Posted in Home Education

I couldn't believe it when I learned that the crew would be reviewing another math product.  I thought we were all "mathed out!"  But here we are with Math Galaxy.  I can't call this curriculum, because it was too much fun.  We have reviewed software that has had better graphics.  We have reviewed software that has had comparable practice ability and thoroughness.  But Math Galaxy puts graphics, entertainment, review, and fun all into their products.  They are really fun to use, but give a great review, or practice to a math concept...to ALL math concepts.  It doesn't matter what level you are in math, up to Algebra, Math Galaxy has a software that will meet your needs.

The first day we were to review Math Galaxy, our two boys and I sat on the sofa with my laptop.  Loading the software was easy.  You download a .zip file and then extract the files.  Then you are easily able to run the .exe files and load the software onto your PC.  I received complimentary copies of: algebra fun, decimals fun, fractions fun, math galaxy fraction riddles e-book, math galaxy whole numbers riddles e-book, pre-algebra fun, riddles algebra worksheet generator, riddles fractions worksheet generator, riddles decimals worksheet generator, riddles whole numbers worksheet generator, whole numbers fun, and word problems fun in order to complete my review.

We spent a lot of time that first day on "Whole Numbers Fun".  We played the riddles game, the bridge the gap game and the word jumbles.  The three of us spent a really fun hour trying to guess the riddles and the word jumbles.  The other fun part is that when you complete review of addition or multiplication or any of the math concepts, you eart robots for the labrynth.  The labrynth is this really neat game where you try to get your little robot through obstacles and around a maze.  You need multiple robots, or at least I did, to get through each level of the maze as you figure out how to maneuver around the obstacles.  If you run out of robots or lives, you have to go and do more math problems to get more robots.

Last Friday the boys had a competition to see who could earn more robots.  Our oldest earned 104 in 30 minutes.  Our youngest stopped at 114 after a little over 20 minutes.  It's  a great way for them to review math concepts.  I know I could assign certain levels and concepts.  And this software is easy to use.  Once you've pressed a button on the main screen, such as addition, you have another level from which to choose such as 1-digit, 2-digit, 3-digit, 4-digit, 5-digit.  You can really narrow in on a concept you want to reinforce.

The e-books are large PDF files.  They are math worksheets that would work well for review pages, or even if you are introducing a new math concept, you could print some of the pages from the e-book to give your child practice.  The neat twist is that you solve puzzles to get letter to fill in a puzzle at the top of the sheet.  The word that you complete will be the answer to a riddle.  Our boys loved this.  We enjoy word games like Wheel of Fortune, so the boys loved solving the math problems to get all the letters required to answer the riddle question.  The Whole Number Riddles e-book is 264 pages long and sells for $14.95 on their website.  Each worksheet page has the answer page immediately after it.  The Fraction riddles e-book is 434 pages long and also $14.95.   To find these two e-books, hit the "order" button at the top of the screen at mathgalaxy.com and scroll almost to the bottom of the page.

The image above is an example of what these riddle pages look like.  They are colorful, but if you don't want to use all the colored ink, you can surely print them out using your printers black and white feature.  But, I'm a very visual person, so the color appeals to me.  This is also the screen that you get when you purchase any of the Riddler Worksheet Generators. 

Ok, I've given you lots of my person testimonial, so let me get down to brass-tacks.  To get your copy of any of the math galaxy titles, click on the "order" button from the main page at www.mathgalaxy.com.  If you would like to contact math galaxy directly, you can send an email to:  mathgalaxy_support@mathgalaxy.com  If you would like to see more reviews to find out if Math Galaxy is really for you, check out the TOS Crew's reviews here. 

I thoroughly enjoyed reviewing Math Galaxy's products.  I'm sure I will be using them for a long time.