Online Math that Motivates {GPALOVEMATH Review}

Our kids are motivated by rewards. Each child is motivated by different rewards, though, and although they respond well to general rewards like stars, stickers, surprises, etc. the idea of choosing rewards that would be personal and specific to them really got me excited! GPA LEARN offers a great rewards based system to motivate children! They receive rewards that are just right for them to encourage them to love learning!

For our GPALOVEMATH review, we received a one-year membership for GPALOVEMATH. GPALOVEMATH is an online Math program for children in grades K-5 that offers a supplemental learning experience guided by animated learning coaches. Each grade level has its own learning coach so your child works with the same coach throughout the grade level. The program is done completely online, so there are no downloads and can be used anywhere you can access the internet including on iOS and Android devices. We, personally, have only been using it on our computers, which are both Windows based, using the Google Chrome browser on both.

Each child has their own log in information, so no matter where you are, you can access their account. Plus, you don’t have to worry about being logged into one account and accidentally having one child practicing under another child’s account. I find this important because both of our older children (ages 8 and 7) are working at the 2nd Grade level, so simply seeing the grade level wouldn’t be an indication of which account they’re on! Having them log in separately under their own account is an advantage to easily avoid this!
From their account, our children can access their lessons (under Learn), communicate with me or others (under Engage), and see rewards they have already earned in their Backpack as well as rewards they could earn. They can also view their Dashboard which shows them an overview such as lessons completed, current progress, week in focus, etc. Our children haven’t really used the Engage portion because they are still early readers. I love, though, that they can give a “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” to indicate how they feel about certain things, though, like a reward they’ve earned!

I also have a parent account where I can access all of my children’s accounts. The Dashboard is set up similarly, and I have all the same tabs. From my account I can see all of their progress, see problems they’ve missed so I can go over the problems with them, add rewards to their lists, see what reward is coming next, rearrange rewards orders, see if they gave me a “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” on rewards I’ve chosen, see our projected ending date if we continue at our current pace, etc. It’s very thorough! I can also test drive the lessons before they do them, which is a great feature if you want to preview each lesson.

The GPALOVEMATH 2nd Grade lessons were led by Adirehs. She would walk the kids through each lesson in a learning phase. Then they would have a chance to take a practice quiz to review what they had learned. If they showed readiness they would then proceed to the actual quiz which would be graded. Following the actual quiz there is a link to click to show problems missed. Generally, I would go over the missed problems immediately following rather than waiting to see them in my dashboard because I feel it is important to go over it right away rather than risk their forgetting why they may have missed the question. Sometimes it’s a simple comprehension mistake, so it’s helpful to know right away! We do at least 3-4 lessons per week.
Once in a while the kids would grumble that after each lesson there is a thorough explanation on how to properly take the quiz. It would remind them to evaluate, think carefully, etc. I reminded them they could skip this if they already know, but it’s a great reminder rather than just rushing through the problems!
I definitely love the rewards based system in GPALOVEMATH, but mostly that I can choose the rewards and make it personal. Our oldest son is motivated by things like going out for ice cream whereas our daughter is motivated by “Mommy and me” time, and I can customize the rewards to be perfect for them! I really found this kept them excited because they wanted to learn and try their best so they could earn the special rewards!

The rewards are separated into different categories, so it is easy to choose. I, personally, choose to mix rewards that may be monetary (like going out for a treat) and those that aren’t and then arrange them in a way that they are spread out evenly so we aren’t going out for a treat each time. The kids are allowed to redeem their reward at any time, so they don’t have to use it right away, but I still like to space them out so there is a nice balance!
We have definitely been thrilled with GPALOVEMATH and feel it has been a great addition to our homeschool Math curriculum! I like the teaching style that it offers both how the lessons are taught and the rewards based system, and our kids have really enjoyed it and have been doing well with the lessons. It always makes me feel good when they enjoy learning!
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Many members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew had the chance to review GPALOVEMATH from GPA LEARN. See what they thought by clicking on the banner below!