Learn Math the FUN Way with Go Math! Academy!

When Summer began a few months ago it was important to me, as a mom, that my boys keep up with the skills that they learned in school this past year. We made sure that they were reading and taking Accelerated Reader tests. I was also looking for something that would keep them working on their math and improving on their skills. Over the Summer we were able to use two different internet math programs – one of them being Go Math! Academy! created by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Go Math! Academy is an online, at-home learning program based on Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s enormously successful GO Math! textbook curriculum, used by over 7 million kids worldwide. Go Math! Academy offers thousands of math practice problems, hundreds of help videos, and plenty of games and rewards to make learning fun. It is available for grades kindergarten through 6^th.

When your child begins the program, they are given different themes to choose from such as outer space or under the sea. At any time, they are able to change their theme to something different. The graphics are fun, colorful and engaging, making the experience seem more like a game than homework.

You also are able to set the age appropriate grade-level so that the curriculum focuses on skills that they should practice. From there, they can select different skills to do. As they work through the skills, they earn interactive video games that they can play like Battleship that makes you estimate where on the screen the battleship will be based on the math problem that is given.

If your child is stuck on a certain problem, he can click the “Show Me” button and will be able to watch a help video that explains how to figure out the answer. There are even fun puppets to engage the younger kids. The instructors do a great job walking you through each step of the problem (oftentimes with props) so that you can then go back to original question and figure it out.

As the parent, each week I received an emailed Progress Report telling me how my children had done that particular week. It lists the skills that they had worked on and how many awards they earned.

Key features of Go Math! Academy:

• Lively, engaging online experience lets children select a theme to launch their own personal math journey
• Independent learning empowers children to complete the grade-level curriculum in order to select the skill they want to practice
• Skill-boosting approach offers step-by-step math problems to support practice
• Entertaining help videos feature expert instructors (and lovable puppets to engage younger kids) who make math concepts clear and fun

Pros

• My kids enjoyed the fun graphics that the program offered. It felt more like a game they were playing rather than real homework.
• For public school parents, the program was designed to align with the Common Core state standards
• The games are fun yet educational
• The videos are informative and well-done by engaging instructors
• Very easy to set the program up for each child

Cons

• Not tablet friendly – YET
• Cost – there is a monthly charge that might be a little pricey for some people
• My second grader got frustrated on certain questions that asked that you find ALL the right answers

Go Math! Academy is available in your choice of three payment plans (access for up to 5 children):

• Monthly: $9.99/month
• 6-months: $49.99 ($8.33/month) – a 17% savings
• 1-year: $79.99 ($6.67/month) – a 33% savings

A Mom’s Perspective

As a family who does a lot of stuff on our iPad, it was a little disappointing that this on-line program is not very tablet friendly. When we logged on with our iPad, it immediately encouraged us to use a computer for a better experience.

While we were able to do some things on the tablet, we did end up running into things that we were unable to do like draw a line when doing a matching exercise. It was also a little difficult to maneuver through the program on the iPad.

That being said, when we switched over to the computer, the program is very user-friendly and easy to get around. I’m told that the goal is for the tablet version of the program to function the same as the computer by October.

As a mom, it was important to me that my kids remained fresh in their math skills over the Summer so that they could start off on a positive note in the Fall. I felt that the Go Math! Academy! program definitely did a great job reinforcing core skills for each grade level.

I also felt that they would ask questions in different ways, forcing my kids to process the question and really figure out the what and the why. Occasionally my 2^nd grader would get frustrated because the program would tell him to click ALL the answers that were right. He would find 3 out of the 4 but because he would miss one, it would tell him that the answer was wrong. He would then call us and say “but that’s the right answer”. We would then have to talk through the question and figure out which answer he missed. That being said, it was a good challenge for him!

I thought that the instructional videos were well done and did a great job explaining how to get to the right answer. I could see where this would be extremely useful for a child that struggles in math – it is always good to hear things in new and fresh ways.

While I prefaced this article by saying we used this program during the Summer so that my kids kept their skills fresh, I could definitely see how this program would be advantageous to a family throughout the year. Since it was created with Common Core curriculum in mind, the skills will continue to build on each other throughout the year thus reinforcing what students are learning in the classroom.

Overall, I was very impressed with the program. My kids enjoyed using the program and didn’t seem to mind that I was making them do “homework” during the summer. A win for everyone!

* I received compensation from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for writing this post. All opinions are my own.