Kelsi and Brittany have just completed six weeks of math instruction using the
math instructional program.
We've never utilized an online math curricula until this school year, when we've been introduced to two different online math programs by being a part of the TOS Crew.
I've always liked being closely acquainted with each day's math lessons over the years, so if a problem occurred, then I would know exactly what piece of instruction was missing or needed to be explained in a different way. Fortunately, with the math program we've used over the years, there hasn't been much need for a lot of explaining on my part. While my daughters don't love math, they do seem to have a better understanding of it than I did at their ages.
I suppose that this is why I haven't ever investigated online math programs. Why fix it if it ain't broke?
For our family, using TenMarks was a great way to test out an online curricula and see how disciplined my girls were at completing their weekly list of assignments, and to see how much explaining (if any) I would need to do to make sure they understood the newly presented concepts.
TenMarks offers lessons and specialized programs to cover the breadth of the core math skills your child will cover in school. Grades 3 through High School is included in the TenMarks program. Over 300 core math skills are addressed and taught using Hints and video lessons for every topic. The curriculum is also mapped to state standards.
I have to be truthful to say that we were only able to use it for about four weeks, but this was because our main computer's hard drive passed on to a better life, and we suffered for it. Because of our computer issues, I lost my email containing the registration sign-in link and passwords for TenMarks, and our computer was on vacation at Computer Guy Larry's home for a couple of weeks since of course, the breakdown occurred over Christmas and New Year's holidays. We were finally able to get the computer back home and receive a new email containing the information we needed to sign up.
Here are our thoughts after four weeks of using TenMarks.
1. It is quite affordable at $10 per month per student, or $49 for six months, or $89 for twelve months. TenMarks also offers a money back guarantee.
2. The website is professionally designed and arranged.
3. The lessons seemed to go step by step in order of difficulty or in the normal scope and sequence of math instruction. For my own family, the math curriculum we have chosen to use follows a different scope and sequence than most other math curricula, so we did need to adjust to this and realize that it would be different in some ways than what we were used to using.
4. We did find a couple of errors in two separate math problems or displays on the screen, so we submitted a note to TenMarks using their "Feedback" button, and they were able to correct those for us.
5. We learned that if the girls started an assigned worksheet and then for some reason, weren't finished and they needed to step away from the computer for a while, that particular page would close, and any work they did on the worksheet was deleted, meaning that they would need to start the worksheet all over again, even if they had just completely nine out of the ten long division problems on the page. We learned to click the "Save for Later" button to come back to the assignment when they were ready to do this.
6. Kelsi discovered that she could use her digital tablet to work the problems of the assignment worksheets. She figured out how to use the Windows Journal application on her digital tablet to write out the problems and their answers, and she really enjoyed doing that, so this may be an option for your family if you happen to have a digital tablet and have a child who doesn't really like using paper and pencil.
7. As the parent, I was able to go in and modify the order of the lessons they would be doing, or alert TenMarks that someone needed to be bumped up to a higher or lower grade level, if needed. If we were going to go on vacation, or be away from school for a few days, I could also "Pause Program" and not have additional lessons assigned to my children for a length of time that I chose. We also had the option of speeding up the number of worksheets per week if a child was seeming to move quite quickly through the assignments. I appreciate the ability to customize the math program for each of my children.
I'm sorry that the graphic, below, is small enough (though large on the screen) that you can't read everything there on the parent page. It's nice to be able to get a clear picture of how the girls are doing on each lesson. I liked this!
I'm sorry that the graphic, below, is small enough (though large on the screen) that you can't read everything there on the parent page. It's nice to be able to get a clear picture of how the girls are doing on each lesson. I liked this!
Now, for my concerns about TenMarks:
Here is concern #1: If I chose to not watch the lesson videos with the girls, then I had no way to know how the lesson concept was being introduced. Since TenMarks uses a different technique and math vocabulary than our normal, everyday math curriculum we use in our own home, I really wasn't sure how something was explained unless I watched it with the girls. This actually slowed down the math learning and assignments, for if one of the girls didn't understand something, then I needed to watch at least a portion of the video to see how the teacher explained the concept...so I could fill in any missing gaps in my daughters' brains. While TenMarks is designed for independent learning, I still recommend that the parent watches the lesson video with the child before turning them loose on doing the math worksheets.
