GIVEAWAY: MathBlaster 3D Online World of Learning by Knowledge Adventure

April 25, 2011 By Erika

$Math blaster logo GIVEAWAY: MathBlaster 3D Online World of Learning by Knowledge Adventure$ During the almost 15 years that I taught in the public and private schools, technology was an area where I saw there was so much to desire in the schools. My eldest, now 13, was not your typical kid growing up because, well because we didn’t allow for game consoles in our home. I had read way to much research and articles on the dangers of these and I wanted my kid to be outdoors as much as possible. I did want him to know how to use a computer properly and (if you have small children, you know this) this came super easy to him from the start. He did have a computer class for 45 minutes once a week at the local Catholic school he attended, but we didn’t think that was enough. In addition, there were so many wonderful PC programs out there (this is pre-everyone is on the internet all the time)…so I started researching and I found a company called Knowledge Adventures. We bought every PC game available from them. My son loved it and as he did his homework or chores he earned time on the computer.

Flashforward seven years later and my little ones are where Guille was back then. Since we continue to value knowledge of technology (especially when it is educational technology), I try to incorporate it to our homeschool as often as possible. So when I saw an opportunity to review an educational program, I jumped at the idea! MathBlaster and JumpStart are the two softwares I signed up to review, and guess who makes them? Knowledge Adventures! Yep the same company that made the ones that my older son played with in early elementary school. J

Both my six and four year olds were registered with both online programs. Interesting how their natural inclination turned out to be regarding the softwares. My “Math Whiz” six year old son, choose to play MathBlaster most and JumpStart was my sweet little scoail butterfly four year old’s choice. Both programs involved each child creating an Avatar of themselves to play the games. The avatar (or cartooned version of your child ) play the games as the progress through levels. So they are online role playing games but educational in nature! They are truly a great fit for our homeschooling family! Though I bet that if my kids were in a traditional school, and I found these great programs – we would also be signed up. iexplore 2011 04 05 15 12 44 18 GIVEAWAY: MathBlaster 3D Online World of Learning by Knowledge Adventure

In MathBlaster, my son was part of an “academy” that had training missions. I was able to select the math I wanted him to practice, Addition with Sums up to 10, for example and he played games and when confronted with “bad guys” as he calls them (really there is no violence, trust me) he needed to add numbers up to “destroy or scare” these villans away. It really is a gentle game that gives my six year old a feeling that he is “cool” like his older brother because he is also playing an action game. Mind you, he is doing Math the whole time! What skills is he picking up? Quick Math computation…something very basic but extremely valuable!

I must tell you that these games allow for interaction with others who are online playing these very same games. As they walk around they can “chat” with these kids. Normally, I would not like this but the people at Knowledge Adventure were thinking of moms like me and they can only “chat” with preselected phrases, so in other words no free type what you want sessions Yet they are getting introduced to this modern concept with my guidance which gives me an opportunity to teach online etiquette with them. Another aspect of these two games that I love is that the kids are getting, what I call “keyboard and mouse friendly” {learning where the keys are and how to move around with the mouse} while they play and learn. It really is a fun and win-win situation for parents.

MathBlaster has been incorporated into our daily class routine for the kids. They get a 30 minute opportunity to play on the computer and at the same time, this mom is thrilled that they are reviewing important basic math skills. Speaking of this, they also have subtraction, multiplication, and division. My 13 year old has gotten on there a couple of times and done the latter two to just keep these skills fresh and become quick at computing them – something needed in high level math. J

We will continue to work with both online games as my kids really enjoy them {makes them think they are only playing arcade games}. Once you are at their website, you have limited access to the game for free but to gain complete access you will have to purchase membership {which gives you access to JumpStart, btw} It does allow for up to six children to play and prices range from $7.99 per month up to $149.99 for a lifetime membership. OR you can enter our giveaway!

I’m so excited to be able to offer this to you, our 3 Boys and a Dog readers! YES!!! One lucky winner will get a FREE six month membership to their site. That is a $47.94 value for free to one lucky reader! Here’s what you need to do to enter:

REQUIRED COMMENT: Visit the MathBlaster website or the Parent Blog for MathBlaster, look around, then come back and tell me something you liked, want, or learned.”

BONUS #1: Follow @momof3boys3702 on Twitter and RT this contest. The easiest way to retweet is to simply click the green ReTweet on the top right of this post. YOU MAY TWEET ONCE DAILY

BONUS #2: Like MathBlaster, JumpStart, and 3 Boys and a Dog on FaceBook then share this post by clicking the FaceBook share button at the bottom of this post.

Other bonus entries:

#1. Spread the word about this review by: email, forums, blogging, Digg, or putting the link in a meme. (one entry per thing done)

#2. Follow my blog.

#3. Subscribe to my RSS feed.

#4. Put my button on your blog.

#5. Leave a comment on any other post (excluding giveaways!) Be sure to leave a comment here saying which post.

#6 – Vote for me at Picket Fence by clicking the button on my sidebar. Be sure to leave a comment saying you did! YOU MAY VOTE ONCE DAILY!

CONTEST ENDS: at Midnight CST on May 6^th, 2011

OPEN TO: US Only

“Disclosure: I was provided with a membership good for Math Blaster and Knowledge Adventure at no cost by Knowledge Adventure in order to test the products’ abilities and give my own personal opinions on it. The opinions I have given are mine and may differ from others but were not influenced by the company or the free product provided.”