Smartick~ A Math Program They Will Ask to Do {Product Review}

Math is one subject that I NEVER have to cajole my youngest son to do. He will EAGERLY grab his books when it's time for math. Yeah, he's a bit weird. LOL. He loves combining his regular curriculum with online math resources. When we had the chance to review a subscription of Smartick, he was ready and willing to get started! Today I'm going to share how our review of the online math program went--and why we will continue to use it throughout the rest of our subscription period!

About the Product

Smartick is an online math resource that instructs and reinforces mathematic principles, logic, and reasoning through interactive and engaging games and activities. The program is designed to address your child's individual needs--looking beyond their age and grade. The program adapts to your child's learning style and they will improve their skills in just 15 minutes a
day. The program is ideal for children ages 4-14. The results are guaranteed!

Smartick is designed to complement any school math curriculum and is aligned with common core standards and the NCTM. The program is adaptive and will adjust with the student--advancing them if they are mastering the skills, or help them fill in any gaps in their knowledge. The program works with any internet access and is designed to work on tablets as well.

There is also a section of the program that contains logic and reasoning games that are available to the child. They can earn extra rewards by completing any of these.

We were given a 6-month subscription to the program and I am using it with my youngest son, age 9.

Our Thoughts on the Program

The program begins with having your child taking an assessment. The assessment offers a wide range of math problems to evaluate your child’s current skills. Some of them will be easy, and others will be brand new. There is always the option to click the “I don’t know this” link which will allow your child to skip a problem. The assessment is fairly long and will require more than one log-in to complete it. Once it is done, the program will create math course work which should match or be close to the level of your student. As they work through it, they may find some of it to be very easy. The program was designed to offer some reviews to encourage your child in their efforts.

Some assessment results

The assessment took us about three sessions to complete. Since the assessment, my son has been working through the program for a complete session each attempt. It takes him 15-30 minutes any given day to complete the work. Some of it is review. In fact, the first several sessions didn’t really have anything totally new, but the material was an excellent review. There were a few things that we had lightly touched in our studies which he was able to spend much more time going over for mastery. The new material is presented in video form. Once they watch and interact with the video, they are given practice problems to apply their new learning. Some times there will be back to back learning sessions during the week.

Throughout the use of the program, the student can earn “ticks”. They receive these as they complete their practice problems. There is the opportunity to earn extra ticks by working through a session faster than normal or by going back and fixing any incorrect problems. There are bonus points awarded if the child gets 20 or 30 problems correct in a row. All the ticks they earn can be traded in for things to dress up their avatar or avatars home. This allows for fun customization for each student! At the end of each session they can explore the Smartick world and use their ticks to do things. At any time the parent can see the running total of how many ticks their child has received or earned in a session.

As a parent, you will be able to allow your child to work through it independently. The program sends you daily notifications for any time they spent in their session. It will tell you how they did overall, and then how they did in each area covered that day. You can adjust your parent page in regards to how often you expect your child to work through Smartick (recommendation is 15 minutes a day 5 days a week) and how often you want a report.

Additionally, you can get even more in-depth information by looking at their work through your parent hub. I can see how much of each math category he’s finished as well as how he’s doing overall. If I wanted to, I could send him a message about earning rewards I've designed or just messages of encouragement.

Some of the emailed results I've received for his work...

The one thing that I haven’t found out yet is how it determines what grade level they would be. You are asked to put in their birth date, so it might base the assessment questions on what grade level they should be at and then adjust from there. I feel like ours was a very good assessment, even though he’s doing quite a lot of review problems like multiplication and division. He always gives me a “look” when it is teaching a new lesson that he did last year and knows by heart. I would imagine that if you found it did this a lot, you could contact the company and have them make an adjustment. I am loathed to do that right now because I feel like what he’s doing is a great balance of review of new and he’s able to strive for mastery with the program.

Here are some photos of the work he's done...

Do I think it’s a complete program? Not for us. Mostly because it isn’t teaching new things regularly. And is a LOT of supplemental reviews. This makes it ideal for use as a supplemental program to his usual math work.

Now, what are his thoughts?

Working Smartick just because he WANTS to

Well, let me put it like this. We recently went to Jekyll Island for a trip. While we were there he ASKED me to use the Kindle. At first, I said no, but then he said, “But Mommy, I want to do Smartick! I’m asking you if I can play some math!” How can I say no to that? He really enjoys the program and gleefully lets me know when he’s rocked 20 or 30 in a row and maximizes his tick count for a session.
We will definitely continue to use this program as a supplemental tool. I love that it works excellently on my Kindle, as he prefers to use it that way. My Kindle Fire won’t let me add the Smartick app, but we just use it from the internet and it works great. I will also mention that he's starting to explore more of the Smartick Brain central which contains logic and reasoning games. He currently likes playing a version of Simon--the blinking light game where you tap the lights in the pattern they display. I used to have a handheld version of that game when I was younger. LOL.

We absolutely recommend Smartick to anyone wanting a fun online math resource that not only reviews but teaches math principles and encourages mastery.

Are you interested in learning more? 

CLICK HERE for a chance to save 25% on your first subscription!

Want to Know More?

We've been reviewing the online math program from Smartick and have shared how much we love it. I encourage you to visit other crew members to see how their students worked through the program!

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