There isn’t anything more challenging when it comes to learning than math, at least for my oldest son. My younger ones absolutely love numbers and puzzles. My oldest son dreads math. Every day is a struggle. So, when I heard about Smartick, I was pretty curious. And definitely eager to give it a try. We were super blessed too, to receive 6-six-month subscription to this program for my three oldest children.

When we first received this, I had only planned to use this with my boys, who are seven and eleven. My oldest son really struggles in this area; because of how much he struggles, we have a very hard time getting work done each day. He was definitely not amused when I sat him down to try out a new program. But after he got done designing his own avatar, he was a bit more open to things. After a few days of using this, at least 5 days a week, he was really excited about this. He would start each day with this program. He really enjoyed the various challenges and mathematical skills and how they were presented. Plus, the variety of games and competitions seemed to really spark a desire to work harder. In fact, there were days I had to make him stop using this program! Never thought I would see the day I would tell him to stop doing his math! Ha-ha

My younger son saw how much fun his older brother was having, so he was eager to get to work himself. He really loved the progress bar on the side of the screen when he worked; he is one of those kids who likes to see how far he has to go. He is having fun when he works and also keeping track of his progress. Of course, the variety of skills being practiced each day keeps things interesting too! From critical thinking, to algebraic skills, reasoning, and patterns, he practices a variety of skills in each session. And all of this happens in just fifteen minutes each day. It’s the perfect amount of time, especially for my younger ones. Once the daily lessons are complete, there are a wide variety of games available to play. Every one of these is exercising some sort of skills related to math.

I wasn’t sure about having my daughter work on this since she is only five, but when she saw an Elsa costume for the avatar, she begged me to let her try. I was so impressed with how well she did, how quickly she mastered the skills being put before her and how eager she was to do all of it! This was the first thing she wanted to do each day. Her only complaint was that she could only complete one lesson a day. She has been learning about patterns, critical thinking, number order, and so much more!

This is available for PC and tablet; it is recommended for ages four through fourteen. For my younger ones working on this program, I love that this not only helps build their skills mathematically, but it also encourages reading and comprehension (listening skills too since they need to listen to the instructions given if they cannot read them independently). What a fun program this is! And so flexible; each student has a program that goes at the pace that is best for them and works to build their abilities in a variety of areas—meeting our children where they are. I love that! They are even given the opportunity at the end of each session to correct any errors that they made, and they are rewarded for it with additional ticks (these ticks can be used to buy items for their home). It’s such a delight to see my children learning and building their abilities in so many areas: attention, memory, perception, and reasoning to name a few. We truly appreciate having this program as a part of our daily learning!

-Product review by Jennifer King, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, July 2017