My son and I recently had the opportunity to review Times Alive by Times Tables the Fun Way a City Creek Press creation for the Homeschool Review Crew. Times Alive are online lessons with animated songs and stories to help students learn times tables the fun way.
Math has always been a real problem for my son, who has diagnoses of Dyscalculia and Aspergers. Dyscalculia is a math learning disability. How Dyscalculia effects the learner varies from child to child. Aspergers is high-functioning Autism. Because math isn't a desired activity, my son places math concepts in his short-term memory. Once we are done with a certain math concept, he "dumps" it from his memory bank to make room for more preferred activities. Therefore, it takes him longer to retain math facts. To keep the facts fresh in his mind, we have to repeat them over and over and over again. This frustrates my son and can cause meltdowns, which doesn't make math fun for either of us.
Times Alive with its animated stories and silly rhymes and the stress of learning math suddenly disappears. I no longer have to listen to any whining or refusals to work on math lessons. Furthermore, my son is actually recalling his math facts thanks to the little "ditties" that help him remember. For example, the lesson above focuses upon the fact 6x6=36. If I gave my son this fact alone, he would have difficulty recalling it. Using the Times Alive "ditty" above: when it's 6x6, they are very thirsty sixes, my son can remember that 6x6=36.
Watch a lesson in progress in this video below and see how these songs make learning fun students.
After completing lessons, students are rewarded with pages to color, which provides them with a short break and helps prevent mental fatigue.
We reviewed the online version, which was great because there was nothing to download. We just had to go to the website and log-in each time. This kept our computer space free and didn't tie up any of our bytes. Furthermore, each time we log-in my child is able to see what lessons he needs to work on, which allows him to work independently. Independent learning is a goal we all strive to have our students reach.
If he would become frustrated with a certain math fact, he could move forward to a lesson and then come back to work on the lesson at another time. Thankfully, he hasn't been frustrated by any of the lessons. Even the tests aren't frustrating for him.
As the parent, I appreciate the student progress report page. It not only tells me which lessons my son has completed but it also informs me how well he has done on tests.
Another positive about Times Alive is that you can reset the program so that your child can restart from the beginning. Multiple children can also access the program as well and each child's progress will be saved under his or her name.
Times Alive truly is a fun educational tool to help children learn multiplication facts in a stress free way. I recommend it not only for those just beginning to learn multiplication facts but also for those, like my son, who struggle with learning math. Not only will Times Alive help them build their math skills but also their confidence in their abilities.
Read additional review at the Home School Review Crew website to see what others have to say about Times Alive.
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