Engage Your Child in Math through Games {A Baggin' the Dragon Maths Online Review}

I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

Looking for some online math review for your child this summer?

Baggin' the Dragon Maths Online by EdAlive might appeal.

The program is an online math game meant for children's ages five to 15 that offers children an opportunity to practice and grow their math skills using automated adaptive learning. Within the program are 10,000+ interactive math questions that cover such things as:

• numeration
• math operations
• multiplication times tables
• fractions and decimals
• measurement
• money
• word problems
• percentages

and more!

The framework of the game aims to engage children while the math questions within it are crafted to make children stronger mathematical thinkers and problem solvers.

We received 12 months access to this program for review and one of my children has been using it almost daily in recent weeks.

He had this to say:

Baggin' the Dragon is a fun math-based game that you play online. It is like a board game with dice and game pieces, but it also includes math drills and fun twists. 

Math drills are on a skill level from one to something like twenty-seven. You get a math problem to do. If you cannot get it correct in two tries, they give you the answer and you lose strength, which is basically game money.

 

The problems are random, but, if they are too hard you can say so.

The fun twists are question marks you can land on that give you random things. You can also buy power ups with strength that you earn and use these against your opponents.

You can play a short game, a long game, a game against the computer, or a game against other people. I usually just play against the computer because other people are not on when I am.

I think this is a fun product and I would recommend it to ages six to twelve who like video games and math, because it combines the two in an engaging way.

I probably will keep using it when the summer is over. That is all I have to say.

I appreciate that my son enjoys using the game and that its adaptive technology increases the challenge for him while presenting him with a wide variety of math skills and problems to help him grow

I also like that the parent page has reports that show how he is doing.

In reviewing such reports, I noticed some patterns of where my son's math skills are weak and where he is strong.

(Ad, okay, how his skills are all over the place according to standard" levels with some low scores in 4th grade standards with high ones in upper grade standards.)

Oddly, though, I also noticed a quirk: not all of his work is recorded. I have seen his computer screen when he is working and know he has worked more regularly than the daily and weekly reports make things appear. We both think this is because he often does not finish the games, because he is called to do other things. 

So, if there is one thing we'd appreciate seeing changed about the program it would be that all work is recorded - whether a game is completed or not - and that each time a child logs in, their game simply picks up where it left off.

Another of my children also tried this program out, but she is a hard one to please with online programs and, although god-natured about trying it, just was not interested in continuing with the program.

I was hoping her little brother's regular use of the game might draw her back in, and, that she might therefore become more engaged with the game and have its adaptive learning help her practice and fill in some skills, but that has yet to happen.

Thus, I am thinking that, since we have the game for a year, I might reintroduce the program to her in the fall and just have her do problems from specific areas without the game portion on days when she is too busy to do her core math program.

This more direct approach, I think will be more pleasing to her than the game aspect and will provide her with a quick way to take advantage of the adaptive learning to practice skills while at the same time providing me with some feedback through the parent reports) about how she is doing.

I have not done this yet, because, well, it's all about timing and buy-in here. I want to wait until the former is ideal so the latter can happen.

With all this in mind, overall, I would say that if you have a child - like my nearly 11 year old - who likes online programs, math, and games, Baggin' the Dragon Maths Online can make for a fun summer - or anytime - supplement to keep math skills going while providing purposeful diversion; however, if you have an older child like mine who does not favor online programs/games, this one may not be one to spend limited online time with unless you use the questions only approach I am going to try out.

As often happens here, every child in my home is different and a win for one is not always a big win for another. That said I still think Baggin' the Dragon Maths Online is an overall win for ease of use, quick and informative reports, and adaptive learning.

 Over thirty Homschool Review Crew families also tried Baggin' the Dragon Maths Online or other EdAlive programs for reading and spelling. If you'd like to see their thoughts, click on through to find links to each Facebook, video, and blog review.

You might also want to connect with EdAlive via:

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | YouTube