Math Rider, not just another math game (a TOS Crew Review) -

Three of my little learners are not big fans of math. I have one math lover and the other two are a bit young to tell. Whenever we work on math facts, there are usually excuses made, other things that “need” to be done. That is, until we started using this fun math game, Math Rider.

What makes Math Rider different? What makes this “The Intelligent Math Facts Game“? The game adjusts to the player. A bit slow in getting the answer entered? The horse slows down. Getting stuck on a particular fact? It gets repeated more often for more practice. There is no clock you are racing against. There are no monsters you are trying to “kill”. Make no mistake, it is not simply boring drill either.

There are quests, a princess to rescue, and more. The setting is the MathLands. The backgrounds reflect where you are in this land: mountains, forests, etc. They are very artistic, but not distracting. You are the “math rider” on Shadow, your horse. There are jumps (math fact sentences) to complete (answer) as you journey on your quest. Points are earned for successful jumps, a run of correct answers and a faster time. Once you have reached the points needed for that particular quest, it is completed.

Each operation is focused on separately. There are four levels within each operation- easy, medium, advance and mastery. There are rewards earned at the completion of each. While it is true, your child is not competing against a clock or working towards complete accuracy to complete the quest, their reward will have a bit more to it the better they do. It is recommended to begin at the easy level, even if your child knows some of the facts well. I didn’t do this with my eldest daughter, and we should have. It would boost her confidence (and her rewards in the game).

What makes this great from a parent’s perspective? You can track your child’s progress. The chart shows which facts are mastered, which are not and varying degrees in between. My favorite part is the list of “top challenges”–these are the ones needing the most practice. I like to try to work these into our day somehow, approaching the fact from another angle.

Math Rider is available to download for $47 (until February 15th you can get it for $37). There are many helpful pages and videos on the website–though it is really easy to set up and use (I love that!) It works with both Windows and Mac systems. Check out the website for the story behind Math Rider (it is really good!) and to try it out for free.

To see what other Crew members thought of Math Rider, check out the Crew blog.

As a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew, I received a trial of Math Rider for review purposes. I was not required to write a positive review; the opinions expressed are my own.