This article describes the use of "4MALITY", a web-based mathematics tutoring system, with 125 Massachusetts fourth graders and their teachers in three rural school districts during the 2007-2008 school year. At the outset, "4MALITY" was envisioned as a stand-alone web based system providing tutorial support to individual students as they prepared for a statewide math achievement exam. What evolved was a broader set of strategies for teaching math problem solving using a combination of computer-based activities, learning games, and students' creative writing of math problems. These interventions proved successful, with 70%of students improving their performance from pre-test to post-test. Based on this study, we suggest that effective alternatives to whole class math instruction are available through structured practice and creative exploration of math problem solving using a creative blend of online and in-person learning activities. (Contains 3 tables and 4 figures.)