Has anyone used redbird math as an afterschooling activity? I'm wondering how well it would work as a 15-20 minute activity maybe 3 days a week. I've been teaching/making up math problems for him to do after school and the structure of a program would probably be a good idea.

I would be getting the independent study version, so I'm also curious how good the teaching is in the program. I'll also be available to help him though if he gets stuck on something. Also, are the reports meaningful? I want to be able to monitor his progress without having to stand over his shoulder all the time.

Thank you Portia, I saw that thread, which is what made me aware of the program. I found a review of the program on youtube which mentions that sessions are 20 minutes long, so I think it could work. I wish they offered a trial period though.

I'm also looking at beast academy, it looks really challenging.

I wish I had the option to home school just for math. The school meets my kid's needs for the most part in other subjects, but the math curriculum is too slow.

My DS8 has done EPGY and Beast Academy. He's absolutely 100% obsessed with Beast. He thinks the comics are funny and the work is challenging to him, which he enjoys.

EPGY is fine but he finds it to be way too easy most days. I've been surprised by how repetitious it is and I've been disappointed by that. We will probably not continue our subscription because of this.

Just my two cents.

Thank NikiHarp. My son may do a number sense competition next year and just from looking at the placement test it looks like beast academy might help to prepare him for that a little bit.

I decided to try redbird mathematics for my son. I signed him up on Sunday and received my payment confirmation which also stated that I should receive an email with student login information. That email never came, so I started a chat on their website to figure out why. They told me that there was an error and the email was never sent, so they would resend it. I got the email, logged in and realized that it was the wrong level (grade 3, not grade 4). This was probably my error because my son is in third grade, but is almost finished with third and needs to start at 4th. So, I requested a level change and was told that the request would be submitted and I would be told when the change had occurred. It's now Wednesday and it's still the wrong level so I contacted them again and they had no record of my original request, so it is supposedly being sent again. I'm frustrated with them, it shouldn't be so difficult to get the level changed.

I just purchased a three month subscription to EPGY Redbird Math program. Its really low level and too repetitive. I'm very disappointed.

Yes, I agree. My child has been working on the fourth grade level for a little while now, and has yet to get to material that was not covered in his third grade class. There is a big section on place value, multi digit addition and subtraction, and 1 digit by 1 digit multiplication. That is all third grade level math. I've been working through it a bit to try and get him to a point where there is something for him to learn.

There is way too much repetition for a program that is supposed to be for gifted students. If there was an option to skip through sections or change the amount of problems asked, it would be much better too. I also have already found one error and reported it.

My son is also working on 4th grade level. It is aligned with Common Core so you get the typical fuzzy questions. It's the best example of why Common Core is such a bad set of standards for gifted kids. On the one hand you've got confusing multi step questions that really force the child to slow down and think through the problem. But the math, (single digit multiplication in 4th grade, seriously?) is so low level, it's a joke. Common Core math pulls our students down.

My son just did the two digit by two digit multiplication lessons and it teaches a few ways to do it, but does not appear to teach the standard algorithm, which he already knows how to do and prefers. It annoys him and me. I'm ok with teaching the other methods (but with less repetition), but the standard algorithm should still be taught as it is the most efficient way to solve those kinds of problems. He is on the last multiplication section according to the outline and it hasn't been taught.

I'm thinking about doing all the division stuff for him so that he can get to the lessons on fractions.

I know this thread is a few months old, but I was wondering if anyone else has new feedback. I was thinking of buying this so my son could do it at school while his class was doing the regular math, but from what I read so far it sounds like it won't work.

Appleton, see if u can ask the EPGY staff to help u change to setting to skip the division. I have enrolled my son to try the program, (he is only 3.5 yrs old at that time), and he finish the old EPGY maths 2nd grade easily, and he tried the third grade redbird. The multiplication and area is too repetitive. And for his age, he can't understand the last section of "practical problem solving" questions, i end up help him to finish it. After doing that part, i stopped touching the Redbird anymore. (Glad that we only enroll for 1 time 3 months period, and the old EPGY maths works well for him)

My son did EPGY Math during class for a bit more than a year and liked it. Once we tried their Geometry though we had numerous problems and realized that technical support and the instructor support was very poor.

We then switched to AoPS and my son has loved the challenge. He has too advanced for their Beast Academy but I have heard and can only imagine that it is very good.

My son has completed several AoPS courses and starts two more in a few weeks. He highly recommends AoPS to anyone that wants to become very good at math.

ruazkaz, for AoPS, what is the lowest math level to start with? and will it be many words? I am looking for a homeschool program for my DS4 and would like to start him in 3rd or 4th grade maths. Will he be too young for it? Thanks a lot!

DS did EPGY for the earlier grades so we do not have any experience with Beast Academy, only AOPS. I just looked on the AOPS website and Beast Academy is for 3rd/4th graders and they have diagnostic tests your son can take to see if he is ready.

AoPS are the ones behind Beast Academy so I would think it would be excellent.

We have no experience of EPGY or Redbird (inferring that Redbird new EPGY) but I have seen numerous reports leaving me with the impression. that the new EPGY no longer allows testing out of mastered sections or advancing once current material is mastered without enormous amounts of repetition.

Any approach that doesn't allow students to advance once mastery of current material has been demonstrated is not just pedagogically wrong-headed it is damaging to many gifted kids.

I would therefore not touch EPGY/Redbird with a barge pole for a kid gifted with Maths.

For a kid struggling with Maths, yes, because the repetitious nature of it may help with automaticity but I wouldn't force a kid that understands already to do drills ad nauseam for the sake of it like EPGY appears to.