City Creek Press:TOS Review

The Product:
Are you struggling to get your child to work on his times tables? Has he labored and labored but still cannot produce simple facts? Well, then I think this review is for you!!

Song for 3x3

Today I am reviewing another great math program for you. Times Alive is a math software program created by City Creek Press. It is a fun program designed to teach children their times tables using songs with catchy tunes and little sayings. The program is available as a download or CD-Rom.

If you would like you can go to the Times Alive YouTube page to check out some of their lessons.

The McMama Experience:
I was excited about this program because I had heard tons of great things said about it in the past. I knew right away that my children would be fond of this program for a few reasons:

• They LOVE to sing
• They love animation
• They love the computer

From the moment we downloaded and started the program the kids have truly enjoyed it.

After listening to the song they review the fact just learned

We use a math curriculum that is laid out differently than most traditional curricula so even though Biggest is in the 3rd grade she hadn't been exposed to mulitplication yet. I was excited to give this a try and see if it would truly work on someone who had never seen her times tables before.

The program starts out with a "Nuts and Bolts" test to see where the child is in their skills. I skipped it because, as I stated before, Biggest hadn't had any experience. We jumped right in to the first lesson and she was off.

I have to say that after watching her go these last several weeks that the program delivers what it promises. She learned her facts and she learned them fairly effortlessly and quickly!

What I loved:

• Progress reports were kept by the program and could be printed out at any time.
• Multiplication was made fun with the program.
• There were tests sprinkled here and there so that understanding could be measured.
• These tests could also be printed out.
• Judy, whom I delt with over some computer issues, showed outstanding customer service!! She literally spent an entire day emailng me back and forth trying to find a solution to my problem. Everything was fixed and I was left with a great experience with the City Creek Press customer service!!

A progress check that can be done on the computer or printed out for record keepi

What I didn't like:
It actually pains me to say that because this is such a great product but I do have to mention that

• During the 2's family lesson the children were prompted to use their fingers to count by two. For example, if the equation is 2x3 then they were prompted to count by 2's on three fingers. I'm not a fan of counting on fingers. Hey, I still do it cause that's how I learned but I'm taking a different route with my children so that lesson wasn't one of my favorites.

That's it, just that one thing.

The Breakdown:
Times Alive can be purchased as a download for your Windows PC or Mac for $44.95 and also on CD-Rom for $48.95. A little pricey but think about the fun mulitplication will be for your children.

There are also other kits that are available. I didn't know they had an addition program!

City Creek Press also has many supplemental items to go with the Times Alive program and man do they have some great things!! There is even a workbook in Spanish!!! This program is also used in some schools, so if your school is looking for something point them to the City Creek Press website.

So, if you have a child struggling to memorize his times tables or have a child who has dyslexia or other learning dysfunctions then I would encourage you to take a serious look at this program!

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**Any products reviewed by me as a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew have been given to me free of charge in order for me to provide you with an honest review of the product and/or how we used the product within our family. I do not receive any other form of compensation for the reviews posted on this blog.**

Lovin' Learnin'