3P Learning ~ Mathletics (TOS Review Crew)

It's summer-time, and the living is easy~ but the Homeschool Review Crew Kids are not totally lazing their days away. ;) We were given the opportunity to review Mathletics, an online math program offered by 3P Learning.  I reviewed Mathletics back in 2009 with a 12 and 9 yo, so it was a little different feel this time, reviewing with an almost 14 and 7 year old. 

Here are some of the basics that you should know about the program: 

Live Mathletics ~ this was a highlight for my children the first time around. The basic concept is that there are children all around the world who are logged in to Mathletics at almost any given time, and your child can compete in a live atmosphere with them. On the off-chance that there are no others, your child can also compete against the computer. 

• Your child can choose the level of difficulty for their questions (Generally, I would dissuade my eldest from competing at the lower levels, as it becomes discouraging for younger kids if there is an older "whiz" playing against them). Level 1 starts with simple addition, Level 2 adds subtraction, and the levels continue to get progressively more difficult from there~ adding percents, ratios and simple algebraic equations an on. 
• The benefit to this sort of practice is working on mastery and speed. The mastery part is beneficial to all. The "timed" aspect can be discouraging for some, so this wasn't a regular piece of my youngest's time on Mathletics (Read my previous review, and you will hear that this was a favorite aspect of my Eldest and Middlest when they reviewed before). 
• Middlest still enjoys this portion of the program~ he uses it to "get his brain going."

Beginning screen        During the competition (3 children~ US, Canada and Australia)       After the competition

Activities~ The main "learning" portion of the program. It is set up in basic topics with subtopics. The activities are "Adaptive" meaning that they increase or decrease in difficulty based on the student's mastery of the topic. This can be changed at any time to easier or harder, if you feel that the automated level is not correct. I appreciate having that ability. 

Completing the Gold Bars (left column in the above graphic) helps to fill out a pie chart, and each gold bar also gains the child "points." The points can be used to open up problem solving games and activities.

If that's not an incentive for your child, perhaps they would rather try to earn a Bronze, Silver or Gold Certificate for their work each week. This can be accomplished by steady work in the "Activity" section of the site. 

This works well as an instructional program and not just a practice program. If the student has trouble with a particular problem, they can click a question mark that is on every screen in the activity section, and a "help board" is displayed with step-by-step instructions showing how to solve that type of problem. This was most useful for my rising ninth grader, my rising 2nd grader didn't use the help board much. 

There are other Enrichment tools on the website with creative "Rainforest Maths" games and the previously mentioned "Problem Solving" games as well as printable workbooks (Available in the parent center of the site)

A recent report from the parent center~ love how it shows weaknesses and strengths. :) 

The Parent center is also the place where you can keep track of just how much and how well each of your students is doing, like the portion of a report shown above listing strengths and weaknesses based on recent work. In addition to being able to check any time you want, Mathletics sends out a weekly report for each student. This gives them accountability to you, without having to hang over their shoulders making sure the work is being done. I like that. 

If your children enjoy computerized math programs (mine do!) ... 

you might want to try Mathletics.

If your children are enticed to do their work with virtual rewards ... 

you might want to try Mathletics.

If your children like to challenge themselves and compete ... 

you might want to try Mathletics. 

Even if your children aren't impressed with bells and whistles in their programs 

(they can ignore a bunch of the fancy stuff, 

and get on with the work of learning mathematics with an adaptive program) ... 

you might want to try Mathletics.

The good news is that you CAN try Mathletics, free for 10 days, to see if it suits you!

You can visit Mathletics on Facebook and Twitter.

Not So Nutty Nitty Gritty 

• Company: 3P Learning
• Product: Mathletics
• Ages: K-12
• Price: Regularly $99 for 1 child/1 year access, Currently $59/student

Please click the banner below to visit the TOS Review Crew and see what others had to say. As always, I hope that this review was useful to you as you choose where best to spend your homeschool budget.

Blessings~