Math Rider was designed to help the founder's own children who were having difficulty with their fundamental math facts. The premise of the game is that you are on a quest and answering math facts allows your rider to jump the poles and make it through the quest. The interesting portion of the game is that it adapts and learns your child's ability and gives questions that are tailored to your individual child's needs.
Along the way to 100% mastery of the four operations of math (addition,subtraction, multiplication, and division) you and your child can their progress and improvement. And these improvements are rewarded with point bonuses, time bonuses, quest progress, animated rewards, and a comprehensive statistics screen. Take a few minutes and watch the below video which tells you a little more about the program.
Isn't that awesome? The other really great thing about this intelligent math game is that in order to answer the questions and move through the quests is to push the answer in and hit enter. Your child only has to concentrate on answering the math and hitting enter - not wasting time trying to move a mouse or using the arrow keys to also move your horse or person along in the game. That helps the child to be able to fully focus on answering the questions.
The game starts off with addition with all types of math learners and is a great review of the facts if a child has already mastered that operation. The better they are the faster they will go through the quests. As mastery is completed your child will then move onto the next operation of math and the program will adjust to your child's ability.
This program (version 3.10) works for Windows, Mac, and Linux machines but be sure to read the system requirements before downloading the program. They do recommend to not use it on a Linux machine. The cost of this program is less then an hour of professional tutoring - $47. BUT for a LIMITED TIME it is on sale for just $37! (only until February 15th) You will be able to download the program directly to your computer and have your child working on it in just a few minutes. And the game will support multiple users for the same price.
When Arianna heard we were able to review Math Rider again she was very excited! Audrie was even happy because she has learned more math - doing simple addition and subtraction - so she was hoping that she'd be able to play this time too.
The cool thing was since we had reviewed it already all we had to do was redownload the program (to get the new edition) and Arianna was able to start right back where she was. We decided to start a "new rider" so that she could review the facts she already 'learned' and to be sure that she was truly mastering the operation.
Audrie started at the very beginning. It was a bit too hard for her to do on her own mainly because she gets a little frazzled when things are timed and then she will get very frustrated and just stop what she's doing. If I was in there typing in the answers she called out then she was able to just concentrate on adding. I think we are going to wait a little longer before she continues using the program, but I'm sure she will love it as much as Arianna has when she's able to use it regularly.
The program is great in that when it starts (within any operation) it begins only going to 5, then to 10, and then to 12, allowing the child to slowly gain confidence as they progress through the game. If your child doesn't get through the first section (up to 5), like Audrie, they just remain at that point until they hit mastery level.
My Thoughts:
I like MathRider because it is an intelligent math game which adjusts and changes to each child individually. That has been super helpful with both girls allowing them to proceed at their own pace and I don't have to worry whether the program has become too easy or too hard.
I also think that the price of the program (even without the sale) is a very economical. If you were going to hire a private tutor you'd be paying anywhere from $25 to $50 per session which could vary in length from 30 minutes to an hour. If your child uses this program for more then two hours and you are able to see their improvement you have more then made your money AND the great thing - your child thinks it's just a game!
I hope you take some time and read what others thought about the newest edition of Math Rider. You can also contact MathRider if you have any questions or comments - just know in advance their home office is located in Australia so there will be some delay in getting back to you.
*** I am a member of The Old Schoolhouse 2011-2012 Crew and receive free products and services in exchange for a thorough and honest review. Though I am compensated with free products, I am not compensated in the form of money for any of my reviews. My reviews will always reflect my honest opinions, findings, beliefs and experiences with the products and services that I receive.***
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