So math seems to make your child cry? Does it make them jittery and unable to sit still? How about angry? Does it actually make you think you don’t recognize them and you want your happy-go-lucky lovable kid back?! I mean, just a second ago you were laughing and telling jokes and now you know your entire school day is shot. Well, read on. I have the magic wand. I’m not selling anything either, by the way. I’m just an Engineer turned Homeschool mom who’s always searching for the next best tool for casting a love spell on my kids so that they will love math as much as I do.
Prodigy Game has been invigorating for our Homeschool. And I’ve mentioned it to a number of friends and believe each of them have seen something similar to what I’ve seen. I should repeat that I’m not a sales person for this game either.
So what is Prodigy you ask??? When I first heard how popular it was with kids I wanted to get on it right away too. No, it’s not a curriculum in itself. It’s better used as a supplement. In my Homeschool we are starting Beast Academy this year with my little guy and my older girls are both in Art of Problem Solving. But two of them love Prodigy now, and the little guy does it daily “for fun” in addition to an hour inside his main curriculum daily too. My 13 year old thought it was fun just to level herself one day and see if she could pass out of elementary math on it and she got herself all the way to 8th grade math where it gave her some geometry that stumped her. This summer I’ll have her play it to freshen up on her decimals and fractions because… why not… she’ll be happy to get to do battles and score some points with it anyway!
Back to the main question: What exactly IS Prodigy Game? Well, my kids describe it as a cross between Pokemon and Zelda with Khan Academy math questions as the battles. I love that it’s totally free. Always. Kid tested. Mother approved.
Here’s how we use it. First, we use our main program one hour a day for four days a week. I’ll make another post on how we do Beast Academy next. This year I’m creating a co-op class that will be Honors 3rd Grade Math. I’m super excited about it! But, Prodigy will be at a set time each day and my 3rd grade son will FaceTime with a friend while he plays. They can usually do about 25 math problems in that hour they think is social time. That’s what’s happening on the front end. The kids just think they’re battling each other. And they love being able to talk to each other during their Homeschool Day.
I’ve created quizzes or standardized tests on the back end and the questions I’ve assigned are being passed to him unknowingly. Only I see the quiz or assignment results. So, for instance, there are about 18 standards in the second grade for my state. Since he was leveled the first time he went out there I knew right away a few of the standards he already passed. Then I slowly, over a few months, tested him out of the rest that he already knew. Then I spent a few days doing white board lessons on some of what he didn’t know yet. Some of it would come up in his curriculum and he’d learn it naturally. What ended up happening though is we got ahead into the next grade level’s standards pretty quickly and now we’re moving ahead at a faster pace simply because of that regular 25 questions and his new love for math. I could never get him to sit still for so much math practice, happily.
I would love to answer any questions you might have about how to utilize this program in your school. Or comment below if you use it another way. I’d love to hear from you!
Cheers!
Jen at Log Cabin Schoolhouse
