TOS Crew Review - America's Math Teacher (Math Essentials)

America's Math Teacher is an online version of the curriculum offered by Math Essentials. It is meant to be used as a supplement to a full math curriculum, or as extra help for a struggling student - it is not a full curriculum within itself.



We had a bit of trouble doing this review, since my oldest child (Isaac, 9.5) is on the younger side of who this program is designed for. This program is meant to be used by children in late elementary-level math all the way through algebra-level math. The "Basic Math" section covers multi-digit addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division - which we have covered in our current math curriculum, and then moves on into fractions, decimals, ratios, probability etc., which we have not covered yet. Since America's Math Teacher is meant to be a supplement, not a lot of time is spent explaining each and every process of a problem, so we couldn't use it past what we've covered ourselves.

That being said, what we could use, we liked. The lessons offered a good chance to review skills, and were very straight forward and easy to follow. We would watch a video, and Isaac would do the lesson on paper as we watched. We could pause and discuss any questions he had or if he had come up with a different solution than the video. Then Isaac would do a worksheet that corresponded with the lesson, which are available to print from the website. Each lesson took 10-15 minutes to watch and complete the worksheet, although, it would probably take longer if the student was really struggling and you needed to go over concepts more.

There are several parts to the website:

• the Learning Center, which is where the lesson videos are found,
  
• the Evaluation Center, where quizzes and tests are located - including an initial Evaluation Test that is recommended to help find what level your student would be, and
  
• the Resource Center, where the printable worksheets are found, as well as a lesson list, answer keys, and one more thing we enjoyed - the Speed Drill feature.

The Speed Drill is a simple, timed exercise for the student to answer drills. You can choose either addition, subtraction, or multiplication, and hit "Start" and get your fingers ready! Now, my children are perhaps weird (or maybe typical boys?) and really enjoy competition, especially if its timed. So both of my older boys were able to use the Speed Drills to help their addition skills, and to keep it fun and interesting, they competed against eachother to see who could get the best time. Its always a plus for me when something that could be boring (such as math drills), is made in a way so that my children are eager to do it and do their best at it!

The price for AMT is $195/year, and the program can be accessed from any online computer, and can be used with several students. That averages out to less than $17/month for one child, less if you have more using the program. If you are concerned about your math curriculum perhaps having "gaps", or if your child is struggling with mastering certain math topics, or math in general, I'd suggest giving America's Math Teacher a look to see if it will fit your needs! To really give it a feel, check out their selection of free videos and worksheets!

Be sure to check out what other reviewers thought of America's Math Teacher by visiting the TOS Homeschool Crew blog!

Disclaimer: I was given this product specifically for the purpose of reviewing here on my blog as a member of TOS Homeschool Crew. I received no other compensation in regards to this review.