You may recall a few weeks ago I shared a photo on my Instagram of my oldest son, Mason using this awesome program called Times Alive, as promised here's the review!
Times Tables The Fun Way Offers many wonderful products including the product I'll be reviewing today "Times Alive". It is online lessons with animated songs and stories to learn times tables the fun way. It teaches all of the times tables 0s through 9s.
My oldest son always looks forward to Times Alive, He even asks to do more at night after dinner. He started this program with very little knowledge or formal teaching of multiplication. I can see this giving him a huge head start with learning his multiplication facts.
Times Alive is based on the award winning popular book "Times Tables The Fun Way" There are 18 lessons in all, each one focusing on a certain group of multiplication facts. Including a mixture of songs,tests,movies,quizzes, and even painting.
The Easy-to-Read key helps keep track of your students progress.
I love that you do not have to be there with your child every step of this program. Once they have learned the simple navigation keys, they can easily work all on their own. No need to worry if they didn't finish a section because you are able to clearly see if they have completed a test or just viewed it.
First, your child will watch a short video, The videos illustrate and tell the story of the multiplication fact with a soft easy to understand tone. I feel like this sets the story up nicely.
On some of the lessons, you may have one or more short quizzes like pictured below. The guessing game further reinforces the story by letting students fill in the blank fact. The Sliding picture games allow students to drag the corresponding picture for the fact into the box. This helps to retain the previously taught facts.
Then lastly, you will find some have tests. These are timed and often contain a mixture of facts that have been taught as well as ones not yet covered. No need to have your child rush to finish these, it simply lets you know how quick he/she memorizing the facts. Upon completion of a test, you can print it for future reference and clear the test online so that your student can retake it. Don't worry this requires a password so your students can not do it themselves.You also have the option to print the progress report.
Let's take a closer look at the navigation bar.
You can see that it features easy to read icons, which makes it easy to go back to a previous lesson, turn the sound on or off, pause or play, quit the game, help using the navigation bar, go back to your lessons repeat lessons or continue on. There's also a button to easily view your students progress reports.
I love that you do not have to be there with your child every step of this program. Once they have learned the simple navigation keys, they can easily work all on their own. No need to worry if they didn't finish a section because you are able to clearly see if they have completed a test or just viewed it.
Let's walk through a lesson!
-Keep in mind that not all lessons have a test or a quiz.
First, your child will watch a short video, The videos illustrate and tell the story of the multiplication fact with a soft easy to understand tone. I feel like this sets the story up nicely.
Next up is a song, much like the story. The songs are more upbeat and help students to memorize the fact and bring to life the fact memory-rhyme. We often sing the rhyme several times before moving on.
On some of the lessons, you may have one or more short quizzes like pictured below. The guessing game further reinforces the story by letting students fill in the blank fact. The Sliding picture games allow students to drag the corresponding picture for the fact into the box. This helps to retain the previously taught facts.
There's also painting games throughout the lessons. Again, just adding to the fun of learning.
Then lastly, you will find some have tests. These are timed and often contain a mixture of facts that have been taught as well as ones not yet covered. No need to have your child rush to finish these, it simply lets you know how quick he/she memorizing the facts. Upon completion of a test, you can print it for future reference and clear the test online so that your student can retake it. Don't worry this requires a password so your students can not do it themselves.You also have the option to print the progress report.
We really enjoyed this product and hope you do too! You can pay to use it month-by-month for $9.95 or save money by subscribing monthly for only $6.95! For us, it has really taken the headache of learning multiplication facts away. We will continue to use this as our children get older.
