DISCLOSURE: I RECEIVED THIS COMPLIMENTARY PRODUCT THROUGH THE HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW.

One of the true loves of my children is horses. Our first house, where the older two were born, our city neighborhood backed up to a couple of large churches and several acres of land where horses and cows were often grazing. We visited the horses on walks before my oldest was even born and just about every week until we moved. They LOVE horses. I can’t think of a better theme to motivate my students to practice their math than riding horses! As we tried out MathRider from Sharper Edge International Pty Ltd for this review the past several weeks, I’ve never had so many requests to do math!!

What We Received:

We received a permanent license to the game MathRider, which allows for multiple users.

How It Works:

MathRider is a math program designed for use on a computer that, once downloaded initially, can be accessed without the internet. Multiple users can access it with their own username and password. Users can practice riding where every math fact answered correctly causes the horse to move faster and a slow or missed answer slows the riding down. To practice or play you can adjust settings to accommodate each user. Setting options include addition, subtraction, multiplication and division along with number ranges and a choice between obstacle course or a time challenge. Practice rides do not impact quests and are not counted in each student’s statistics. To play, each user is challenged with various quests that involve a back story, a specific goal, different backdrops and unlocking different music as you go along. Each quest involves answering math facts just like the practice rides, except each correct answer gets you further along in your quest. The faster the student answers, the faster the horse goes and earns extra points. There is a dashboard that showcases mastery levels for each student based on their rides. There is also a score area where you can compare users as well.

What We Thought:

My kids old enough to use this program, 10 year old boy and 8 year old girl, loved it. The story element certainly pleased my girl and the horse element trumps everything for both of them. It is a an easy way to practice math facts and work on recall time so there is no complaint from an educational standpoint. The quest and story elements seem to motivate them to keep going after math recall usually gets boring or tiring. The changing landscapes (tied to different quests) are really beautiful which adds to the varied experience. It certainly is enjoyable to me as an adult! Once they figured out what the game was all about, they would request to play it all the time, even when school was finished. If you have students that love horses, this is a slam dunk program for those needing to work on their math facts. Overall, our family loved this game and would highly recommend it to anyone wanting to work on math facts and have some fun at the same time.

Follow MathRider on Social Media
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MathRiderGame
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Mathrider

Are you wondering what other families thought of this program? Check out the rest of the reviews through the link below:

DISCLOSURE: I RECEIVED THIS COMPLIMENTARY PRODUCT THROUGH THE HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW.

When I was little, I remember watching my dad play games on an Intellivision game system. My favorite was Dungeons and Dragons! For today’s review, we’re looking at Baggin' the Dragon Maths Online from EdAlive. We have looked at two of their other games before, Typing Tournament and Maths Invaders. Here is what we thought about those. Baggin’ the Dragon reminded me a bit of the graphics and gameplay from that old Dungeons and Dragons game if you were to base it on math. Certainly nostalgic for me, but that doesn’t count for much when it comes to kids, does it?

What We Received:

We were granted 12 months access to Baggin' the Dragon Maths Online for as many students as we needed. Baggin’ the Dragon is an Austrailian online game that combines automated Adaptive Learning with multi-player board game that seeks to protect your village from a fire breathing dragon.

How It Works:

This online game is designed for students age 5-15 and through various questions, adapts to their current educational level. Each student has their own login and account, which tracks their skill-level. In a board game style where you can play computerized opponents or your friends, students answer math questions and move around the board collecting or losing courage swords. Each question answered correctly counts toward the collection of hero cards as well. Underneath every question, there is a Too Hard option for when the student simply doesn’t know how to answer it. For each account, their questions and answers are collected and compiled to demonstrate where a students skills are and where there is need for improvement. This covers skills from age 5 all the way through 15 to include concepts of algebra, geometry, etc. This data is presented in a very helpful way that allows parents to be informed on each child’s performance. For times when a student needs to focus on a particular area, there is a Questions Only section that allows the user to select a specific area to practice on.

What We Thought:

For this review I had two children use the program, my daughter age 7 (almost 8) and my son age 10 1/2. Both were excited to try it out, but my daughter quickly changed her tune. My 7 year old was frustrated with questions that were too hard for her and took a while to warm up to pushing the Too Hard button. She really didn’t like that at first, but I attribute that mostly to her excellent math skills. She’s used to being good at it and got easily frustrated when things were beyond her. Thankfully, she got used to it and enjoys it just fine now. My son did well from the get go, but he always finds motivation in a game.

At first, it was a little confusing how the game went, simply because we didn’t understand the board game/math question combination. However, it didn’t take long for the kids to explore and figure it out. I really appreciate the adaptive part of the program from an educational perspective. It allows exposure and the reporting communicates clearly what they already know. That is encouraging. Sometimes we simply look at one grade level or one skill, but this allows a bigger picture perspective. And it’s fun! Baggin’ the Dragon is definitely a good choice for fun math games and educational support.

Social Media Links: EdAlive Online Learning

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EdAlive
Twitter: https://twitter.com/edalive
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/edalive_onlinelearning/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com.au/edalive/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/EdAliveTube

EdAlive Learning offers a variety of games, not just Baggin’ the Dragon. The Homeschool Review Crew also reviewed Word Rocks and Volcanic Panic. Check out those reviews through the link below.