Let's do your 'Maths Facts Now'

Have you often heard the phrase "Use it or lose it"? Math facts can be like that. Unless you have reason to apply them in regular use, then they are often forgotten or a little slower to recall.

I admit that I haven't really pushed my children to reel off their math facts daily, and what we've found is that some of those more difficult times table facts (especially) have become slower for Maestro to recall. He used to know them so well!

We've had opportunity to use a product to help with regular math fact practice. Maths Facts Now is a product that you purchase either by cd-rom or download, then you can set up regular math practice for each of your children as often as you like. This would work especially well as a warm up to daily math lessons.

Here's an outline of how it works:

• Select the function you wish your child practice (addition, subtraction, multiplication or division).

• Choose the specific numbers you wish to drill in a session. More than one may be selected. (Eg: just focus on 7x tables, or select 3x, 6x and 9x tables).

• Choose how many problems the child is to complete in the session you've created. Maestro was fine with 50 questions, but Mariposa needed smaller hurdles, so 10 - 15 questions works well for her.

• Choose how long you'd like to give your child to complete a problem. We could select up to 60 seconds; Maestro did fine with 20-30 seconds, but Mariposa often needed the 60 seconds and probably could do with longer if she tackled more difficult questions.

• Select how often your child is to type out a math fact if they answered incorrectly. I found that 3 times worked best as a general rule here.

• Enter a reward for the children if they have completed the task. A family game, bike ride, time watching a tv show and a visit to the swimming pool worked here.

• At the end of a session, you'll be shown the details of your child's attempt. Competitive children, like Maestro, liked trying to improve on their best time and accuracy. 

• The final report also indicates the math facts that were answered incorrectly and how often it was attempted again to gain accuracy.

Have a go at the free trial to see how you like it.  It will run on Windows 2000, ME, XP, Vista and Windows 7 (sorry, unavailable for Mac users at the moment).

Purchase prices are $15.95 for the download, or $15.95 + $3.95 shipping for the cd-rom.

We'll be using this as a regular warm up for our math lessons.  Even though it's aimed at grades K-6, there's absolutely no harm in Maestro keeping up the regular practice to ensure he doesn't forget these basic facts.  Mariposa can use the program as she continues to learn these math facts, but at this stage she's still at the early stages of rote learning her times tables and division.

NB - I received full use of this product from TOS for the purpose of review. There is no other compensation and the opinions are my own. Thank you to TOS and Math Facts Now for the use of this product. If you'd like to read further reviews on this product, please click HERE.