Encore Middle School Advantage software review

I purchased Encore's Middle School Advantage and Elementary Advantage for my home schooled children to use a couple months ago. For this review I will focus on the Middle School product.

It was easy to install, but each component had to be installed separately. This was a little tedious, but once done, it's done. The user interface has much to be desired. Each topic is its own program and the quality varies greatly. Only Foreign Language and Encyclopedia Britannica have the ability to make use of most or all of the computer screen. The other components all are restricted to a little box in the center with small type.

Grammar & Writing:
Pros: These components have a lot of content with lessons and quizzes, perhaps even enough to be stand alone curriculum.
Cons: The space theme with its sound effects is sound effects is very obnoxious. Student progress is not able to be tracked, as far as I can tell. Also, the student can do lessons in any order with no controls to make sure they are done in an appropriate sequence. I had to create a syllabus for my daughter to follow and check off what she has done and to guide her as to what she should do next. Every time you try and quit out of the program, you have to click through the credits.
Overall: If you can stand the sound effects, this is a useful, generally thorough Grammar & Writing curriculum. I need to delve more deeply to make sure the content is sufficient to stand alone as a curriculum. I would say there is enough for one year's worth of school.

Math:
Pros: There is a fair amount of information presented.
Cons: This is rather light on interactive practice and quizzes with no way of tracking what's been done.
Overall: This is definitely only supplemental material, but may be useful as extra help for students who need it.

Life Science:
Pros: There is enough content to provide at least one year's worth of material as a stand alone science curriculum. This component has the ability to track student study and quizzes and provides reports. The user interface, while still not making full use of screen real estate, is much easier to navigate than the Grammar & Writing components without obnoxious sound effects. It has the ability to print out the lessons, so some content can be studied offline.
Cons: This component only uses a small fraction of the computer screen and you have to scroll up and down within the screen to read through the lessons. The student can do lessons in any order with no controls to make sure they are done in an appropriate sequence. I had to create a syllabus for my daughter to follow and check off what she has done and to guide her as to what she should do next. Every time you try and quit out of the program, you have to click through the credits.
Overall: A better user interface, making full use of the screen, and more sequential navigation controls, making sure the student uses all the extra multimedia and supplemental content before taking quizzes and making sure quizzes are taken in order, would make this an extremely comprehensive and useful product with the ability to be used as a stand alone curriculum. In its current state, with some parental guidance, it is a good option for a year's worth of 7th or 8th grade science.

US History:
This component is designed like the Life Science component and I would give it the same evaluation.

Foreign Language:
Pros: Finally, one component that can be used in an expanded window. It has great interactivity, quizzes, reports user activity, and has 4 different languages (French, German, Italian, & Spanish).
Cons: My guess is that you won't become fluent in these languages, but it provides familiarity with common vocabulary and is a good introduction. Some sequence suggestions would be helpful.
Overall: No real complaints. Easy to use.

Encyclopedia Britannica:
Overall: Another component that is able to be used in an expanded window. It seems easy to navigate with the basic things one might look for in an encyclopedia.

Middle School Advantage:
Overall, this is a good bargain, for the price. It has lots of content on core subjects with a poor user interface. I am comfortable using the Life Science and US History components as a stand alone year's worth of curriculum, with parental guidance to ensure lessons and quizzes are used sequentially. Grammar and Writing can be comprehensive parts of a language arts curriculum, but the obnoxious interface and sound effects detract from their potential to be a really good curriculum option. The Math component does not have enough practice and quiz problems to provide the depth I would like for a stand alone curriculum, or even as a very useful supplement, but might be helpful for teaching concepts from another perspective. Foreign Language and Encyclopedia Britannica have the best user interfaces, with easy navigation and lots of content.