Getting my son to do formal lessons has always been a struggle. He never sits still for long – unless of course he is building with Legos. He would rather be outside slaying dragons with the sword he built with his Papa or hunting down lost Incan treasure with his whip coiled at his side.
Recently he exclaimed, “Mom, can I do my math on the computer? I really like Unlock Math and I want to see if I can do it myself.” This caught me by surprise and brought a smile to my face.
We received access to the Unlock Math Pre-Algebra curriculum in exchange for an honest review. I also received monetary compensation for my time spent in reviewing the product. All opinions expressed are true and completely our own. Please see my disclosure policy for more information.
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Unlock Math
UnLock Math has literally unlocked the joy of math for my son. He logs onto his personal account and listens to the video lesson (about 5-7 minutes long), completes a set of practice problems, completes a set of extra practice problems if he feels he needs to, and answers a challenge question.
The best part is that I can immediately see how he has done on his lesson, see which ones he needs to work on (if any), and look at his grades…they’re all saved for us!
Pre-Algebra Scope & Sequence
The pre-algebra program covers the following skills and has several lessons for each:
- Whole numbers
- Integers
- Variable and expressions
- Rational numbers
- Fractions
- Equations
- Inequalities
- The coordinate plane
- Decimals
- Percent
- Polynomials
- Triangles
- 2D geometry
- 3D geometry
- Analyzing data
- Stats and probability
Interactive Homeschool Math Curriculum
UnLock Math offers an excellent interactive math curriculum with several features that were appealing to my son.
1. Video Instruction – Students learn with high-quality and entertaining video instruction in a safe virtual learning environment. The video was a nice change from our usual textbook approach.
2. Focused – When the student enters the practice problems or quiz portion of the program, they will only see one question at a time. This helps to focus their attention and prevent them from being overwhelmed with a whole page of problems at one time.
My son has Nystagmus so his eyes are constantly moving. He did have a little trouble with the font size during the practice problems or quizzes. We found though that we could easily enlarge the screen image from our drop down ‘View’ menu.
3. Variety – Students will encounter a variety of different question types that truly assess what they have learned and retained in ways that multiple choice simply can’t.
4. Flexible – Students can practice as much or as little as needed to reinforce concepts covered in the videos. In the concepts that my son was familiar with and grasped easily, he was able to jump ahead to the challenge or unit test, rather than be restricted to practice problems.
5. Challenging – At the end of each lesson were challenges or bonus puzzles. These logic problems challenged him to use the problem solving strategies covered in the lesson in different ways. He really enjoyed this part of the lesson and rarely skipped them.
6. Assessment Feedback – Parents can avoid the hassle of grading homework and tests with UnLock Math’s automated grading process. What I loved best about this process was that upon submitting his answers, he could click on “View Details” and each problems would be solved step-by-step.
If he got a problem wrong, he was able to read through the solution and identify where he went wrong. In some cases, he simply misinterpreted the question. Having this solution provided him with clarity and reduced his frustration.
Connect with UnLock Math for more information:
- YouTube
- Instagram – @unlockmath
- GooglePlus
UnLock Math Discount and Giveaway
I have been impressed with the UnLock Pre-Algebra course, and I’m happy to let you know that you can purchase a subscription for the special introductory price of only $349/year.
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