Friday, January 28, 2011

TenMarks: A TOS Crew Review

tenmarks

As a member of the TOS Crew, I was selected to review TenMarks, an online math program for students in 3rd grade -- high school.  This quote from the website sums up what the program is all about:

“TenMarks is on a mission to build a stronger foundation and a stronger future for all children. TenMarks was founded by entrepreneurial parents searching for a better way to help students achieve their potential in math, and supplement and enrich their classroom learning.” 

Though I could explain how TenMarks works, this video does a better job than I ever could, so why don’t you take a look and then I’ll tell you a bit more about the program? 

 

After you take the first step and sign up your child,  you’ll receive a weekly email with your child’s assignments, a series of worksheets. (My children each had four to complete.)

Your child simply logs in to their homepage where they can see their progress, their assignments and any rewards that are available, and get started. Below is an example of a worksheet.

On the left of the screen, you will see the problem, which is multiple choice. Your child can work out the problem and give their answer. You’ll notice on the right of the screen, they can ask for a hint (limited to three) or watch a video lesson. For my children, this is perfect. If they don’t understand a concept, there is no need to dig through a textbook to figure out how to work the problem, the tools they need are right there, a click away. 

 tenmarks   

After they have completed their worksheet of ten short questions, they simply submit their assignment to be graded-- which takes seconds.  I can’t tell you how much I LOVE this feature. Despite my best intentions, grading my children’s papers has never been my strong point. With TenMarks, they have immediate feedback with the opportunity to view their mistakes and correct their answers right away, while the concept is still fresh in their minds.

Below, you see a Worksheet Summary. The first time your child corrects a worksheet, they immediately see what questions are correct or incorrect, much like the screen shot below.  The large red button on the right would allow them to correct their answers, or they could choose to go to the Home Page.

My child chose to correct their answers and this time around, you can see that my child got 8 out of 10 questions right. Again, they see what questions are incorrect, can view an explanation as to why they missed it, can review all their answers (but not correct them) and can return to the Home Page or simply Log Out.

tenmarks summary

From the Home Page, your child can select to complete another worksheet, see when one is due, play a game or go to their Reward Center (which we have not utilized).

homepage

Each week, you will receive an email showing your child’s progress or, if you prefer log in at any time to see how things are to make sure your child is staying on track.

As a mother of high school students, I’ve discovered that you really do lose what you don’t use. Personally, I haven’t used higher math for years and to be honest, at the detriment of my children, I’ve not been interested in learning it again. It was rough enough the first time. My children have all fallen behind in math while waiting for me to “catch up” and get my act together. Math just isn’t my strong point. I may as well be learning a foreign language. I’m lost. As a result, so are my kids. We need a program like TenMarks to walk us through, step by step. A program that can give my children the help they need without me. TenMarks fills that need for my family, specifically, for my children.

You can gain full access to the site for a free trial to see if you think it would be a good fit for your family as well.   

TenMarks works at your pace, on your time frame, and is affordable at a cost of $10 a month, $49 for six months or $89 a year. You can visit the TOS Homeschool Crew blog to see what the other crew members had to say about TenMarks. 

If your current program isn’t working as well as you’d hoped, you’re looking to try something new or you just need to supplement your current program, why not take a look at TenMarks and see if it would work for you?

*I received this program free of charge as part of the TOS Homeschool Crew in exchange for my honest review.

1 comment:

  1. It was interesting to read a review from a mom of older kids. My boys did the grade 3 & 4 programs. They enjoyed it, and I am certainly keeping it in mind for when they reach higher level math. I think it will be great to have a program that explains everything so thoroughly and that takes me out of the equation - thus decreasing arguing over "the right way to do math."

    ReplyDelete

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