Math Rider

Product: Math Rider
Vendor Contact Information:
www.mathrider.com
Sharper Edge Pty Ltd
31 Hannah Street
Beecroft NSW 2119
Australia
Phone- +61 2 9980 2437
Hours- 9am to 5pm (East Australian Time), Monday-Friday
e-mail- use contact form on website
Age Appeal: ideal age is 7-12
Format: Download (System Requirements) available for Linux, Windows, and Macs
Price: $37 U.S.

Are you looking for a fun way for your kids to learn their math facts? Math Rider is a fun way to do it. When your children log in they can either practice or begin their quest. There are three quests they can go on, easy (0-5), medium (0-10) and advanced (0-12). If they are able to complete the advanced level with a 99% or better mastery they will go to the master level where it is a race against time. The rider will go on a quest with their horse Shadow in the Mathlands. They will acquire a special flower, gem, letter to the king and finally the chance rescue the princess.

As the parent you will be able check on your child's progress with them, by seeing how far they have made it on the quest map. The statistics page will show what problems have been mastered and what still needs to be worked on. It even gives a list of the top five facts that are currently the most challenging.



Our Experience:
I downloaded Math Rider onto two computers, so both kids could work on it at the same time. I decided to show B and C what it was like before I let them try the program. We set up our user names and passwords, then I showed them how to do it by doing a practice run.

B recently began learning multiplication, so he was excited to try division. He is doing an advanced quest, but his mastery is only at 14%, so he will be excited when he sees improvement. He has also been working on improving his mastery percentage on the easy addition quest. B is currently above 80% on that quest. One of his favorite things to do is listen to the story that comes before the quest and after.

C is just beginning to learn her math facts, so this program has helped her immensely. When we started this program she was unable to add any of the 1+'s and now she can add up to 1+12. And she is working on the 2+'s. Within the next week I would think that C should be adding up to 2+10. Until she is able to know her addition facts from with 0-5 added up to twelve (easy level) she will continue to work on the practice runs. This will help her to have success on the quests.

I decided to play an addition quest which was a lot of fun. The kids enjoyed watching how fast I could go. The hardest part for me was adding horizontally and not vertically, as I do mentally. I can easily do it now and I am looking forward to working on subtraction, multiplication and division. As a teacher I am going to need to know my facts as well as my students!

What I Liked:

• The kids were always excited to do Math Rider! They wanted to do it all day long.

• It has helped C to finally begin to learn her addition facts.

• B has been able to consistently improve his memorization of his facts. He has especially been having fun with division.

• It has been great for me to see how well I can remember my facts.

• It repeats the facts that are missed, so they can be memorized.

What I Thought Was Difficult:

• When I first worked on my addition quest I had problems reading the numbers on the bottom of the screen. As I played more the problems became easier to read.

What B (boy, age seven, officially in first grade) Likes and Dislikes: I love Math Rider! I think Math Rider is absolutely great! I am working on division, for example 25/5=5. Also 20/4=5. I am also working on addition. Each quest is made of different levels, easy (0-5), medium (0-10) and advanced (0-12) and there is a special master level. You have to get 99% or better mastery to do the master level. I am the advanced level of division and my mastery is 13%. It will take me a while to get to 99%! I used to be at 14%. On the easy addition quest I have 100% mastery and I am 74% done. I did get frustrated sometimes, when I didn't get the right answers. There was nothing I disliked. I think Math Rider is good for kids my age.


What C (girl, age five, working on kindergarten) Likes and Dislikes: I like Math Rider. It was fun. I don't know my math facts very well yet so, I do the practice runs. First I started with 1+0 up to 1+5, then up to 1+10, then up to 1+12. I can do practice runs with no wrong answers, but sometimes I get a couple wrong! Now I am working on 2+0 up to 2+5. I am so glad I am doing Math Rider and learning my facts, so I can go on a quest!



Dad's Call: After playing Math Rider on different levels for different math sets I found it to be a good source for reinforcing addition, subtraction, multiplication and division skills. There is a set amount of time to correctly answer each problem. If it's not then the program repeats the problem and shows the correct answer. I like the idea of the quests as it gives a goal for completion. The progress page is one of the best I've seen in quite while. It's very simple and straightforward. You know where your child is at with just a glance.

What I didn't like about Math Rider was the horse sounding off every time you got the answer right or snorted if you got it wrong. While the audible reinforcement is a positive for missing an answer it's quite annoying when you get it right. The program would be better if the quests were varied between the skill set levels. The same quest was used for the easy level regardless whether it was addition, subtraction, etc. Having a different goal (while still using the same quest routes) would greatly improve this program. Otherwise by the time you finish the fourth easy quest the excitement of completion has faded.

Overall I liked Math Rider for it's functionality but it could have been made far better with just a few tweaks here and there.

Other Products Available: None at this time

I would definitely recommend Math Rider product. For more reviews on Math Rider, please go to The Homeschool Crew review page.

Disclaimer: I received this product for free for review purposes through The Homeschool Crew. All links were current when posted.