Friday, January 28, 2011

TenMarks Review


In our home Math is the second subject of the day (second only to Bible time) and it is the one that takes the longest. It is also the most dreaded subject of the day. Until now! Our latest review, TenMarks, has changed all that. TenMarks is an online Math program that customizes it's self to meet the needs of the student. According to their website:
TenMarks is the only online math program that helps students refresh, learn, and master math concepts - in their own time, at their own pace. Each child receives a personalized curriculum to help them master the concepts quickly.

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TenMarks is available for grades 3 through high school. It is very reasonably priced with the premium version costing only
$10/month
$49/6 months
$89/12 months
You can try the regular version for free which offers a limited amount of the worksheets available to the premium member.
It is also available free to educators to use in the classroom--this does not include homeschoolers.

For us TenMarks has been a wonderful experience. Paul really dislikes Math. He is good at it but has no confidence in his Math ability. TenMarks has changed all that. He looks forward to doing TenMarks daily and even asks for it. He will happily do his 2-3 worksheets daily without complaint.

How it Works: You choose the grade level your child is in and then it shows you the "tracks" that a child at that grade level will typically work through in a year. You can move them around or delete them altogether if you would like. You can also add tracks from different grade levels. You then choose how many worksheets you would like your child to do in one week and they are "assigned" to them under their own account. If your child finishes the worksheets in less than one week there is a "fast track" option. This option has been great for us since I had Paul start at the beginning of third grade and he is actually almost finished with his regular 3rd grade curriculum. Much of what he has completed so far has been review. As the child moves through the curriculum there are videos to watch at the beginning of each lesson. They can view the video again in the middle of a "worksheet" or use the "hints" to help them answer the question. At the end of each worksheet a score is given along with a "concept strength" score. The child can go back and try to answer the incorrect answers and a new score is given. The concept strength is judged on how many videos or hints the child needs to answer the questions correctly. If the concept strength is low a new worksheet is assigned. I really like this feature. Paul is really good at getting correct answers using the "hints" but not totally understanding the concepts. There are also timed tests assigned at the end of each track.

The best part of TenMarks for ME was that there was one less subject I had to plan for. I don't necessarily want all subjects planned out for me and him doing them online but it was really nice to not have to figure out what we were doing in Math. In my lesson plans I just wrote down how many worksheets he was going to do each day. The other feature that is wonderful is that I can log in to the teacher account and view how he is progressing. I can also set up rewards for him along the way.

And one more "perk" is that because it is online I can even have him work a worksheet or two while on vacation...


Now from Paul's perspective:

Ten marks was really fun. It was a good thing to learn math. Because it will teach you in an easy way. My favorite thing about it is that you choose how fast you go like if you try your hardest it will go fast and easy. if you don't even think about it and just choose an answer, well good luck.

You can see what other TOS Crew Members have to say here.
Disclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest opinion of the product. There was no other compensation given for the review




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