Rainforest Maths and Matheletics question

[Alessandra]

Rainforest maths was a great (free) online program. Then it stopped. Now it seems to be starting again as part of something called Matheletics, which has a pretty hefty subscription price.

http://www.rainforestmaths.com/
http://www.mathletics.com.au/

I couldn't seem to find a sample of Matheletics -- I can't decide if it's gimmicky or cutting-edge. Is anybody familiar with this? I'm just curious -- I don't think that the subscription price is really worth it to me. Any thoughts?

[Amber in AUS]

Not sure where you are but Mathletics is very popular in Aus. There are lots of schools that use it and i know 5 kids from separate families who all enjoy it very much, age range 6 to 12.

From what i understand Rainforest Math will no longer be free. I agree $100 a year is pricey. I have joined my state Home Based Learning Centre and they are able to offer it for $30 for a year and at that price i am willing to give it a try.

[Alessandra]

Amber
Thanks - I saw it was from Australia -- maybe one of the online coops will offer it - $30 is reasonable for me., too.

[ajjkt]

I subscribe through our home education network Victoria (http://www.home-ed.vic.edu.au). They charge $30 per child to access mathletics. My DS7 begs to play on mathletics, and the other day when I told him 'would you just go and play' he insisted that mathletics was playing. They love this, and 'live mathletics' incorporates a competitive facts drill which has paid dividends for us as he actually wants to do this and sits there doing it for fun.

DD6 enjoys mathletics too, but is not as in to it as DS7 so she'll just do it in short blocks. That might be because he's hogging the computer and we have computer time equity issues between the two of them. She's not as motivated and as competitive with herself as DS is. DS loves 'beating his record' and finds this rewarding and motivating, DD enjoys this but not to the extent he does.

If there is a lesson they struggle with they can 'visit support' to get a tutorial on how to do it. The only caveat to this is that you still need to teach it yourself later because dc seem to get very good at answering the questions without really understanding why.

I made a deal with dc that if they achieve 90+ % in every category and subcategory then I will let them move to the next year level. This has been great for DS as it has forced him to do the categories he doesnt like as much as he is weaker at spatial tasks than number tasks. It only works because the idea of moving into the next grade level of work motivates DS, but this doesn't work for DD. There is enough other inbuilt rewards to make dd want to do it, though.

I love this program, and even though I thought a webbased program wouldnt be enough I now think it's fantastic. I would not use it as a spine, but it is an absolutely fabulous supplement, particularly when they choose to do it in spare time.

[ajjkt]

I forgot to add that like Amber, I know that a lot of schools in Melbourne (where I live) use this.