Writing is an area that needed a lot of improvement in our home, and EDUDPS came to the rescue. We received Write with the Best Vol. 1 and Roots and Fruits.

Write with the Best Vol. 1 teaches students to model writing after great works of literature.

• Describing an Object from Jules Verne
  
• Describing a Place from Charles Dickens
  
• Describing a Character from Daniel Defoe
• Dialogue from Kenneth Grahame
• The Short Story from O. Henry
• Fables from Aesop
• Friendly Letters from Robert Louis Stevenson
• Poetry – Rhyming Verse from William Wordsworth
• The Ballad or Narrative Poem from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The lessons are short and we really enjoyed the variety of activities. We read the passage, talked about descriptive writing, and searched for different parts of speech in the story. You can sample the first two units here.

Something to Note: EDUDPS has an unusual security feature on their ebooks. You are only allowed two printings, so you need to print the entire book at once. I understand their desire to protect their product, but I wish there was a way to only print a page or section at a time.

The Nitty Gritty:

• e-book $19.95 on sale for a limited time for $14.95
• pages only – no binder  $22.95
• 3-ring binder $24.95

Things I Like:

• Very teacher friendly – just open and go.
• You can go through the material as quickly or slowly as you want. We needed some extra work with adjectives and adverbs, so we stretched that part of the lesson out a bit longer.
• This is very easy to use with students in different grades.
• Kids are exposed to classic literature.

Value: I think this is a great price for what you get, especially if you buy it on sale. We will probably stretch ours out for the entire school year.

Roots and Fruits makes learning vocabulary easy. It teaches your child to decode words by learning roots and prefixes and their meanings. I learned to decode words like this in school and I still use this method as an adult.

You can see a sample here.

The Nitty Gritty:

• e-book $14.98 on sale for a limited time for $11.25
• pages only – no binding $17.48
• comb binding $19.98

Things I Like:

• It covers grades K-12
• Very teacher friendly – just open & go. (I’m seeing a pattern here. LOL)
• The list of words is extensive with 673 roots and prefixes.
  
• There a several fun games to play to reinforce the vocabulary words.
• It only takes a few minutes a day.

Value: I think this is a steal! You get a K-12 vocabulary curriculum for less than $15.

Note: This has the same security restrictions that I mentioned above.

See what my TOS Crew Mates have to say about EDUDPS!

The timing was perfect for our chance to review ALEKS Math! We were lagging a bit behind due to our new baby & recent move and this online Math program was just what we needed to get caught up.

ALEKS is a Research-Based Online Program:

• Complete Curriculum Solution for Math with Access to Full Course Library
• No Textbook Required
• Artificial Intelligence Targets Gaps in Student Knowledge
• Assessment and Individualized Learning for Grades 3-12
• New and Improved Master Account – Includes Quizzing, Attendance Tracking, Automated Reports, and More
• Unlimited Online Access – PC and Mac Compatible
• QuickTables – Complimentary Math Fact Mastery Program for Multiplication, Division, Addition, and Subtraction

Assessment: Students begin in ALEKS by taking an individualized, adaptive assessment to determine what they already know and what they are ready to learn next.

MyPie: The ALEKS Pie summarizes a student’s current knowledge and offers topics that the student is ready to learn next. The darkened portion of each pie slice represents the topics that the student has mastered and the lighter portion represents what the student has yet to learn.

Learning Mode: The Learning Mode provides students with practice problems, and offers explanations of topics and procedures as needed. Once a student has demonstrated mastery in the Learning Mode, the item is added to the ALEKS Pie, and new material that the student is now ready to learn becomes available.

Student Progress Report: Track student progress made throughout the course. The blue bar represents the percent of course material that the student has mastered during an ALEKS assessment; the green bar represents the percent of new topics the student has mastered in Learning Mode since the last assessment; and the yellow bar represents the percent of topics the student has yet to learn in order to complete the course.

The Nitty Gritty:

A subscription to ALEKS is

• $19.95 per student, per month, or
• only $99.95 every 6 months, or
• only $179.95 every 12 months.

Learn about the family discount program.

Things I Like:

• The Learning Pie is a very motivating tool for my kids. They like seeing what they have mastered & what they still need to learn.
• It is easy to keep track of progress for multiple kids.

Value: I think you definitely get your money’s worth if you just need ALEKS for a month or two – to play catch up like we did or for some tutoring. However, I think it is very pricey for a whole year. If I am going to invest a large amount of money, then I want something I can use year after year. Having said that, if you have a child who struggles with Math then it might be  worth it to you to finally find the program that clicks!

ALEKS is offering my readers a FREE 1-Month Trial. Just click the banner below to get started!

See what my TOS Crew Mates had to say about ALEKS Math!