Math Rider

This month, we tested "Math Rider", a software program that drills addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts.  Each operation has four levels, from "easy" to "master".   I had almost given up trying to teach multiplication facts to my 4th and 6th grade sons, so we decided to give Math Rider a try.

The program is pleasantly narrated throughout and has a fantasty theme with elves, castles, damsels in distress, an of course, a hurdling horse named Shadow.  My children are used to playing alot of war games with their Playstation, so I thought they would balk at using this product.  But pleasantly enough, they didn't complain and even asked if they could do Math Rider for their regular math assignment several days.  I think they liked the way that even a less than perfect score is praised, as long as there was improvement from the previous lesson.

Instead of randomly spitting out problems that have already been mastered, Math Rider is able to tailor each adventure to that particular child, only drilling what needs to be reviewed.  Statistics can be easily viewed as well, showing the students where they are on the road to mastery.

 When a child doesn't know an answer, or takes too long to answer, the horse simply stops and the correct response is shown.  If the studen knows the answer, Shadow jumps the obstacle.  It really was a pleasant way to present the math problems without being annoying, which is where some learning programs fall short.  Children don't need to be blasted with noise to learn and the people at Math Rider understand that.

Math Rider sells for $37 here.  I think this is a fair value for this program, especially if you have multiple children that will use this program at some point in their school career. 
See what the other folks at the Homeschool Crew thought of this product here.

**Disclaimer:  I received a trial subsciption to Math Rider in exchange for my honest opinion.  No other compensation was granted to me.