Teaching Textbooks 3.0 Review: Homeschool Math Made Fun

Teaching Textbooks 3.0 is an online math subscription curriculum for homeschoolers. The interface and content are fun AND engaging, and there’s zero prep work for parents. Our family tested the new online subscription option this month and we’re excited to share our feedback. If you’re interested in giving Teaching Textbooks a try, they offer a free trial so you can see if it’s a good fit for your family. I hope this review gets you one step closer to finding the perfect math program for your children.    

I received a free subscription to Teaching Textbooks 3.0 in exchange for this review and I was compensated for my time. All opinions are my own and I am not required to post a positive review.

The Benefits of Online Math for Homeschool

If you’ve been following along for the past few months, you’ll know that we’ve been on a mission to find the best online math programs for our homeschool. Even though I love math and my kids are pretty decent with it, my teaching style and their learning styles just don’t seem to click when it comes to this subject. I’m sure it’s my impatience or my inability to draw a straight line or something like that, but no matter which offline curriculum we’ve tried, there inevitably ends up being lots of tears shed.    

So, in spite of my initial resistance to using any digital curriculum in our homeschool, I was at the end of my rope when it came to math and it was making homeschooling painful for all of us. We switched midway through this past year and have tried several programs hoping to find something that works for each kid.    

For me, one of the main benefits of using an online math curriculum is that it gives me children someone else to be frustrated with (er, I mean learn from…). I get to be the tutor, the mentor, the friend who comes alongside and says, “You’re right, that is very confusing,” instead of being the bad guy who is ruining their lives by making them do too many math questions.    

Also, I love that there is absolutely no prep work on my part and no marking to do! I’m wonderful at assigning work to my children, but terrible at following through and marking the work. Sometimes it takes me weeks to give them proper feedback. With online math programs like Teaching Textbooks, I love that the marking is done instantaneously by the computer, and tracked permanently within our account. It makes my life so much easier when I’m trying to juggle all of my kids’ needs at once.    

It also offers the opportunity for each of my kids to work at their own level and pace. Before, we grouped them together for math so we could teach one concept at a time, but again, this was really frustrating. Kids learn at different paces and feeling bored or rushed are not the kinds of things we want them to experience in our homeschool. With Teaching Textbooks, they move at their own pace and only proceed as they’re ready to do so.    

An Overview of Teaching Textbooks 3.0

Teaching Textbooks 3.0’s math curriculum is completely online, which is a new development in the current version. It was previously offered on CD with a physical textbook. (The CDs are still available for those who prefer that medium).    

When students log in, they can either enter the Teaching Textbooks interface or open their e-textbook. As you can see from the screenshots below, the interface is child-friendly, colorful, and engaging.     

Students can read straight through the e-textbook or jump around. If your kids are anything like me and don’t like reading e-books, you also have the option to print it out.    

However, all of the concepts are also explained in a series of interactive videos throughout the lessons, so eager kids may choose to just jump right in. 

Throughout the lessons, students are asked to complete questions and input their answers to make sure they are tracking along with the introduced concepts.    

Each course offered within Teaching Textbooks 3.0 contains 500-900 pages of content and has between 90-140 lessons, perfect for a complete year of math instruction. For each of these lessons, students can watch a lecture, then complete 20 practice questions. They also complete periodic quizzes throughout the year to ensure knowledge retention.    

Their gradebook is available to them at all times so they can see where they stand.    

If you like, you can also access your Teaching Textbooks curriculum over mobile so your kids can even get a few minutes of math in while they’re waiting for their lessons to start if you want!    

Getting Started with Teaching Textbooks 3.0

 Each subscription to Teaching Textbooks is valid for one child to do one level of math. Students have 12 months to complete each level.    

Before starting, I recommend doing a placement test to see which level is the best fit for your student. Because we’ve jumped around a bit with our math programs, I was actually surprised with the different levels my kids were placed at. I found the placements to be quite accurate as there were some concepts my kids has missed in the previous curriculum.    

This program is much more affordable than some others I’ve come across. The lower-level courses start at $43 for the year while the higher-level ones are still at a bargain at just $67.

I’ve definitely spent more than this on other programs that didn’t even include guided instruction. The company also offers a large family plan if you have 4-8 kids. You can learn more about ordering Teaching Textbooks 3.0 here.    

Get a Free Trial

 Because every kid is different and has their own needs and preferences, it’s always a good idea to give online programs a test drive before committing to a subscription. You can try Teaching Textbooks 3.0 for free to see if it’s a good fit for you.

Click the image below to sign up. (You do not have to give your credit card number to try the program). You can try any or all levels in your free trial, so don’t be afraid to jump around a bit.      

We really enjoyed using this program and I hope it will be a hit with your kids as well.