Another blog by a mother who has her son enrolled in Eye Level Math

My son is enrolled in Eye Level's Math Program, and has been attending the once-a-week Math lesson for two months now. At each lesson he attends, he is basically exposed to two things: Basic Thinking Math and Critical Thinking Math. For about an hour or so, he would complete the tasks assigned to him for the day, under the close supervision of his academic coach Emily. During the one-on-one session with Emily, he reads the instructions in the booklet and asks for guidance when needed. Then Emily would tell my son what the key concept of the task is, and he would then attempt to do one question in front of Emily to make sure that he understands the concept.

Although this sounds like 'heavily-scaffolded' learning, unlike in a private tuition setting, Emily doesn't hover my son for the entire time that he's in class. She lets my son continue working on his tasks as she attends to other students in class, who may or may not be at the same level and standard as him. Together, everyone in class engages in their own self-directed learning.

The classroom setting: My son in class with his teacher and other students

The center's class ratio of teacher to student for the Math Program is 1:8, but at my son's timeslot, there's only 5 students including my son at one time. Which is great, I think, since there are not too many students to distract him, but enough to spur him on to sit down and concentrate, just like them. It's also good that some of the students are older, because he can learn from their example.

Attending Eye Level is proving to be extremely beneficial for me at home. My son is now able to sit down on his own to complete his work (he gets homework to revise the concepts he's learned at Eye level). He doesn't need me to 'help' him anymore, and is able to cancel out distractions from his siblings all by himself to complete his work.

My son completing his work at home. HURRAY for self-directed, independent learning.

Eye Level Math Program is designed to help students improve their mathematical thinking and problem solving skills by enabling them to master concepts each step of the way as they progress through the curriculum. For now, my son has got his numbers 1 to 110 all settled in terms of counting (in order and in tens), writing, ascending and descending orders and simple problem solving (involving counting) -- all in 2 months or 8 weeks. He's moving on to addition and subtraction this month, something which he is acquainted with but not fully mastered yet. I can't wait for Eye Level to extend this learning for him.

My son tells me.

My son tells me he enjoys Critical Thinking Math more because it is 'more fun and interesting'. For critical thinking, he gets his spatial sense, depth perception and problem-solving and reasoning skills developed -- using puzzles, blocks and shapes, as well as math games that are very well designed to engage young minds. 

A glimpse from the pages of one of the Critical Thinking Math booklets.

Eye Level got my son interested in Math, all thanks to the fact that the program is so thoughtfully designed to engage the students. I am happy that my son likes numbers and even finding it fun to count. It's time to embrace the new methods of Math learning with Eye Level, instead of the old traditional rote-learning approach.