Eclectic Parent

Sometimes I’m asked where I get ideas. Homeschooling is certainly not done in a vacuum. There are books about homeschooling, books of resources, tons of website and support groups. One group I belong to is an online resource sharing group for unschoolers. No philosophical discussions about unschooling and its merits, just resources your family finds fun, helpful, intriguing.

I got an email last week with someone recommending a game called Timez Attack. I get recommendations from places all the time and there are just too many to follow, but when another came in seconding it right away I decided to look into it. It’s a video game to help kids with multiplication. Rather than the old boring flash card drill method I remember, this takes them through a dungeon where they encounter trolls that demands they answer their questions. Because both people who brought it up highly recommended and it’s FREE, I decided to try.

We’d never gotten into multiplication past the concept that three 5s is 5 + 5 = 10 + 5 = 15 so I wasn’t sure how D would do. They do show the kids how to get the answer by showing the problem (2 x 4 for example) and then showing dominoes to represent the answer (two 4s in this case). I called him in from playing outside to show him and took the chance that he might head straight back outside; he stayed and he liked it. Played until his character died and then headed off to do something else.

Last night at dinner he asked if he could play his math game again before bed. After only one time, he was already faster and remembered some of the answers. If you are too slow or if you get the answer wrong the troll shoots green goo at you out of his magic staff - well I’m assuming it’s magic, it shoots goo after all. As he’s typing in the answers faster and faster, banging on the keyboard, he yells, “Ha, my weapon is math!” I wish I’d had a video camera.