Having Fun with Math – A Times Alive Review

MATH! Do you cringe or jump for joy? TIMES TABLES? Same? Gotta get those times tables down though, right? We continue to move through them and Times Alive and their Times Tables the Fun Way is a great place to start.

We had heard ofTimes Alive and were excited to try their online product! We received a 3- month subscription to try outTimes Alive. The Monthly Subscription Online Version is a great way to work with Times Alive and you can cancel anytime. You have to have a computer (obviously), an internet connection, and a kid that want to learn some multiplication facts the FUN WAY!

Your access will track several students at a time if they are using the same computer to practice. You need FLASH to run it on an iPad but you can do that.

Times Alive Online Version features animated picture stories to assist the student in memorizing multiplication facts. It is recommended that the program is used 20 minutes per day at least twice per week to work through the 18 lessons that are included in the Times Alive program.  You could do that in a month if you wanted to but you can always extend your subscription for extra practice.

Student progress (as I mentioned, it will track several students working on the same computer within the program) is tracked in a progress report page. This page shows the progress the student is making, what they have started, skipped and completed. Their test scores are displayed here as well.

The concept behind Times Alive is that the child associates the numbers with stories, pictures, and songs for easier recall and memorization. I will say that I have been impressed how my 2nd grader is picking it up and how fun it’s been for my older daughter to use it for review and improving retention and recall more quickly. They both think the lessons are fun!  I was a little skeptical in how it would work but both kids have shown improvement. The extra practice exercises are fun too. Both kids enjoyed them!

Times Alive’s Times Tables the Fun Way is a fun way to work through learning the times tables. If you student has struggled with memorizing their math facts or is new and just wants a fun way to work through them, you will want to check out Times Alive Online Version to see how it works. Check out this short video to see what the program is all about.

Overall, we really enjoyed Times Tables the Fun Way from Times Alive and their Monthly Subscription Online Version. I can see us continuing to use it for practice and renewing the subscription down the road for review with our 2nd grader. My son thought it was fun that he started answering questions about multiplication correctly right away in the checks.  Even though he is a beginning reader and doesn’t read well, the program is easy to use and he was able to use it almost independently without assistance to read the directions. They were all read outloud as well. 

My daughter liked the review and was able to get thought the entire program quickly. My son is working slowly. He thought the lessons were a “little long” but I think they were fine. He likes math and he found them easy and liked the songs and animation and said it did help him remember.

There is a placement test at the beginning to give you an idea of where your student is at the beginning, which is great to see the improvement. When we started 0 and 1 were really all that my 2nd grader had a grasp of. We just filled those in on the placement test and moved on. The program still started us at the beginning and he was very proud of himself to get through the lessons easily. I think he was surprised how much he enjoyed the program.  I look forward to seeing his progress.

Check out Times Alive online:

Facebook: Learn Multiplication

YouTube: Watch a sample of Times Alive here:  Times Alive 6 x 6