Math Facts Now! Review

There are so many ways to practice math facts these days, from very basic flash cards to fancy cartoon software programs and everything in between. I received a copy of the Math Facts Now! software to review as part of my journey with the TOS Homeschool Crew. A download of this software costs $15.95 while a CD mailed to you costs $15.95+ $3.95 shipping. On the range of products this falls in the middle as a software program that is straightforward and very focused, with no distracting graphics. The best way to explain this is to show you, so what follows are my descriptions along with screen shots from our computer.

In Math Facts Now! the parent sets up lessons by selecting which math fact families they want a child to work on in addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division. I chose to set multiplication lessons for my 9 year old Makayla that focused on one fact family each generally, though I did combine the times 1’s and 2’s as she is very comfortable with those. When Makayla logged in she would select a lesson to do. Then she would be presented with the appropriate problems, to which she typed the answer. If she was correct she moved on to the next problem, and kept going until she had 50 correct answers(this number can be set higher if desired).

I really liked keeping each lesson to one fact family because she then got lots of reinforcement for those facts and many became automatic by the end of the session.

A neat feature of Math Facts Now! is that when Makayla got an answer wrong it required her to type the complete problem (such as 9 x 8 = 72) at least two times. The parent is able to set how many times they need to type missed problems. The other thing that is triggered when a child misses a problem is extra work with that problem. The program automatically gives increased drills on missed facts, so they appear more frequently in the remaining session.

Math Facts Now! is timed, a child is given a specific amount of time to answer each problem, but the parent is able to adjust this time. That was essential for our family because Makayla panics when timed on math facts. I was able to set it to give her a full 60 seconds to answer each problem. To be honest, I did not even tell her she was being timed.

One more thing you can do with Math Facts Now! is print a progress report for each student. It tells you the days they used the program, which lesson they did, how long it took to complete the lesson, how many facts they answered, with the number answered right and wrong. This is very handy, not only to print for records, but as a quick overview of how your student is improving or their weak areas. The one thing I wished it would do is tell you the specific problems they miss.

I’ll admit, this was not Makayla’s favorite program to use. There was no way to pretend it was anything other than work. However it was an effective way to get her to drill math facts independently, and we are seeing a difference in what she remembers and her speed. We will continue using Math Facts Now! as reinforcement at our house.

Be sure to check out my Crewmates’ reviews to learn what they thought of this program.

{Disclaimer: I received this program free to download in order to review it. I received no other compensation and all opinions presented herein are my own.}