Concern #2: The gentleman explaining each lesson has a strong accent - to us. We found that we needed to listen very carefully in order to hear and understand all of the words in the video. He also seemed to talk quite quickly at times. At other times, the way he would explain something didn't seem all that helpful to me or to the girls, although many videos were clear and understandable.
Concern #3: The handwriting done on the "white board" portion of the screen during the video lesson would frankly have received a "D" or an "F" in my book. Both the printed words and numbers were sometimes very difficult to discern. I've graded written work from literally thousands of students, and while this isn't the worst handwriting, in my opinion, it is not done well enough to be used online. I would recommend that TenMarks goes back to the videos to rework the lesson problems (white board version) with someone who has very clear and distinct handwriting, because this was a negative for us.
Concern #4: server issues with TenMarks caused the girls to not be able to do any assignments this week, because they couldn't watch the accompanying lesson videos. I don't know how often TenMarks has technical difficulties like this. It may not be very often, but when technical difficulties do occur, then a backup plan should be in place for the parent, so the child can continue his or her math instruction.
Concern #5: Multiple choice answers are provided for each and every problem on TenMarks. While I understand that this makes grading much easier for their web application, my girls could occasionally guess the correct answer by using the process of elimination with the multiple choice answers. They both told me several times on separate occasions that they thought that the multiple choice option took some of the validity out of the math curriculum.
My conclusion?
TenMarks seems to be a great option for helping children with public school and private school homework, or for an inexpensive resource for home tutoring after school. If TenMarks is used as a complete math curriculum for the homeschooler, I do recommend that a parent watches the lesson video with each student in the home, to accompany the new lesson. This will help you, as the parent, to stay closely connected with your child's math abilities which definitely build on themselves lesson by lesson.
TenMarks corrects your child's assignments and will provide a report card of your child's efforts. Your child may go back and repeat assignments and math problems to improve his or her score. Also, rewards may be set up for each child as they meet defined goals that the parent has designed for that particular child. TenMarks keeps track of this as well. Online math games are "unlocked" at various levels of the program, so your child can also receive online rewards from doing well on his or her math. I wondered if a child could be sitting down at the computer, pretending to do TenMarks worksheets, but actually only playing the games that had been earned. There is no built-in timer to limit the playing of the reward games.
Basically, the price is right, if your child is needing some additional tutoring. The customer service I received was adequate, although not being able to use the site for several days this last week was a bit frustrating for my girls. However, nothing (yet!) can take the place of a personal tutor or parent who cares deeply about the student or child excelling in their math studies.
Here is a video produced by TenMarks, to show you how their program works:
TenMarks corrects your child's assignments and will provide a report card of your child's efforts. Your child may go back and repeat assignments and math problems to improve his or her score. Also, rewards may be set up for each child as they meet defined goals that the parent has designed for that particular child. TenMarks keeps track of this as well. Online math games are "unlocked" at various levels of the program, so your child can also receive online rewards from doing well on his or her math. I wondered if a child could be sitting down at the computer, pretending to do TenMarks worksheets, but actually only playing the games that had been earned. There is no built-in timer to limit the playing of the reward games.
Basically, the price is right, if your child is needing some additional tutoring. The customer service I received was adequate, although not being able to use the site for several days this last week was a bit frustrating for my girls. However, nothing (yet!) can take the place of a personal tutor or parent who cares deeply about the student or child excelling in their math studies.
Here is a video produced by TenMarks, to show you how their program works:
If you are interested in reading about what other members of the TOS Crew had to say about TenMarks, you will find those additional reviews HERE.
Disclosure: As a member of the TOS Crew, I was provided with 8 months' free service for both of my children for the exchange of writing a review for this company onto my website. No other compensation was provided.
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