This Summer we are working on Math daily. My goal is to have all their addition, subtraction & multiplication facts down. I know that it seems that I have been working on this forever, well that's because I have. My kiddos seem to get them and forget them. Even though we do math regularly. Other times they know their facts but when I drill them it takes a few seconds before they give me the answer. Both Rod & Staff Math &  Math-U-See wants the kiddos to know them instantly. Since my kids haven't gotten them down cold (fast) I am not moving them forward and so my older ones are getting behind. Josh will be in 5th grade and should be a bit okay a lot further. Soooooooooooo, I purchased two programs to help my kiddos out.

1. Math-It
2. Addition the Fun Way and Times Tables the Fun Way

Both are great programs. Addition the Fun Way uses stories to memorize the facts. Each number represents something. For instance the 3 is called "three bee" the 8 is "eight gate" and so forth. Here is one of the problems. The Sick 6 bumped into the 4Door and had to go to the 10 fix it men. The stories are a little longer but they summarize it at the end of the story. There are colorful pictures of the numbers. I purchased the workbook, cd, storybook, Teacher's Manual & fact cards, but all you really need is the storybook. The cd is nice because the kiddos can listen to it in the car, during nap or quiet time. The workbook reinforces by having the child draw the stories, it has timed drills and fun worksheets. My kids are really enjoying this. This can get a bit pricey, so if money is tight I would only get the storybook. If you have a little extra pocket change than my second product would be the cd.

The other program Math-It is lots of fun, well at least I'm having fun. This program is $72.00 and all you get is a guide, a story about how Stevie learned (very interesting), 3 card-stock games & a cd with instructions. At first glance you would think this should be about $35.00 TOPS, but what you are really paying for is the knowledge/information. Once you get past that you paid a mini fortune for card-stock and see how much learning your children get from it than you see the big picture and it's worth the $72.00.

Now that we got past the price issue.......lets get to the games. My children started this today and they liked it. Annette got frustrated and started crying but she said that she liked it. She just couldn't do the facts fast enough. I told her to put it away and we will try again later. The boys really loved it and me, well I spent an hour trying to keep my score under a minute.

I love how Addit one of the games starts with the 9's it gives you some tips, you practice than you go onto the 8's. Again you practice only the 8's. Once you know them pretty well you mix them up with the 9's and practice some more. You keep doing this until you are finished with all the facts. Once you know the facts you try to get them done in less than a minute. once you can do them under a minute you move to the next game called Dubbit & the last game is Timzit (I think that's their names. I don't have it in front of me)

That is our math for the Summer. I'll have to report back in September to see how these two math supplements worked out. So far my children are enjoying them. I also got Pre Math-It. Again over priced. I paid $52.00 for a set of dominos, two cardstock gameboards and instructions, but like Math-It your paying for the knowledge and that makes it worth it. I jsut have to stop thinking that those are the most expensive dominos I have ever paid for

If your children like colorful than Addition the Fun Way might be the way to go. If they like games than Math-It is a good choice, as long as they don't mind it taking a while for them to get the facts under a minute.

Blessings,

Linda<><

Email me at Homeschooling6[At]hotmail[Dot]com.