Teaching Textbooks Free Trial + Other Features You Might Not Know About
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Thank you to Teaching Textbooks for sponsoring this post! As always, all opinions are my own!
It’s no secret our favorite homeschool math curriculum is Teaching Textbooks. I shared our Teaching Textbooks review a while ago and we are still going strong with four kids now using the math program.
You may or may not know about the Teaching Textbooks free trial that allows you to try out the program before you make a commitment, but did you know there are a lot of other cool features that make Teaching Textbooks appealing to so many homeschool families? If you’re still wondering how to choose the best homeschool math curriculum, let me tell you all about them!
Free Trial of Teaching Textbooks
You can access a free trial of the full version of the Teaching Textbooks digital app through Lesson 15. Everything is included such as lectures, audiovisual solutions, the eBook, and the automated grading feature.
When the full (paid) version is purchased all completed lessons and grades from the trial will be transferred over and your student’s progress will be saved.
There is no credit card information needed to sign up for the Free trial and no time limit.
Automatic Grading – Total Independence
One of the things that is personally appealing to me about Teaching Textbooks is the automatic grading! Teaching Textbooks is the only homeschool math program that does everything for the parent.
Children are able to work independently through the math program and you will receive a daily email each time your child completes a math lesson explaining their current grade and how they are progressing.
It’s a good idea to make sure you check the daily email or look at the grade book to verify that your child is staying on track with meeting their learning goals.
Practice Problems
Each lesson begins with five practice problems that do not count toward the student’s grade. They are examples of that lesson’s five hardest problems.
You’ll find a reference number in the upper right hand corner of the practice problem that shows when the math concept was taught. While new concepts are taught during practice problems, there can also be a new twist on a concept the student has learned before. The practice problem solution videos go a little more in-depth than a standard solution.
If you notice a letter in front of a problem, that letter represents the practice problem where that concept was taught at the beginning of the lesson. A student can go back and reference that practice problem if they are having trouble.
Audiovisual Solutions
All lectures in Teaching Textbooks are interactive. Your child won’t just watch a video, they will actually work on problems during the lecture. Students also have the ability to re-listen to lectures if needed.
As I mentioned previously, each problem is taught with audiovisual solutions. Everything is read to the child and the child can see exactly how to solve the problem.
Did you know each level of Teaching Textbooks contains real world examples so students can see just how they will use these math concepts in their lives?
Student Gradebook
One of my favorite features of Teaching Textbooks is the student gradebook. Students have the ability to look at their gradebook any time they would like. My kids in particular are motivated to maintain certain scores. They even get a little competitive with each other if I’m being honest.
They also like knowing how many lessons they have left until they complete the course. It’s a great motivator for them to keep going! Students can look at their grades and lessons, but do not have the ability to change any grades or delete any lessons.
Free Tutoring
You probably didn’t know it, but Teaching Textbooks offers free tutoring to all customers! You can call Teaching Textbooks customer service and let them know the level, lesson, and problem your child is struggling with, and a tutor will walk them through it!
This is extremely rare among curriculum companies, especially math companies. Teaching Textbooks is dedicated to removing the burden of teaching math from parents.
Online Program Can Be Used Offline
The Teaching Textbooks app can be used offline for up to six lessons. Every time the app is launched online six lessons are downloaded to the the device the child is using. Before working offline, you can check that the lessons are available by looking at the bottom corner of the lesson number in the gradebook and making sure it says, “Available Offline.”
While your child’s grades will be saved to the device while it is offline, in order to save them to the Internet server, you will need to connect the device to the Internet.
Rewards for Kids
One of my kids’ favorite aspects of Teaching Textbooks is the online rewards built right into the app.
Whenever a question is answered correctly, a new sticker is added to the child’s sticker book. If there’s a particular sticker your child doesn’t like, you have the option to turn it off! If stickers are too distracting for your child, you can turn them off completely.
All lower math levels come with Buddies, which are so fun for my kids. They can choose their own buddy as often as they like. This option can also be completely disabled in the parent controls.
Finally, kids have the option to choose different wallpaper backgrounds for their course. This is a lot of fun for my kids because they love personalizing their things.
eBook Textbook
Did you know that each level of Teaching Textbooks includes a printable eBook? You can print out the lecture, quizzes, tests, and problem sets that are seen in the app. This is a great option if you need to provide written work to an evaluator. Keep in mind that you don’t have to print anything to complete the course.
Scratchpad Feature
We have really enjoyed the scratchpad feature. My kids especially find it helpful when they are using the iPad to work on their math.
There are a lot of options with the scratchpad such as the option to zoom in or out, to change the scratchpad paper, to change the scratchpad pencil color and line thickness, to undo or redo any work on the scratchpad, clear any writing, or even to answer the problem from the scratchpad.
Online Parent Portal
Did you know you have indefinite access to the parent portal whether your child has an active course or not, so you don’t ever lose access to your child’s grades. You can even print a hard copy.
The parent portal gives you access to several control options such as turning hints and second chances on or off, controlling the order in which your child completes lessons, and limiting the number of lessons your child can do in a day.
Pause Feature
One of our favorite features is the “pause” feature. We take a week off every six weeks, so I can login in and pause the courses for the time we won’t be homeschooling.
Each time you pause, you must pause for at least seven days, and you have a total of up to 90 days of pause time. Pause time will not count against your 12 months of access to the course.
Large Family Discount
Have a large family? If you have four to eight students, you can take advantage of the Teaching Textbooks large family discount.
Keep in mind, each child can only hold one enrollment at a time, and all children will need to start on the same date, although you can use the pause feature if need be.
Printables
Teaching Textbooks offers several printables such as completion certificates, addition and subtraction facts, as well as multiplication, division, and fraction facts to help students practice.
I hope this post has been helpful to you if you’re deciding whether or not to use Teaching Textbooks in your homeschool. I actually learned a lot about some features I didn’t know just by writing it for you!
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