worksheet to practice problems on their own. As they move through the lessons they can mark them off and the program will show their progress. The worksheets do need to be printed up and graded by the teacher. There's no automatic grading with this course. I actually love the paper worksheet aspect! It takes my kids' eyes off the screen for a bit, and I get to be more involved by grading.

I also love the simplicity of these worksheets. They are very clearly laid out with groups of problems, some review, most new concepts learned in the lesson, and they almost always have a word problem or two. There is also a little nugget of advice or reminder of a math concept in the middle of the page. As seen in the picture below of the worksheet where it shows an example of where to put commas in a very large number. Little details like these can sometimes be quickly washed over or easily forgotten in lessons for regular math curriculum. It's such a good way to remind students of what's going on in the page in front of them.

My 4th graders 2nd worksheet.

 

Lets talk about the videos! These are the "gold" of the program, I think. They are so well done and easy to follow. The man that does these videos goes step-by-step through everything. He doesn't leave anything out. He even goes so far to remind kids at the beginning of almost every video to get a paper and pencil and write the problems down that he is working through. Do you know how many times I tell my kids to get paper and pencil and show their work? More times than I'd like to say! I'm so glad this is part of these videos. He also gives great explanations, works slowly, and points everything out that he's thinking as he works through problems. My 4th grader got it! I have to admit when I saw fractions and decimals in the elementary portion I got a little worried that it would move too fast through concepts that he doesn't understand yet, but it's all at the right level as long as the student watches the explanation videos and works through each lesson building up the skills they learn.

An example of the video from the Algebra course.

 

I feel like this math program is very valuable in helping my kiddos get ahead in math and algebra. I think the videos are great, and the worksheets complement very well and are very well laid out. Will we continue to use this program, absolutely! I am curious to see how far my boys can get. I also looked at the Intermediate, Pre-Algebra, and Algebra courses. They are all laid out basically the same. Even some of the topics are the same, but the difficulty is a little greater as they move up.

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