D has been getting more and more interested in computer education, playing endless amounts of Magic School Bus and Pyjama Sam games, so he was very enthusiastic about a math program that he could use himself. We always kept an adult beside him, but more as a cheering section since he can type and manipulate the mouse pretty well.
The first lesson opened with counting to 99. He was over the moon about this one! He's been practicing out loud, but seeing it in front of him really helped to reinforce the tens and ones idea. The lesson (and each subsequent lesson) wrapped up with a series of questions to make sure the child understood. He aced it and was very disappointed when I said we'd do the next lesson the following day. he was at the computer as soon as breakfast ended the next day, ready to go! Here he is counting to 100 on day 2, along with the program.
He has remained enthusiastic even as lessons became more difficult. He likes that the lessons are fairly short, cover one concept at a time, and give him just enough practice to feel accomplished.
I like what I have seen of these lessons, and will happily put it on for him for as long as he wants to continue. However, there were some things I'd like to see change.
I find that when the voice on the program asks a question, it then immediately gives the answer. I'm sure you could pause and let the child answer if you knew it was coming, but since I didn't always catch it in time, it often gave him the answer before he had a chance to think about it or before I could hit pause. I'd like to see slightly longer gaps of a few seconds before a question is answered.
The other thing that I noticed was that the program didn't always record his answers correctly in the review section. For example, he'd answer 8 questions, of which he got 8 correct. At the end it would display as 8 questions attempted, 4 right, 4 not done. Now, he's only in kindergarten as far as the school board is concerned, so it isn't a huge deal for me, but if this were how I needed to provide proof of progress it would be incredibly frustrating! I assume it's a system glitch and that the creators are probably working on it.
I would also like to see a simplified login process. I had to click 4 different links to get to each day's lesson, which is a bit much in my opinion.
Overall, I would rate this one a 9.5 out of ten for solid math learning and keeping a child's attention, and a 7 out of ten for smooth operation. If you'd like to try it with our child you can sign up for a free 1-month trial of the online program. At the moment, they're also offering 50% OFF Special Promotion through the end of MARCH. The coupon code they can include in their review for their audience is: SPOFFER50
