I believe in learning math facts. There; I've outted myself. I don't mean to offend anyone. Really. But, I believe having basic addition, multiplication, subtraction, and division facts down pat is to a child's advantage. (Is that sentence grammatically correct? I'll look at it again after I've done a couple of years of diagramming sentences with my son.)
I also happen to know that learning math facts can be fun. Truly! I still smile when I recall the math facts game I played in third and fourth grades. Each student competed against all the others in the class. We all had great fun, even if we didn't win. I remember computer games too, where practicing math facts was deemed awesome because, well, we were playing a game.
Barnum Software thinks math facts are important too and they've created a computer game to make practicing them something to look forward to.
Quarter Mile Math has a very basic setup: you race against yourself. You do your best, and as you improve you continue to win. For each race you are on the far left side of the screen. Racing against you, to your right, are your previous five fastest times. What a smart way to do things!
I let my son have a go at the game, even though we're not doing any adding or subtracting yet, because he wanted so badly to try. I had him do the very simplest item on the menu: single-digit numbers. He's not yet familiar with a computer keyboard, so it was a challenge for him. I noticed that he and I made the same fatal mistake with our first race. We tried really hard to be as fast as possible. This meant we were both pushed beyond our normal abilities in subsequent races. My son was very frustrated by this. He did not like being beaten every single time after his first race. So I started him up a new account and told him not to go crazy on his first go around. This worked much better. Sometimes he won and sometimes he lost, but at least he wasn't always losing. (If I had read the directions, I would have known that I could have just erased that first stellar time.)
For your race you can choose to be either a car on a track or a wild horse running free across the prarie.
If you're like my son, you'll switch back and forth for every single race.
Although our use of Quarter Mile Math is somewhat limited at the present time, this will stay in our arsenal for years to come. One reason is because QMM goes well beyond simple adding and subtracting. It starts with the alphabet and numbers. It includes place value and counting. It does averages, decimals, fractions, equations and more. It covers math topics from Kindergarten to 9th grade.
Another reason we'll stick with it is because of the option to have 'tournaments'. With the deluxe version family members can race against each other in real time. I know I'll be putting sibling competitiveness to good use with that option (whenever we get a second computer).
You, the homeschool mom, can see your child's progress very easily. The program automatically stores the information from the races. With the deluxe version you get an additional few fancy ways to view the information.
QMM is used nationwide in Sylvan Learning Centers. It has also won several awards from homeschooling magazines.
There are a few ordering options for Quarter Mile Math. You can buy the program the old fashioned way (as in, the way you would have done things two whole years ago) by ordering a CD in a box shipped to you via snail mail. You can order both the standard and the deluxe versions of the game this way. The deluxe version is also available for download.
With the standard version you buy the game, pay one price, and go on. With the deluxe version you are purchasing an ongoing subscription to the full product line.
With the standard version you can choose to purchase just one level, or bundle two levels together, or buy all three levels bundled together.
With the deluxe version (the subscription) you have immediate access to all three levels for every member of your family. You get expanded student tracking options, and student scores are automatically saved to Barnum Software's server. You can install the software on any or all of your computers. For a monthly subscription, you'll pay $2.95 a month. If you prefer to sign up for an entire year, or two years, you'll get the product for even less per month.
Here's the lowdown:
Standard, One level = $39.95
Standard, Two levels = $64.95
Standard, All three levels = $89.95
Deluxe, monthly subscription = $2.95 per month
Deluxe, yearly subscription = $19.95 per year
Deluxe, two year subscription = $34.95 every other year
If you need to put some zip into math facts learning, Quarter Mile Math is a great option at a great price. Their website has a special homeschooling section, testimonials galore, a few videos about the product, and a free demo download.
*Special Offer* use the Referral Code below and you will get $5 off any order:
7V7K7
There is a place to input this code on the order forms. This Referral Code will be good until September 30.
This review is one of my reviews as part of the TOS Homeschool Crew 09-10. I am not compensated for reviews, though I do receive the product free of charge to use and review.
0 comments:
Post a Comment