Little Homeschool Blessings: 3P Learning: Mathletics {A Review}

3P Learning gave us a one year subscription to their online supplemental learning resource, Mathletics. We received grades third and sixth; however, all grades K-12 are available (regularly $99, on sale right now for $59 per student for one year). Each user is given their own login, including the parent, and levels can be adjusted by the parent based on the needs of the student up to 6 times a year.

Overview
Mathletics is a supplemental (so it reinforces concepts taught in full math curriculums) and it is all online (so you need internet access). You can use it on your computer or with a tablet. To access it on a tablet, a free app needs to be added.

The parent section has printable worksheets and ebooks available to utilize as well. To help you get started, there is a student console map and guides for both the students and parents.

Parents can check in and see progress in the parent section. There are weekly e-mails that give updates about the tasks students complete. Students are awarded gold bars, bronze certificates, and awards as they work.

Components
Ceesa and Jo-Jo used the resource about 15-20 minutes a day a few times a week. Since it is their summer break, I let them choose which sections that they wanted to complete. There are lots of games, enrichment tools, and activities to choose from.

~Live Mathletics is designed to help with math fluency/speed and is played against the "world" or the computer.

~Activities are adaptive and are based on grade level. Students choose activities and these are what the rewards are based on.

~Concept Search includes both a Concept Search and an Animated Maths Dictionary. Both include animation that explains either the concept or a math vocabulary term.

~Problem Solving has lots of different games to play. The directions are provided before each game.

~Rainforest Maths allows you to choose your own grade level each time you enter from levels A-G (K-6). There are directions for how to do the problems and opportunities to interact with the concepts by answering questions or solving the problem and filling in answers.

~Times Tables Toons play different times tables songs with videos for each number 1-12 up to 12.

The girls' favorite areas were the Problem Solving games and the Times Tables Toons. While these don't appear to give bars or points, I allowed them to play them without concern for those rewards. If you choose to go this route, you may not see a lot of playing time show on your weekly updates either.

What Ceesa and Jo-Jo Thought
Jo-Jo reports...that she likes "those fun games like the I Scream Lady." She liked to play it, High Life, and Elevator. Her favorite section was the Times Tables Toons because of the "crazy songs."

Ceesa reports...High Life was also one of her favorites and one that she played several times. "I really like Times Tables Toons, especially how it is not a boring game, but it is funny and it makes the tables very easy to memorize. Over time I have found easier ways to play the games. I wish we could do this math forever."

Recommendations
I found that the girls kept going back to the same games and I had to encourage them to try others. I would suggest setting some guidelines for them; like, play one new game each time until you've worked through all of the ones in the list or watch a concept that interests you or do one thing from each section (Activity, Problem Solving, Concept Search, Rainforest Maths, and Times Tables Toons), etc. Maybe even set out the goals for your family's use of the resource to help guide you in how you'd like your children to use Mathletics.

Wishing you homeschool blessings,