maths help...anyone with experience of online maths programmes?

[chipandbiff]

Hello, I'm just after some advice about using online maths programmes as a way of increasing knowledge and confidence in my children. They are keen to use the computer, and could both do with a bit of extra practice with their numbers etc....I've looked at Maths Whizz, Mathletics and Education City, but wondered whether anyone could recommend one for me? My children are in Year 1.
Thankyou......

[witchwithallthetrimmings]

BBC bite size is good

[LambethWalk]

My DS likes Cool Maths which is an American site. www.coolmath4kids.com/
The coffee shop game seems to be a hit with him .. www.coolmath-games.com/0-coffee-shop/index.html

[forehead]

I recently stopped using Maths Whizz, because my dd was finding it increasingly difficult to log on . I was paying £19.99 for it.
When i informed Maths Whizz that my daughter was unable to log on, they simply told me that it must be a technical fault with my pc. I tried to log on using different computers and still couldn't do so.
I would advise you not to use Maths Whizz.

[chipandbiff]

hello, thankyou for your responses. I've hada look at the bitesize website and it looks good, thanks witchwithallthetrimmings, and will have a look at the 2 sites that you have given me links to, thanks Lambethwalk.....and thanks forehead for your feedback about mathswhizz, I had trouble with the Education City website which put me off - If I can't find where I'm going then a 5 year old probably won't....!!

[sittinginthesun]

We use mathletics, but buy it through the school, which is much cheaper than the usual price. My DS absolutely loves it.

[follygirl]

We use Maths Whizz and we have found it to be brilliant. We've been using it for a year and it has really helped give my dd confidence. I like the fact that it mirrors what she does at school but irons out any issues she might have.

We did have some problems logging on but that was because we needed to upgrade our Adobe Flash player. Could that be the problem lambethwalk?

[RCToday]

DS has started using mangahigh, his teacher recommended it

[AnotherJaffaCake]

We use Education City, which covers Maths, English, Science, and languages (French, German and Spanish). I'd recommend using it - DD really likes it, and you can print off extra worksheets to complement what you do online.

[RoadArt]

I think at 5/6 years old you should perhaps use all the different free sites available and vary the options that your child practices on.
If you type in KS1 maths a lot of many different sites will come up and many are fantastic,

We have used Mathletic, Whizz and Education City, all of which have been excellent programmes.

Education City is cheapest but offers a great variety for young children. My children got a lot out of this

We moved on to Whizz and I am a great fan of this programme, but it is far too expensive for a Year 1 child. They need to be using the programme for about 60-90 minutes a week to really benefit from it. If they dont, they soon forget how to do the strategies and they will probably move much further on that what they cover at school. For teaching, this is definitely an excellent package.
With Whizz you dont have any control over what your child is learning, so it is sometimes not in sync with what they do at school. The good thing is it covers the entire curriculum and the child cant choose not to do a topic because they dont like it.

We now also use Mathletics (should say we have registered) and this is a good revision package but it is lousy at teaching strategies and new concepts. Your child can select what they want to learn and ignore what they think might be too hard.
There is a lot of excellent stuff on mathletics and it is good to use in tandem with other learning opportunities.

All three packages are very different and not comparable.

I only mention these because this is where my knowledge is.

I also recommend the Jump Ahead computer series, they are excellent.

[orienteerer]

Been using MathsWizz since June, very happy (& no log on problems).

[RoadArt]

With whizz you do need up to date computers

I definitely know that whizz has filled in many gaps that were not taught in school (but my kids are much older)

[chipandbiff]

Thanks everybody, this information is great - lots to look at and great advice -hugely appreciated.

I tried DD2 with maths from BiteSize, on the KS1 addition and subtraction page, and we were presented with 3 options - Medium, Hard and Very Hard. We started with Medium, but she struggled with a few of those (20-?=16 - that type of thing...) so I thought an Easy option would be better, but that didnt seem to be available. Does anyone know if bitesize has an Easy option?!

Thanks again everybody, I am off to try your suggestions!

[RoadArt]

www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/index.html

Sorry cant help you at the year 1 end. This is another well used and popular site.

Also
www.zoodles.com is another great fun site for kids to use

[Shanghaidiva]

My children use mathletics and agree it is great for revision, but not for learning new concepts. Ds is in year 7 but was moved up 2 years for maths. We look at the new concepts together and I 'teach' him and then he works through the topic himself. Each topic can be repeated 3 times (questions are not the same) and still earn points towards the weekly certificate.

[albachiara]

Hello,
we like these (they are all free):
www.sumdog.com/
www.sheppardsoftware.com/math.htm
www.wmnet.org.uk/resources/gordon/Hit%20the%20button%20v9.swf
www.educationict.org.uk/maths/ (for Scottish curriculum)
tux4kids.alioth.debian.org/tuxmath.php (you need to download the software and install it)