Middle School Success

That¿s the big news since I last reviewed this excellent set of tutorials for grades 7, 8 and 9.

The bigger news is the interface. It¿s been streamlined, is easier to navigate and covers its six areas in greater detail.

So, middle-schoolers, teachers and parents, here¿s what you¿ll find on these CDs:

Math: algebra, geometry, measurement (including unit prices and money), statistics and probability,
basic numbering (everything from exponents and percents to whole numbers, ratio and proportions).

These lessons and quizzes are about as comprehensive as any I¿ve seen.

Reading and writing: How to take notes, how to listen (good luck, parents), how to spot details and key information,
main ideas and style (useful for budding Hemingways), how to format and present both writing and speaking presentations.

 The emphasis is on clear thinking, comprehension and delivery.

Science: geology, astronomy and demonstrations of how weather works, physics
(magnetism, energy, light, sound, rocks and minerals, ecology, genetics,
how the human body works (no dissecting of frogs, which turned off many an aspiring biologist )
and how muscles and the nervous system work.

The foreign language tutorials have been expanded to include Spanish, English (for foreign speakers),
French, German, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Russian and Portuguese.
Your students will learn enough to get buy in these languages, but by no means will they be fluent in all situations.

There¿s also a set of typing tutorials, a concise version of the Encyclopedia Britannica and a case for transporting
the CDs to and from school.

There are thousands of tutorials, exercises and activities, the tutorials do a good job of explaining the material.

The tests are based on that material; there are no trick questions that I could discern.

All in all, it¿s a painless way to prepare for middle school, stay on top of course work and make certain
your student is ready for high school.

And it works on Macs. Middle School Success will run on Windows Vista and XP and Macintosh PCs running OS 10.4 or higher.