Over the last few weeks we’ve been trying out The Maths Factor, which is an online maths learning platform designed for children aged 4-12 years old, by Carol Vorderman. And I’d highly recommend it, as it cleverly combines short video tutorials with maths games and practise activities. It’s ideal for either homeschooling or for an extra boost for your children after school, to support their learning in school. It could also be used effectively as an intervention method for maths in schools. 

What did we like about it?

• Like a Game– Encouraging children to learn at home can be really challenging (as many of us can testify whilst we tried to home school our children over lockdown). What’s great about The Maths Factor is it’s just like a game, in fact, at my home we even refer to it as ‘the maths game’! This definitely helps children to want to use it and keep on using it, which is half the battle! Learning with young children, in my opinion, needs to be play based and Maths Factor really follows this philosophy. 

• Compliments School – It can be tricky when supporting your child’s learning at home to know what exactly they need to learn and how they are taught it in school. The methods that are used to teach maths now can differ with the way we were taught it ourselves at school. What’s great about Carol Vorderman’s The Maths Factor is it compliments your child’s learning at school.

• Bursting with Positivity– The best bit about The Maths Factor in my opinion, is Carol Vorderman! She’s a wonderful teacher. She is absolutely bursting with enthusiasm, positivity and a genuine love of maths. The kids couldn’t help but be motivated. I loved watching her telling my kids how well they were doing when getting questions correct and how fantastic their progress was. I also loved watching my children’s faces when they were being praised, lighting up every time she says ‘that was very clever‘ or ‘fantastic‘ and truly believing she was talking to them one on one! Positivity and praise is so important, children (and grown ups too!) need it to motivate them. 

• Short and Snappy– The activities, videos and quizzes are all snappy and short, keeping children’s interest. For most of the levels, the child clicks on the video tutorial and watches a very short video of Carol Vordeman explaining what they are learning, they then get to have a practise and a quiz. 

• Relevant– Maths can sometimes be seen as an abstract concept for kids and some children have difficulties in seeing its relevance to them. What’s lovely about The Maths Factor is it makes maths relevant. Carol Vorderman doesn’t just talk about numbers as numbers, she talks about it in terms of relevant objects to children-  for example, counting footballs, adding up sweets etc! The examples she used, really captured the interest of the children. 

Find out more about The Maths Factor on their website here.