Elephant Learning Math Academy is an online program designed to help children from counting through Algebra. This review dives into our family’s 12-month experience with this program, used by children aged 4, 5, and 11, to provide a detailed perspective for parents considering this math resource. Accessible both online and via a dedicated app, Elephant Learning promises an engaging and effective approach to mathematics education.
Understanding Elephant Learning: Program Overview
The Elephant Learning platform maintains a consistent interface for all users, simplifying navigation across different age groups. Upon logging in, each child selects their profile and a personalized avatar to begin their math journey. Within the learning environment, a cartoon character is chosen for each daily session, acting as a visual aid and problem-solving companion throughout their coursework. Elephant Learning recommends a minimum of 20 minutes per session to maximize learning effectiveness. It’s worth noting that while characters are prevalent in early math lessons, their role diminishes as students advance into Algebra, becoming less central to equation solving.
As children progress through the Elephant Learning curriculum, their performance—measured by correct and incorrect answers—contributes to their “Elephant Age.” This unique metric, displayed on the user dashboard, is accompanied by charts and comprehensive breakdowns of their learning progress. Consistent progress leads to an increase in their Elephant Age, reflecting improved mathematical understanding. Conversely, if a child encounters difficulties, their Elephant Age may remain stable, prompting focused learning and review. The speed at which the Elephant Age increases is directly linked to the pace of learning and mastery. Adding to the program’s resources, optional homework worksheets are available at the end of each session, providing supplementary practice and reinforcing learned concepts offline.
Our Homeschool Experience with Elephant Learning
In our homeschool setting, each of my children engaged with Elephant Learning daily for approximately 30 minutes, slightly extending the program’s recommended minimum. The system’s built-in timer provided a clear endpoint to each session, prompting them to conclude their work after the allotted time. For this review, our younger children primarily used the iPad app, while our eldest explored both the app and the website interfaces. Initially, all children showed curiosity towards the program. However, sustained engagement proved to be a challenge for different reasons across age groups.
One significant hurdle, particularly for our younger children, was the character design and interaction. While intended to be engaging, the characters’ “quirky behaviors” often became a distraction rather than a learning aid. For example, the characters Princess and Bam Bam sometimes added confusion to simple tasks like subtraction, where removing characters from the screen became perplexing, or addition, where managing the number of characters caused errors. Furthermore, the game-like lessons occasionally missed the mark in conveying mathematical concepts clearly. I observed instances where my younger children, struggling to grasp the lesson’s objective, resorted to simply playing with the interactive characters to fill their session time, rather than engaging with the intended math problems.
Clarity in lesson presentation was another area of concern across age groups. Despite the dashboard indicating topics like “addition with small numbers,” the connection between the on-screen activities and the underlying mathematical principles was not always evident to the children. While other educational programs effectively use game formats, they often incorporate explicit equations or audio explanations to reinforce learning. In contrast, Bam Bam and Princess frequently seemed unsure about the purpose of the tasks and how they related to math problems. Although the solved equation would appear briefly in small print after each problem, it often went unnoticed by the younger children, requiring adult intervention to highlight the connection – for instance, pointing out, “See, you just practiced 6 + 4 = 10.” Even the interactive elements, such as tapping and dragging virtual bananas, sometimes proved counterproductive. The characters’ exaggerated reactions, like wiggling and squirming, when manipulated, were more distracting and annoying than engaging.
Lesson clarity issues extended to our 11-year-old’s experience as well. Bear noted a lack of explicit instruction throughout most of his assignments. Upon reaching Algebra, he encountered a single screen presenting examples with minimal explanation before being expected to apply those concepts. Had he not already been familiar with Algebra, he felt this approach would have been significantly confusing. Despite completing the assigned tasks, Bear expressed that he didn’t feel like the program effectively taught him anything new. He found the graphics too juvenile for his age group and the absence of direct lessons or clear explanations disorienting.
“I don’t understand how I was supposed to memorize and immediately apply those few examples and paragraphs. I prefer the lesson and practice questions method when learning math. I might use this to play around with if I was my little brother’s age. I just like a different style of presentation for higher-level subjects like Algebra.” – Bear, 11 years old
Pros and Final Thoughts on Elephant Learning
Despite some drawbacks, Elephant Learning Math Academy does offer valuable features. I appreciated the program’s ability to set scheduled coursework durations, providing structure and routine for daily math practice. Furthermore, the system’s intelligent time tracking is commendable; it doesn’t penalize children for distractions or hesitations, focusing solely on active engagement time. This encouraged my children to focus and complete their tasks efficiently. The detailed dashboard, offering a comprehensive breakdown of learning progress and areas of focus, is another significant advantage for parents. The inclusion of parental tips to support children in advancing their “Elephant Age” further enhances its utility for homeschooling families. Lastly, the individual QR code login feature streamlines access across multiple devices simultaneously, a convenient and time-saving element, particularly in multi-child households.
However, based on our experience, Elephant Learning is better suited as a supplementary math game rather than a primary curriculum, especially for younger learners. While our eldest has outgrown the program, we plan to continue using the 12-month subscription with our younger children as a supplemental tool to reinforce our core math curriculum. For families with younger children seeking an engaging math supplement, Elephant Learning offers certain benefits, but careful consideration of its limitations, especially regarding lesson clarity and character distractions, is advisable.
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Happy Homeschooling!
