All curriculum reviews

    Teaching Textbooks

    A math-only app that teaches the lesson, grades every problem instantly, and shows a step-by-step solution for anything the student misses, so a parent never has to teach or grade…

    Nobody reads the workVisit site
    As a full curriculum
    2.5/5
    As a supplement
    3.3/5
    How this is scored
    Not sufficient on its own as a full curriculum

    This scores below our floor on at least one of content, assessment, accountability or academic demand. Use it with a documented plan alongside it.

    Rating capped at 2.5 as a full curriculum

    Most of the work happens in an app and no qualified adult is required to read what the student produces. It can still serve well alongside another programme.

    A student can move through this quickly with nobody checking

    Finishing fast is not the same as learning. Worth pairing with your own checkpoints.

    How it scored

    Nine dimensions, each scored 0 to 4 by a reviewer working from the programme's own published materials.

    4
    Standards, Accuracy & Content Scope

    Is the content accurate, at the right level, and does it cover what it claims?

    2
    Focus, Coherence & Cognitive Rigor

    Does it build in a sensible order and make a student actually think?

    3
    Research-Consistent Instructional Design

    Is it taught in a way the research supports, with honest claims?

    2
    Assessment, Feedback & Demonstrable Mastery

    Can you actually see what your child learned, not just what they finished?

    1
    Accountability & Feedback Loop

    Does a qualified adult read your child's work and respond to it?

    3
    Adult Usability & Implementation Support

    How much work is this for you, and does it help you do that work?

    2
    Differentiation, Access & Learner Fit

    Does it flex for a struggling learner, an advanced one, or a different kind of learner?

    3
    Practical Feasibility & Transparency

    What does it truly cost, in money and time, and will it work where you live?

    1
    Academic Demand & College Readiness

    Is this preparing a student for college, or just for a diploma?

    The practical details

    Grades
    Roughly grades 3 through 12. Ten courses are sold by course name, not by grade: Math 3, Math 4, Math 5, Math 6, Math 7, Pre-Algebra,…
    Subjects
    Mathematics only. Nothing else. There is no language arts, science, history, or elective content of any kind. The ten courses are Math 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, Pre-Algebra, Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, and Pre-Calculus. Each course level is a separate purchase and a separate app.
    How it runs
    Fully self-paced, on-demand, installed-app. There are no live classes, no cohorts, no scheduled meetings, no due dates set by the company. A typical lesson: the student opens the course app, watches the interactive lecture for that lesson, works the lesson's…
    Who teaches
    Recorded software instruction, not a person. Every lesson is delivered by a pre-recorded interactive audiovisual lecture inside the app, identical for every student. No live teacher, no assigned instructor, no discussion, no office hours. There is one genuine human channel: Teaching Textbooks includes free telephone…
    Who grades
    The software grades everything, automatically, with no human in the loop. Teaching Textbooks states plainly that the program grades every problem as soon as the student enters each answer and gives instant feedback, storing results in a printable gradebook held permanently on their servers. No employee, teacher, or tutor ever reads, marks, or evaluates a student's written work. There is no submitted work of any…
    What the parent does
    Concrete and front-loaded, then very light. The parent must: create the account and purchase the correct level; print and administer the free placement test and pull the answer key page before handing it to the child; download the right app for each course level onto each device the student will use; assign the course to the student and set the start date, which starts the 12-month clock; choose settings such as…
    Credit and records
    Not accredited, and Teaching Textbooks makes no accreditation claim anywhere on its site. It is a publisher in Oklahoma City, not a school, so it awards no credit and issues no transcript. What you do get: a permanent, printable gradebook per course, stored on their servers and reachable indefinitely through the Parent Portal, plus free downloadable printable certificates of…
    Cost
    Per student, per course, per 12 months, paid once up front. Published prices on teachingtextbooks.com: Math 3, Math 4, Math 5 are $48.95 each; Math 6 and Math 7 are $63.95 each; Pre-Algebra, Algebra 1, and Geometry are $79.95 each; Algebra 2 and Pre-Calculus are $83.95 each (verified directly on the Math 3 page at $48.95, Algebra 1 at $79.95, Algebra 2 at $83.95:…
    Alaska notes
    Bandwidth: this is the friendliest part of the fit. The app downloads only the next few days of lessons, works fully offline for up to 6 lessons, and uploads when the connection returns, so a Starlink or satellite outage or a village link that drops for a couple of days does not stop school. Streaming-only competitors do stop. Expect the heaviest data use at install time,…

    Strengths

    • Genuinely runs without the parent day to day: recorded lecture, instant auto-grading, and a step-by-step video solution for every single problem, which is the specific reason families with many…
    • Free human phone tutoring for every customer at no extra cost, which almost no homeschool publisher includes, reachable at 1-405-525-3600
    • Real offline capability of up to 6 lessons per device with automatic sync on reconnect, which is unusual among subscription curricula and matters where connectivity is unreliable

    Weaknesses

    • Math only. It cannot be a core curriculum, and a family still has to source and teach everything else
    • No human ever evaluates the student's work or reasoning. Scoring is answer-matching only, so a student who guesses or leans on the step-by-step solutions can post a clean gradebook without…
    • Rigor is the standing criticism. Cathy Duffy's review calls it college-prep but less rigorous than some alternatives, and independent reviewers report students needing gap-filling with a traditional…
    Good fitA family that needs math to run itself. Concretely: a parent with several children, or a job, or a bush or off-grid schedule, who cannot sit down and teach a math lesson every day and does not want to grade one either. It fits especially well for grades 3 through 8, and for an older student who has been beaten up by a…
    Poor fitDo not buy this if you need an accredited transcript, an outside teacher of record, or a credential someone else signs. Teaching Textbooks issues none of those. Do not buy it expecting a parent-free full core, because it is math and only math. Do not buy it for a student aiming at competitive STEM admissions or a top…

    Reviewed from the programme's own published materials. Pricing and features change without notice, so confirm details with the publisher before buying. How FrostBoard rates curriculum