Little Homeschool on the Prairie: UnLock Math Review

It’s hard to believe that my son is at the point where he will be learning Algebra. Little Man is good at math. I don’t remember Algebra myself nor do I consider myself very good at math! I was thrilled to get him started with UnLock Math and their UnLock Pre-Algebra. I received a full year subscription.

UnLock Math can be used as a full math curriculum or as a supplement math program for a Homeschool Math Curriculum.

This is an on-line program and you will need access to the internet. You don’t have to download anything. You will need a printer if you want to print out the reports or the Reference Notes.

The website is easy to navigate. Once you log in you are taken to the main dashboard. On the dashboard you will see your course outline, sequences, progress, and grade reports. There is a separate log in for the parent and for your student.

You click on the rocket on the unit you will be working on. From there it opens all the lessons, quizzes, and test.

There are 16 units, quizzes in the units, midterm exam, and final exams.

Each lesson looks like this:

*Warm Up: This section will go over previous learned concepts to review or it may go over other mathematical concepts.

*Video: This is where the unit lesson is taught by Alesia Blackwood. The videos are fairly short and no more than 10 minutes with what we have done.

*Practice Problems: These are problems related to the lesson that was just learned in the video.

*Stay Sharp: Problems from previous lessons.

*Challenge Yourself: This is a challenging question for you to test your knowledge.

*Reference Notes: A PDF of the video lecture. You can print it out for future references.

The grading is figured out automatically when you finish the lesson! The gradebook does it all from keeping track of what lesson you have completed, how many attempts was made for that lesson, and the amount of time spent on each lesson.

There is also a printable progress report for your records.

I was impressed with what I have seen so far. It also makes me feel confident with some higher math levels that I don't feel comfortable teaching myself. This is going to cover many math concepts that your child has already learned to help them when they do go into Algebra 1. I like the idea of being prepared and no surprises.

The math concepts that are reviewed are whole numbers, fractions, equations, decimals, precentages, polynomials, geometry, and so much more.

How Did I Use UnLock Pre-Algebra in my Homeschool?

Little Man will be entering 6 th grade next year and is 11. The last year and a half I have been having a problem finding a math curriculum that works for him. It’s either too easy and he gets bored and frustrated. He works above his grade level and honestly it took me a while to figure out that he wasn’t being challenged with math. Math is not a subject I like nor am I good with math. Add that into the mix I didn’t see the issues. After, I finally caught on to this dilemma I was able to get him close to where he needs to be. We are working on certain areas that need to be addressed.

I have found that I have gaps in some areas due to many math curriculums being shelved. I did see this with UnLock Pre-Algebra that there are a few areas he needs to learn. I have confidence that he will catch on quickly to those concepts.

We are in summer mode now and Little Man has been doing lessons 3 days in a week. He is typically spending 20-30 minutes on this. Even though my son likes math it doesn’t always mean he wants to do it. I can honestly say that he didn’t complain with the lessons. He liked that the lessons are short and informative.

I plan on continuing with this and I plan on investing in UnLock Algerbra 1 in the future. At this point I plan on using this as a supplement to my math curriculum. I like that I see the gaps and can address those areas that he needs before he does Algebra 1.