A+ Interactive Math is a company with which we are very familiar. In fact, I think we have probably used just about every program they offer! From their Online Family Packages to their CD Software, my twins (11) love A+ Interactive. I was very intrigued, then, when I saw that the company had a new product to offer: Math Mini-Courses! There are so many Mini-Courses from which to choose that any family is sure to find something to fit their needs. My twins have been using Advanced Fractions and Elementary and Middle School Division, and like all things A+ Interactive, they love those courses!
See how the designation at the top center of the screen says Chapter 5.7? There is no real reason for there to be that designation in this course. If you look at the Table of Contents along the side, you can see that it is all designated 1.1-1.15, so the only place the Chapter 5.7 could have come from is the original course. The only reason I mention this is because if you own some A+ Interactive courses already, you may be duplicating by purchasing the Mini-Courses (you would, of course, want to verify this with the company - don't take my word for it. I'm just going on what I have learned by using the company's materials for several years).
The above screenshot does give you a good idea of what the course looks like. After a short lesson, the student is presented with a Q&A in the above format. The student gets immediate feedback so they know if they got the answer right as soon as they answer the question. That lets them know right away whether or not they understood the lesson presentation. They can go back and re-watch the lesson at any time, and they can go back and do the Q&A at any time if they want to improve their score.
At any time, students can look at their dashboards and see their progress:
Speaking of the dashboard, the student version looks like this (note that you can create online and printable worksheets and tests):
The parent dashboard looks like this:
That Parent controls section looks like this:
So, essentially parents and children have access to most of the same things, which I love because I like for my kids to be able to handle as much of their own schoolwork as they can, but parents can decide how much information their kids can access.
The Mini-Courses I Received
The Division course I received is incredibly comprehensive. It begins at the very beginning with division in relation to subtraction. The last lesson is four digits divided by two digits. In essence, then, you really cover every aspect of division, meaning that this course is great for a range of ages. Because my twins are not division novices, at the beginning of the course, I had them skip the instruction part of the lesson and go straight to the Interactive Q&A. In this way, they didn't "waste" time relearning what they already knew, BUT they did have the check of finding out if they actually knew the material before moving on. The courses work really well that way. If you (or your child) think you know the material, that's great - go ahead and skip the lesson, but don't skip the Q&A. You'll find out quite quickly if you do, in fact, know the material!
The Fractions course I received (Advanced Fractions) begins with identifying fractions and moves quickly into equivalent fractions and GCF, LCM, and LCD. It covers adding, subtracting, converting, reducing, and everything you would expect in a fractions course. The format is exactly the same as the Division course. Here's a screenshot:
I should point out, since the screenshots are not, sadly, audible, that the lessons *are* audible. That makes these courses perfect for so many different types of learners. Everything is reinforced in multiple ways.
A+ Interactive continues to develop its product line to meet the needs of many different kinds of families. To see how 79 other Crew families have been using their awesome new Mini-Courses, click the banner below.
No comments:
Post a Comment