Mathletics - please help me find the support for dd!

[Puringmary]

I signed the dcs up for mathletics today after homework made it clear at least one is struggling with some concepts and we don't have a good teacher/pupil dynamic!
One of the attractions was the 'support' which claims to be like having a teacher on hand.
But I can't find it on either the app (which is what dcs will be using) or website.
Can anyone help? I really need the tutorials or I've just wasted my money!
Thanks . . .

[FanSpamTastic]

Mathletics is more about chance to practice concepts regularly rather than a tutoring service. It builds up in blocks and starts with concepts like putting numbers in order, visual x lots of y etc. if your dc have been struggling I would set their academic level at the year below where they are in school now and go back over concepts that they may have missed out on. You can reset their year up to 3 times in any 12 month period. So in one year could do year 2, year 3 and still move on to year 4. There is a button called "concept search" that will give a brief explanation of what certain maths terms are. And if they get a question wrong I think there is somewhere to click that explains why the answer is what it is.

But the key thing is practice - and doing the live mathletics tests against the computer or another player to practice skills learned. But I would not do that until they have built up a bit of confidence.

[Puringmary]

Thanks fanspamtastic. I do understand the practice but just wanted dd to be reminded of 'how to' before she plunged in. On the demo/marketing page it clearly shows a concept being walked through, step by step along with slogan about online support being like having a 24 hour teacher. That's the bit I simply can't find. It must be there . . .

[Taz1212]

DS uses Mathletics through his school. I'll have him log on tomorrow night and try to find the help bits. Off the top of my head, if you are doing an exercise and can't remember how to do it, there's a bit that you click and it walks you through it.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

On a desktop PC there is a question mark to the left of the question if you click on this it will give you an explanation of the concept being covered.
Have you done the something easier of each section? This usually reinforces skills from the previous school building confidence to move on to that years skills.

[PastSellByDate]

Hi Puringmary:

There are other maths tutorials out there:

Komodo maths: komodomath.com/

Maths Whizz: www.whizz.com/

Mathsfactor: www.themathsfactor.com/

My DD1 also was bristly when we first started using mathsfactor in late Y2. Basically she didn't like maths, found it confusing/ difficult and I think it made her feel bad (to be struggling) - but Carol Vorderman's endless good cheer and little videos each lesson reviewing a small element of a particular skill really worked.

I also think for girls to see a woman good at maths and clearly enjoying it is a wonderful message.

It may not work for you - but as I said there is all sorts out there - and others here on MN have recommended Komodo Maths & maths whizz. I think all of them have free trials.

I know mathsfactor offers a summer school for a one-off fee (I think it's like £10) - so you can get a little taster and see how it goes.

What I did like about mathsfactor is it tested your child and started from where they felt they were at - so as a parent you didn't have to guess or simply go by their school year (which can mean for a struggling student the work is too hard).

HTH

[PastSellByDate]

Oh forgot to mention Puringmary....

I did find that up to late Y3 I did have to type in the answers for my DDs - but I was very strict about not helping them.

Eventually both DDs decided my typing was too slow for them and took over themselves.

HTH