Review: LearnBop for Families

My most recent review comes from LearnBop. My first grade boys were giving the opportunity to use LearnBop for Families. Because I have two boys in the same grade, we received access to the Family Plan (access for 2-4 students). 
This is an online subscription starting as low as $14.95 a month and allowing cancellation at any time. This means that you can try the program for a small amount and not continue it if you don't like it. I really love this idea because committing to an expensive program or curriculum is often just too much for single-income families (as most homeschool families are.)
However, this is not just a program for homeschoolers! If you have a student who is struggling in math, than you can try this at home during the school year or during the summer to help fill in the gaps of what is being missed. 

Each math problem has step-by-step guidance from award-winning experts built into every problem which basically brings personalized math support right into your home. What this means is that Isaac sits down to do a math problem on LearnBop. If he gets the question incorrect or doesn't know how to solve the problem, the program automatically walks him through what he is doing wrong so he can learn as he goes.
However, while this program can be used for children as low as kindergarten, and I did it with my first grade boys, my personal feeling while participating in this program is that it is much more appropriate for the age group the website is really targeting: 3rd through 12th grade. My boys were just a tad young for the program. They definitely could do a lot of it, but much of it was just a bit over their heads.
Here's how it works. You set your 3rd-12th grader on a "Road Map". You can choose a "Road Map" by grade or by subject. When you log-in, you can choose to do: 

• "Roadmaps by Grade" (choices include 3-8th grade)
• "High School Roadmaps" (HS-Algebra I, II, or Geometry)
• "Roadmaps by Subject" (which includes grades 1st-8th) and includes the following topics:
• Operations & Algebraic Thinking
• Numbers & Operations in Base Ten (This was one we spent a lot of time in!)
• Measurement & Data
• Geometry 
• Number & Operation-Fractions
• Ratios & Proportional Relationships
• The Number System
• Expressions and Equations
• Statistics & Probability
• Functions

Here is a photo of one of my 1st graders working on one LearnBop:

I actually really like this product, and I think that it can be a fantastic tool for people looking for help with math. I definitely encourage anyone interested in the product to try it for thirty days first and make sure it is a good fit for your family.  Here were some of the things we liked:

• The program is visually stimulating and well-done. It is organized and looks modern and up-to-date. This was not thrown together. This is an incredibly in-depth and well-designed product.
• There are lots of rewards and encouragements that my boys liked.
• My boys did not dread it ... which is saying something. They are really vocal when they do NOT like something, and there will even be tears. No tears with LearnBop. 
• There is a lot of feedback for the parent as to how the kids are doing and lots of options for control of what they are learning.
• There is one log-in for the family, and the computer automatically remembers my boys. This means that they can just choose their name and jump on in -- without having to enter separate passwords each time.

However, there were a few issues for us that I wanted to discuss:

• The program is still being "refined" which means there were some glitches. Sometimes it would say something was wrong that was right. You can "report an error" but this doesn't solve the immediate frustration that can result.
• My boys would sometimes got frustrated by how much they had to go through if they got a problem wrong. Each time you get a problem wrong, it walks you back through step-by-step to understand what you did wrong. Isaac would call me over to help with something and actually say to me, "Please don't answer unless you are sure you are right Mom or we will be here all day."
• They were just a tad young. I personally think this program is better geared for kids just a little bit older than mine currently are. It says you can do it as young as 1st grade, and they definitely could participate quite well, but I think it would be better to start at about 3rd grade.
• There were a few math problems that presented explanations in ways that I was not familiar with. There will be times that the solution and how it is worked out does not match how you taught your children. I could not find a place to skip a problem or avoid a topic, but it would seem to be helpful to allow a parent to override a problem that doesn't match with your particular curriculum style.

That being said, I really liked this program and would absolutely consider using it as a supplement to our math curriculum when my boys are just one or two years older. I definitely think it is worth trying for a month to see if it is a good fit for your family. I actually think it would be great if you could do math a little "younger" than where you are with LearnBop. So for example, when my boys were in fourth grade, I would have them go through the third grade program and let the program fill in some gaps. With this groundbreaking step-by-step learning system, LearnBop for Families helps students to learn to solve math problems ON THEIR OWN which is HUGE! It is basically like having a math tutor right in your computer. In addition, it has been scientifically proven to work. Students using LearnBop have showed 7-9 points more growth on post-assessments compared to students not using LearnBop.  Still not sure? Check out reviews by other members of the Crew by clicking the link below: