Friday, January 28, 2011

TOS Review: Tenmarks

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Chelsea (13) is a very independent leaner and does not always want to wait until I can sit down with her and go over her newest Math concept. That has been a little bit of a struggle this year because she is studying Algebra 1 and even though has been pretty strong in Math in the past, Algebra has definitely been a little bit harder for her. When I found out we would be reviewing TenMarks I knew it would be a good fit for her.


TenMarks is an online Math program that helps students refresh and learn Math concepts while working at their own pace. TenMarks was founded by parents who were looking for a better way to help children achieve their highest Math potential and supplement and enrich their classroom learning. It can be used as a stand alone Math Curriculum or as a supplement to a program you are already using. Every child receives a personalized curriculum that will help them to master concepts quickly. TenMarks offers programs from grades 3-10 and is mapped to State standards. Each grade covers over 100 core skills. Each topic contains a video lesson and 3 hints to help you solve a problem.


The TenMarks approach is based on three principles.:

  • Personalized learning makes all the difference.
  • On-demand instruction provides help when you need it.
  • Practice builds confidence and improves achievement




Pricing for TenMarks is as follows and is for each student:

  • $10/month
  • $49/6 months
  • $89/12 months




To see for yourself how TenMarks work go to their Free Trial by clicking here or



View videos on TenMarks by clicking here.




There are many features of the TenMarks program that we really liked. The program assigns the child a number of worksheets and a due date to get them completed. You can change the number of worksheets if your child is struggling or if they move through them very quickly. The parent gets an email notification of the number of worksheets assigned and when they are due. You can see all of the different topics that are going to be assigned to your child and reorder them if you wish, or you can choose topics from a different grade level and add it to your child's album. If your child does not do well on a particular topic, it assigns them do-over worksheets for more practice and does not move them on to the next topic until they show they have mastered that topic. Even after they move on to the next topic, the student can choose to go back and practice on previous topics. They also can see the step by step explanation of questions that they have gotten wrong. Parents can see a detailed report off exactly how the child is doing. The parent also has an option of setting up rewards to motivate your child to complete their work. The student earns game time for completing their worksheets and unlocks new games as they complete more worksheets.





There are a few things that I wish were different. For each topic that the child is working on, there is only one video available to teach that topic. If after watching the video the child does not understand the concept, the only other help they have is to use their hints. But, if they truly don't understand the concept being taught in the video, the hints aren't going to help them understand how to solve the problem. I also thought in the videos that I viewed that the problems that were being taught in the video were much easier than the problems on the worksheet. I would like to see more than one video to help teach the different concepts. Also, although I love the emails letting me know how many worksheets have been assigned and when they are due, there are no email notifications when the tests are assigned and when they are due. It does show up on the parent page when you are looking through what your child has been assigned, but I missed seeing two tests that were assigned so Chelsea had to take them both at the same time and one was due a few weeks before (oops!.) An email notification would help to solve this problem.


Overall, I think it is a great Math program that enables Chelsea to work on her own instead of on my time table. We are planning on continuing to use TenMarks for the rest of the year and finish Algebra 1.



To see what other crew members are saying click here.

I received ac omplimentary subscription to TenMarks for the purpose of writing a fair and honest review. I received no other compensation.

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