Review: City Creek Press: Times Alive

I remember sitting in my third grade teacher's classroom learning my times tables. She had paper ladders on the wall and we "climbed" them as we went through memorizing our facts. Being a competitive person - yes, even in third grade - I tried very hard to get to the top fast! 

Do I remember those facts all these years later? Most but not all. Memorizing math facts is a necessity of life but one that doesn't have to be boring. 

That's one reason I really like Times Alive put out by City Creek Press. Check out this video....

Check out even more videos on City Creek Press' YouTube channel.

Members of the TOS Homeschool Crew were given a chance to use the Times Alive program downloaded directly to the computer. It comes in a MAC or PC version (be sure to chose the correct one when purchasing) for $44.95. You can also chose to buy it as a CD-ROM instead for $48.95. Either way the program makes learning boring math facts fun and memorable!

Times Table is geared towards children in grades two and up. My middle son has not quite made it to his multiplication facts just yet and after trying the program once, felt pretty lost. That meant his older brother had to step in and try it out for me. He definitely could use help on learning his multiplication facts.

While he did the lessons without issue, he did say when it was all said and done that he felt it to be a bit babyish in its presentation. However, he is remembering his math facts much better. In fact, I learned something about the five tables that I never knew! It has to do with the time on the clock. While I don't have trouble remembering my five facts, I thought this was a neat way of doing so!

The above screen shot does show all the buttons and how the program works. I really liked the "student progress report" button. I could click this while logged in to my son's account (as simple as typing in his name) and view how he was doing. The report would tell me where he was struggling, if he had completed the lesson, and how he did on each one as well. This is a great feature if you want or need something to include in a year end assessment portfolio.

I thought the rhymes and stories were cute and they definitely got the point across. I'm not sure I will ever forget that 6x6 is 36. Those "thirsty-sixes" will always be in my head now. This is a math program we'll be using over the next few years with the other boys. I felt it was a fun way to drill math facts and help with memorizing them.

Be sure to head over to the TOS Homeschool Crew blog to see what other Crew members had to say about City Creek Press and the Times Alive product. And if you are still not sure, click HERE to go try out a demo for yourself.

Disclaimer: I was not paid for this review.  All opinions shared are my own. TOS Crew Members are given the product free of charge in exchange for our unbiased opinion of the product.