Pre-Algebra with UnLock Math {Review}

My oldest daughter starts Pre-Algebra this year. Pre-Algebra! How did that happen? I blinked and moved from choosing Pre-School math to Pre-Algebra!

I’ve been confident teaching her myself with just a teacher’s manual as help for all these years. But, as we move toward upper level math, I want to be sure she has longer instruction for each lesson with more examples before moving to the independent work. While our current curriculum and teaching has been more than adequate, I worry that as the subject matter increases in difficulty she my need more repetition than our usual lesson.

The opportunity to review UnLock Pre-Algebra came at the perfect time. UnLock Math provides really engaging lessons for each concept with plenty of examples, before moving onto the student working problems independently.

Before watching the video lesson students complete a warm up section, usually consisting of review from previous lessons. Next, the student watches the lesson instruction video. We found the online video lessons well taught and entertaining. No worries about zoning out and not paying attention during the teaching. The length of the videos is good- not so long enough to really explain the concept but not so long that the student looses interest. Once the video watching is complete, students complete practice problems pertaining to the lesson. I do wish there was immediate feed back after completing each question. After the entire practice problem section is complete clicking “view details’ allows the student to see the correct answer for the missed problem along with an explanation of how to get the answer. I know that in a normal math lesson, the student might not get results until completely finished. However, I usually check my child’s first few problems as she works to ensure that she really understands working the problem independently. After the practice section the student moves on to “stay sharp” and “challenge” which continue to build on all she has learned.

This course also includes both midterm and final review lessons with quizzes.

Since this is an online course I though I’d share a bit about UnLock Math’s website. I really like the student dashboard, it’s very easy to tell where the student left off. Plus students can always see how they are doing and how many lessons are left to complete the course. On both the dashboard that encompasses the information for the entire course, and the navigation for each individual lesson, my student appreciates the clear visual of the path to completion, always knowing what is complete already and what is coming. And lest you worry about loosing progress in a computer or internet glitch, all the students work is saved with every ‘next’ click, so no worries about redoing lessons and work in case of a technical issue.

The parent dashboard is also easy to navigate. The gradebook includes features I never would have thought of, but really enjoy having access to. Not only does it keep track of scores and progress, but I can see what date and time my daughter completed her lesson, and how long she spent on the lesson too!

Overall, I think this math is a strong choice for Pre-Algebra, especially for a parent worried about teaching the subject!

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