DreamBox Learning K-2 Math

I don't know about the rest of you, but I almost have to trick my daughter to get her to learn stuff. She does great at school, but if I'm trying to teach her something at home, she's busy thinking about the computer, the television, her CD collection, her toys, the playground, the dust bunnies under the couch, and pretty much anything else besides the words coming out of my mouth. Because of this, I was quite eager to review DreamBox Learning K-2 Math for The Parent Bloggers Network. It is for people like me that DreamBox Learning K-2 Math was created. The only difference is they don't trick your kids into learning things; they make learning fun and make your kids want to learn.

Upon logging on, your kid gets to pick an avatar. The actual game itself is divided into four bright and colorful lands that should appeal to most children: Pets, Pixies, Dinosaurs, and Pirates. Each land contains eight stories. To complete a story, your children must "find" six pieces of a desired object.

To find a piece of a desired object, your children complete various games. Your kids will think they're games, but they're actually math problems. My daughter has played games that deal with addition and subtraction, comparisons, and ordering numbers. Every time a new curriculum is introduced, the game assesses your child's ability. If your child has problems, like my daughter did with comparisons because up to that point, she had never seen a greater than or less than symbol in her life, the game will adjust accordingly. However, if your child shows no difficulty in completing the given curriculum, the game will move through it quickly and your child may skip or place out of this particular curriculum.

During the trek to find a piece of the desired object, your child will also earn printable certificates of achievement, friend cards (kind of like Pokemon cards), and tokens to use on fun carnival games. Remember what I said about how they make learning fun?

One of the great things about the game is the Parent Dashboard, which shows how your child is progressing with his/her math skills. Upon my first visit to the Parent Dashboard, I was pleased to find that my daughter, a first grader, skipped all of the kindergarten work which means a) she had a great teacher last year and b) she was actually paying attention in class. The game shows all the skills your child has mastered, the ones your child is currently working on, and the skills yet to come. The game also logs the amount of time your child plays in case you limit his/her computer time. I won't lie to you; I'm ashamed to admit the amount of time my daughter played this game (we're talking hours, not minutes). DreamBox also emails you when your child completes a story.

There were a few drawbacks to the game. My daughter twice completed tasks and was not given appropriate credit, so she had to go back and do them again. Also, the game seems to be a bit louder than most of the stuff we do online. When she starts playing, we have to race to turn down the speakers in fear of waking up her brother from his nap.

But hey, enough of what I thought about the program. Want to know what my daughter thinks? Here's her opinion: "I think it's a great game. It's really, really fun."

If you're interested in trying out DreamBox Learning K-2 Math, you can sign up for a free fourteen-day trial on their site.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

When it's kid approved you know your on to something.

motherbumper said...

I too, have to "trick" Gigi into learning but every so often she falls for some educational toy and I want to call the company in person to say thank you. I love the sounds of this and if Zoey gives it a thumbs up, than that's all I need.