Math Facts are Fun!

A good foundation in math is as important as a good foundation when you are building a house.  Learning basic math facts is the backbone of every math operation.  Any and every student can benefit from learning and/or reviewing addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts.  As important as this drilling is, it can be very boring.  That’s where Math Rider comes in.  Math Rider is a fun math facts game geared toward children ages  6-12.  It could be appropriate for children outside that age range depending on their math level. 

We were able to use and review this game both last year and this year. We have enjoyed it both times and have been able to see improvement in the game with the newer version we are using now.  The basic concept of Math Rider is simple.  The player is a rider on a horse.  The player rides the horse through different fantasy quests, solving math facts over the course of the quest.  The quests become more challenging as the player becomes more proficient in the math facts.  Parents can choose the math operations covered on the quest, as well as the difficulty of the facts.  From the Math Rider website:

“A lot of otherwise good games suffer from quirky controls or from making the game-play itself too difficult. It is incredibly sad to watch kids fail a math game, even though they know the correct answer, because they mistimed their spaceship’s shot, or because jumping over that ledge is just too hard. These things have nothing to do with math, so why put hand-eye coordination requirements into a math game?

In MathRider we specifically designed the controls such that they will not get in the way of practising maths. If you can do the math, you win, simple as that. All the player needs to do is key in the correct number and press ‘Enter’. The game does the rest. Sound effects, animation, riding speed and so on are automatically controlled and adjusted. In this way, your child can fully focus on practising their math while still enjoying a highly entertaining game.”

If you have a horse lover, or a fantasy story (think King Arthur type fantasy) lover in your family, this is definitely the math game for them!  Installation is easy and fairly quick.  Setting up players for quests is very easy to do, and the quests automatically gauge student’s progress for you.  Math Rider is available on the Math Rider website for only $37 (instant download access) until February 15.  After that, the price increases to $47.  Math Rider is a very easy to use and effective math facts game.  To read other reviews of Math Rider, visit the main TOS Homeschool Crew blog.

**I have received no compensation from TOS or Math Rider in exchange for this review.**