I am in LOVE with Reflex Math and am convinced that is it the best homeschool-related money I have spent. I found out about it through the Homeschool Buyer's Co-op and tried the 2-week free trial. After the trial was over, I was able to score the program for all 3 of my older children for just $59 per year (regular price is $35 per year, per student) through the co-op. This is exactly what I needed to help my children memorize their math facts. Now I can focus on teaching them math concepts instead of quizzing them with flash cards. My kids also find the games much more fun than doing flash cards everyday.
Reflex works like this: Your child is greeted by the speed cube challenge, which assesses her knowledge. Then she can choose a game to play. When you first sign up, only two games are open: Ninja to the Stars and Wind Rider. On the first game of the day, your child will be taught a math rule and complete two picture puzzles. Then she can play the games as many times as she wants. After your child answers so many facts, she will get a "green light." Green lights mean the general store is open for business, and green light days also accumulate so that your child can open a new game. First, she will need 3 green light days to open a game. Then she will need 5 more green light days to open another game. Then she will need 6 more green light days to open a third game, and so on. The general store is where you child can purchase clothes, shoes and accessories for her avatar.
Your child has several chances to earn coins, like after the speed cube challenge, after the picture puzzles and after each game that is played. As she collects "fluent facts" (meaning the program has determined that your child has instant recall of a fact) she will earn extra coins. You can only earn up to 120 coins in a day to encourage shorter sessions. The program recommends frequent, short days over infrequent, longer days. I have my kids play 5 days a week, but let them quit shortly after getting a green light for the day. Our new routine is that they do reflex right after breakfast and work it until they get a green light. It usually takes 15 to 20 minutes and then they can go shopping in the store with the coins they earned.
Go to the Reflex Math website to get a free trial (no credit card info needed) and see how it works for you. If you do decide to keep it, buy a membership before your free trial is up so that your children can easily keep their coins and progress. We made this mistake and my disappointed children had to start all over again.
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
4 FREE Weeks of Reading Eggs
If you have wanted to try this program, now is the time! They are offering a 4 week free trial with the access code "4WEEK". I believe this is an offer that you can redeem without providing your credit card information up front. If you want to continue with paid service, you will provide your payment info at that time.
HAVE FUN READING!!
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Do You Use Interactive Programs?
As a mother who is formally homeschooling three children and informally homeschooling two more, interactive programs have helped me educate my kids. I can sit between three kids on three separate computers and allow them to learn material from a fun, engaging script with animated characters, while I give individual help to each one as needed.
While I cannot just turn on the computer and run off (nor would I want to), I can use it to keep the education going with one child while I help another. Sometimes I have to re-explain something to my kids after the program already explained it, but it helps to have these programs available as a supplement to my teaching. And sometimes I learn something, too!
Out favorite program right now is Smart Tutor. It is NOT a standalone curriculum since a topic can be covered in 20 minutes, but it does cover all of the math and reading material that a child in 1st through 5th grade would cover in school. It just does it more quickly. Instead, we use worksheets and workbooks to supplement this, so that they get several days on a topic, instead of just 20 minutes.
Other programs like this that we use occasionally are Time4Learning, Let's Go Learn and Reading Eggs.
What interactive programs do you use in your homeschool curriculum?
While I cannot just turn on the computer and run off (nor would I want to), I can use it to keep the education going with one child while I help another. Sometimes I have to re-explain something to my kids after the program already explained it, but it helps to have these programs available as a supplement to my teaching. And sometimes I learn something, too!
Out favorite program right now is Smart Tutor. It is NOT a standalone curriculum since a topic can be covered in 20 minutes, but it does cover all of the math and reading material that a child in 1st through 5th grade would cover in school. It just does it more quickly. Instead, we use worksheets and workbooks to supplement this, so that they get several days on a topic, instead of just 20 minutes.
Other programs like this that we use occasionally are Time4Learning, Let's Go Learn and Reading Eggs.
What interactive programs do you use in your homeschool curriculum?
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