Mathletics

[RoadArt]

For those who use Mathletics, do you (your child/ren use it just at school or at home?

What do you like about it?

What dont you like?

What are the pitfalls?

Has it really helped your child/ren?

Does it cover the whole curriculum?

How is the teaching?

Thank you

From what I remember, there is no teaching as such, it's just exercises. If you want tutorials you may find MathsWhizz better? We tried both and have stuck with MathsWhizz.

Thanks Isla

We use Whizz and really like it, but am reviewing Mathletics at the moment because it is cheaper, but want honest feedback about Mathletics from actual users

used mathletics and mathwhizz. Prefer Mathswhizz. I felt mathletics was like lots of quizzes. Mathswhizz is good because if I need to explain a concept I get the basic idea to start with.

my two youngest recently started using it, purchased by school, age 9 & 7. DS seems to find it fun and would spend hours on it if he could get away with it, find he tends to do the easy bits to accumulate points quickly, then spends ages changing his image thing and it's background. However, having said that I have noticed a marked increase in his speed with simple maths questions. No lessons but through trial and error he has learnt what some of the questions (which are on areas of the curriculum he has not covered yet) mean. My dd enjoys it but not so competitive with points so happy to just go on now and then. I like being able to log in to the parents bit and see how my dc's are doing, and they really like getting the certificates. We have only had it a few weeks so difficult to know if interest will be sustained. I think it is a "nice to have" extra, but doesn't replace proper instruction, just reinforcement from what I have seen so far.

watching with interest.

we use maths-whizz but wondering whats the best option

ds loves it, has really improved his confidence with mental arithmetc.I'm impressed at how fun it makes it

He really enjoys getting the gold bars-and a certificate for 1000 points every week but most of all he likes competing in the short live games with other kids around the world.

we also really like Spellodrome- same org and idea as mathletics only for spelling-link is on mathletics site.

We haven't tried maths-whizz but use mathletics at home from time to time. I wasn't aware of any cost. The version we use is free. In order to concentrate on the maths, rather than on typing skills, I let my son shout out the answers and I input them on the computer. I think it's a good programme in small doses (ie too much can be stressful because of the time pressure)

i've just looked at maths whizz. while i'm sure some children will respond well to the graphics, i think it's very slow and rather boring. i also think some of the graphics are gross (ie green snot coming out of a monster's nose). I think mathletics is better for developing core maths skills and rapid recall of core skills (addition, subtractions, multiplication and division) without the distraction of animated characters. Also, the levels on Maths Whizz don't correspond to the levels my son has experienced at school (what's on the Y5 page is similar to what my son is doing in Y2). It doesn't matter, of course, as you can chose whatever level is appropriate for your children regardless of what year they're in at school but I think some children might think it's odd to be doing something described as being at a level very different from their school year.

My child been using it for 18 months. We have seen absolutely enormous improvement in his skills and confidence.

There are sort of tutorials built into the quizzes (not the tests). If they are stuck on any question they can click on help and it takes them through increasingly difficult versions of the same question.

Mathswhizz isn't at levels as such is it? They do an assessment and the work is set on the results from that. It then gets harder as the child improves, some of the work my dc is doing is set at her age, and other stuff she is much better at has been set at 2 years above. Largely though, the child doesn't know what 'level' they are working at, it is something the parent sees when they sign in for a report.

Isla -- I only looked at the free sample version and it seemed to be set up by grade level. It sounds from your description as if the "real" version is different and better than what I saw on the sample.

How do you get your dcs to play? As soon as my back was turned mine would be on the hunt for more interesting games

I disagree that Maths Whizz levels do not correspond with the curriculum. They cover every stage of the 2006 Primary Framework year by year.

The whole purpose of Whizz is to make the games appear easy and and think they have done it before. If kids think its easy, it boosts their confidence. Each level builds up on the previous stages and knowledge and whilst a lot of topics appear that seem really easy, they are introduced to something different.

Some parts of the curriculum are very easy even in Year 5,6,7 etc but there are also lots of harder elements.

Comparing the two programmes I think Whizz teaches better, but the price difference also reflects this.

They are different and both have good points

Just wondering if anyone else can add their views about the pros and cons of Mathletics?

What do you like about it?

What dont you like?

What are the pitfalls?

Has it really helped your child/ren?

Does it cover the whole curriculum?

How is the teaching?

Thank you

Zombie thread

Stop dragging up old threads and spamming, GraGra.