Math Galaxy
Being a member of the TOS Crew this year has made Math one of the most exciting subjects in our house! This has truly been a year of Math fun!
I never really knew how many options I had to help me teach Math skills and reinforce that learning, until I was given this opportunity to review these products.
One of the things that helped to make our year of Math "out of this world" (sorry couldn’t resist) is the Math program from "MathGalaxy.com" !
I was pleasantly surprised to find that these were more than just games, the Math Galaxy programs include clear instruction using visual demonstrations of the math concept the student will be practicing. The student then can practice the math concept extensively.
The program encourages your students to continue to practice by using fun reinforcements such as silly riddles and fun "robots" that you can earn with each attempt at an answer. The robots then can be used to make your way through a labyrinth or to make a bridge to get through the swamp in a fun game! There are also ebooks and worksheet generators that you can purchase which really complete your practice options.
There were several things that I liked about the program we tried (Whole Numbers Fun). First, I really thought that the fact that it was a "stand alone" product was nice. The program that they sell is on a CD (we received a computer download from their website) instead of only available online- so no worries about the website being unavailable or slow and no additional fees to pay once you have purchased their software!
I also really liked the visual demonstrations.
I thought it was great that the practice "problem" screens were fun without having lots of distractions such as sound effects, moving objects, characters popping up etc!
That was great for our family because our computer is in our classroom area and also because my children are generally distracted from the "Math" part of a game by those types of ‘effects’ when they are playing.
My 10 year old absolutely loves practicing his Math skills now! He even mentioned how much better he is getting at using the keypad (an unexpected benefit!)
They sell the CD’s for just $24.95 each and they offer a 30 day money back guarantee. Plus you can try a demo on their website to see how well your kids like it before you buy it. I thought that was very helpful! They offer topics from basic Math to Algebra so there is a Math Galaxy Game for all different levels.
Game Topics include:
Whole Numbers Fun
Fractions Fun
Decimals, Proportions, % Fun
Word Problems Fun
Pre-Algebra Fun
Algebra Fundamentals
The E-books are available as a download for $12.95
Lastly, I really appreciated the way they articulated their philosophy in their "about us" section on the website since it allowed me to see how well thought-out their approach to creating the software was, as well as how very well their philosophy reinforces my own ideas about how children learn Math concepts.
From the Math Galaxy website:
"Our Philosophy
Math Galaxy’s approach to learning math is based on the philosophy that:
- New ideas must be connected to a child’s current network of knowledge and experience.
- Skills develop along a concrete-to-abstract continuum, with advanced skills developed by generalizing from more concrete experiences.
- A child must see a wide range of instances of a concept in order to separate out extraneous material from what is essential.
- A child needs to be actively engaged with new ideas and not passively entertained.
- Mathematical concepts are tools that, like any other tools, involve actions that move you towards a goal. Mastery means that you know what the tool does and when to apply it. Students need to learn to analyse situations to see which tools are appropriate at each point, rather than memorizing a laundry list of steps for this week’s problems that will fade from memory when they go on to next week’s.
- Teachers and computers have different strengths and weaknesses that, used together, can complement each other. A teacher can deal with a wide range of student responses and is much more flexible than a computer, which must be programmed for each possibility. However, teachers don’t always have the time or energy to give students individual attention. If you can identify critical areas of instruction where a student needs help, a computer can review those skills tirelessly. "
Well, I hope that you will check out this website and let me know what you think: http://www.mathgalaxy.com/
Merit K
Disclosure: MathGalaxy.com provided copies of their software, worksheet generators and ebooks for us to review here on our blogs as part of the TOS Crew. You can see other opinions of this program by clicking here to go to the crew’s blog:
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/homeschoolcrew
Merit K