Math Curriculum – Thinkwell vs Teaching Textbooks

Math Curriculum – Thinkwell vs Teaching Textbook

Whether you are fully homeschooling or just teaching them as an addition to school, our kids enjoy the challenge and often can more than match their typical peers. This is a parent perspective on two of the available Math Curriculum, Thinkwell and Teaching Textbooks.

There are essentially 3 main components to any Math Program that you buy

– Lessons/Concepts: how well they explain the concepts so that your student can understand it.

– Problems Sets: a variety that test student’s understanding of the concept.

– Solutions: How well it explains/presents the solutions. ( in case you don’t understand the problems )

Both Thinkwell and Teaching Textbooks are popular Math Curriculum used by Homeschoolers.

Thinkwell Website: http://teachingtextbooks.com/ (Approx $150) Grade 6 – High School

Teaching Textbook Website: http://www.thinkwellhomeschool.com/ (Approx $184) Grade 3-HighSchool

For the lectures

– TW had a split video screen – one shows the teacher who explains the lesson, the other screen shows the whiteboard with the problem he explains. I kind of liked that you got to see a “live” person talking rather than a “voice”. It also has close captioning in case you are hard of hearing.

– TT had only had one video screen with the problem and an audio which went on in the background. The audio was a little monotonous. The video background was a like a yellow lined notepaper. Some students may like this as it looks like a notepad they write on. On the other hand, it can be visually noisy for other kids.

For the problems

– Both TW & TT provide paper problems & answer keys for each topic

– Both give lesson plans, chapter exams etc..

– TW also provides interactive online problems.

For solutions to the problems

– TW: For their interactive problems, you know whether the answer is wrong or right straightaway. You also get an onscreen written explanation of the solutions.

– TW did not have audio for the solutions though.

– TT: They had a video explanation for each problem with audio, You can go and see the video’s of the problems you got wrong.

What each program comes with

Thinkwell

– 12 month online subscription to their video lessons & problems. Optional CDs with all the videos

– you print all the lesson plans/ paper problems/ answer keys etc from their website

Teaching Textbooks

– all the video’s are on the DVD set that they will send you.

– they will send you the paper problems/solutions (ie: textbook)/lessons etc.

Don’t know what math level my student is at?

Both websites have placement tests. Try out at different levels to see which ones work for your kid.

Thinkwell: http://www.thinkwellhomeschool.com/math-placement-tests

Teaching Textbooks: http://teachingtextbooks.com/v/vspfiles/tt/Placement.htm

Consider your child’s strengths and learning styles before deciding. . Thinkwell has a 14 day free trial, so it’s a good way to check them out.

Other popular Math Curriculum available for you to investigate are:

4. Horizons (K-2 Math)

5. Singapore Math (k-12)

6. Saxon Math

7. Miquon

8. Key to..

9. FlashMaster

10. MathTacular (PreK& Up)

Look at www.rainbowresource.com and www.sonlight.com for reviews on various math programs

– Arya Baskar