My kids are begging to do math. My kids are looking for chores or other ways to earn computer time so they can do math. My 3 year old is sad because he can’t do math yet. Am I dreaming? No, it’s just the effect Quarter Mile Math has on our kids.
Quarter Mile Math, developed by Barnum Software, provides drill activities in keyboarding, math facts, estimation, and a whole host of other topics for students in grades k-9th. Racing dragsters or wild, riderless horses, the students compete against themselves to better their times and master the facts.
The multiple formats appeal to both the horse lovers and the speedsters in our home, and not necessarily boys and girls respectively!
I brought it with us when we visited my husband’s family for a week long vacation, hoping I’d have time to install it on our laptop and play with it for this review. Well, it’s installed, but the only time I had was setting it up for the kids. They begged to do math while on vacation. Now, I know it is partly the novelty of a computer game, any computer game. As I’ve mentioned before, we tend to keep things as simple as possible when it comes to technology. However, I’m impressed with anything that will provide motivation for my kids to learn their math facts and do them quickly.
How it works:
- Players log in, choose topic (over 300 to choose from)
- The screen shows either five cars or five horses (can switch between types of race)
- The race starts and continues for a quarter mile or until no answer is entered for 14 seconds
- The students score/time is saved in order to compare results later on.
How we are using it:
Since we received this several days before vacation, it hasn’t been consistently used in our homeschool. Because we only have one operating computer, I’ve limited the amount of time to 20 minutes per day. However, that’s about double the amount of time they used to spend, very reluctantly, practicing their math facts. They have very willingly read to younger siblings, played with younger siblings, or taken on other responsibilities as a means to earn computer time. By limiting the time they spend, we are keeping it a novelty as long as possible. Even our almost Kindergartener is practicing counting forward and “what letter comes next” with this program. She often feels left out in some of the older kids’ activities, so I’m thankful this fits her needs as well.
It will not replace our flashcards or flashmaster, because I actually enjoy quizzing my kids with the flashcards. As I am planning our school year, however, I will be scheduling Quarter Mile time as a part of each student’s math or computer time. I’ll also continue to use it as an incentive when extra responsibilities are cheerfully accepted.
I’ve not made use of the student tracking features or paid much attention to the increase or decrease in time. I hope their progress will show up in their regular math lessons.
The only negative reaction my kids have had to this product is the 5 year old getting frustrated by the race continuing while she is still thinking of the answer. She knows that time is ticking away but she can’t find the right number on the keyboard. It’s nice that she still comes in first, even if the results are worse than the last time.
One note: I have an almost pathologic mistrust of computer games, knowing how much time they can waste with little results. I’ve seen this with my kids whenever we visit my in-laws where they are allowed to play Risk and Monopoly on “their” computer that Grandpa has set up for them. This is the primary reason we have not purchased any in five years of homeschooling.
The secondary reason is that I’ve heard nothing but crashed computers and worn out keyboards from computer game use. Until we are able to purchase a computer we can use for schoolwork, their time will continue to be limited to protect our laptop.
Cost:
Deluxe: downloadable, receive all 3 levels, giving topics from simple keyboarding for kindergarten to pre-algebra equation type problems for students in 6-9th grades. Also available on a CD, but must have the subscription for the program to work
Standard: CD version, one time purchase, from 39.95 for one level to $89.95 for all three levels
special homeschool subscriptions
--- $2.95 per family per month
--- $19.95 per family for one year (save $15.45 over one year) and
--- $34.95 per family for two years (save $35.85 over two years).
If you are curious, you can download a Demo version of the program here.
