Strategies for Using ALEKs Math

1. The initial assessment takes about ½ hour. If your student get frustrated, just have them answer that they “haven’t learned that concept” yet. Or have them take the assessment over a 2-3 day period in smaller chunks. The program will save everything and pick up where your child left off.

2. The student can ask for an explanation of a concept while working on ALEKs, have them print out the explanation page and keep a notebook to study from. For High School level student, these notes should be copied or summarized into a notebook to be used for later study.

3. I personally, let my student use the measurement conversion table on the assessments. I have chosen to do this because I don’t want them to spend their time memorizing this information when it is readily available as an adult.

4. When you need a hard-copy work sample-go to the the top bar and click on “worksheet”. This will generate a worksheet with several different types of problems similar to what your student has been working on. An answer key will also be generated for you the next time they log into ALEKs.

5. When deciding how much to have your student complete each day…take the number of concepts they need to learn (look at the pie chart after the assessment is complete) and divide this be the number of school weeks you have left in the school year. My son does all of his review on Fridays. And he usually has to complete about 3 items each day. This will vary for each child.

6. Plan on your student “losing” some of what they learned after each assessment. 5 steps forward, 2 steps back. This is expected and normal so tell them ahead of time that they won’t pass everything on the first try.

Gifted Homeschool Resources

Many families choose home schooling because their children are gifted and they just don’t seem to fit in the public school system. I’ve noted some resources below to help guide parents in their educational options. I think you will find much encouragement from these organizations.