For 5 weeks my kids were blessed with the opportunity to review Reading Eggs and for 5 weeks they were totally HOOKED! My children are 4, 7, and 11....take a look at how our 5 weeks went!
Week 1
Before we began, I decided to give each of my children 1 hour of Reading Eggs everyday to finish as many lessons as they can. There are maps that contain several lessons and all lessons have to be completed before moving on to a new map. Through out the map completion, the kids earn little critter friends that pop out of eggs (great incentive for a completed number of lessons)
I love how Reading Eggs gives every registered child a placement test so they can begin at the right level. This feature is awesome, it prevents work that is too easy for the more advanced students or too hard for the "new learners".
You have to meet this little ant that becomes your child's teacher for majority of the lessons. He's a cleaver little ant and he knows just how to keep your child's attention, help him/her learn and will repeat a lesson without hesitation if the "light bulb" has not come on yet.
OK....this was a great week! everyone has learned something new, read books and created their own "Egg Avatar" and my, my,my are they adorable! Now my kids are really serious about finishing lessons so they can earn "Golden Eggs"....these are like dollars and your child can use them to buy items such as furniture for their avatar's house, hat styles, new egg shell styles and much more! This is truly awesome!
Week 2
So...remember we tried that 1 hour for everyone deal? Well this week we had to add more time. Here's why: While everyone wanted to complete lessons, they also wanted time to
play after the lessons. My 4 & 7 year old loved the playroom where they could paint, listen to nursery rhymes, cook some soup and create a book. While my 11 year old wanted to visit the library, the mall and the stadium (so i added another hour)...Yeah there are 2 separate programs on Reading Eggs. One is "Reading Eggs" which is for ages 3-8 and the other is "Reading Express" which is for children up to 12. My 11 year old practices on the "Reading Express". There aren't lessons on that one, but there are lots of things to do. Your child can read books (long one's) in almost any subject area, they can practice spelling and much more. So what I did was allow my 11 year old to read a book of his choice and he had to spend 15 minutes in the other areas in "Reading Express" before he has play time with his human-looking cartoonish avatar...which he created by choosing the color of the skin, eyes, hair and the sex. He also dressed him the way he wished! This program has really helped my 11 year old with spelling already...Go Reading Express Go!
Week 3
Now we're rollin! Reading Eggs and Reading Express is officially a part of our homeschool curriculum!!!!!! My 7 year old daughter has finished 15 lessons and has over 300 golden eggs today and she is excited! She has become very comfortable with the program and is "flying" through the lessons. I almost want to think that the program started her out at a level that was too easy for her, but I'm a firm believer in review work, so it's OK. She has decided to spend all of her golden eggs on a jacuzzi and a flat screen T.V. for her house and some new styles for her avatar. My youngest son (4 years old) has hit a bump in the road and he is really frustrated. Before he can move on to the next map he has to complete the last part of his current lesson. It's called "Golden Goose" and there is a gold goose with a word on it. Beneath the gold goose, there are 3 eggs with a different word on each egg, but one of the words match the word that's on the gold goose. There is a timer on the lesson and that is what's driving my poor baby up the wall. He has completed the lesson correctly about 4 times already, but since he took his time, the program stated that he took too long, so I understand his frustration. He keeps saying, "Mom I've got them all right". It's kind of frustrating for me also because I think that "any" child that is learning to read not be forced to "hurry" through a lesson and when the answers are right they should not be penalized by time. So far that's the only thing I dislike about the program. let's keep it rolling.
Week 4
My oldest (11 years) is starting to get bored with Reading Express and has asked if he could create an egg avatar on Reading Eggs...so I let him. The program is "super easy" for him but he really likes it because he feels he receives more incentives on Reading Eggs than Reading Express. He still plays the games on Reading Express, but prefers to spend most of his 2 hours on Reading Eggs. My 4 year old is still trying to get pass the "Golden Goose" lesson and I'm almost fed up with it....so I took matters into my own hands and completed the lesson for him because he is able to recognize the words, its was just too confusing for him. I'm so very proud of my daughter! She has entered a book she wrote on the Reading Eggs program into the weekly contest! It was a very funny story and although her book was not chosen as the winner she was still very proud of herself. She felt like a publisher, going around telling everyone, "I'm an author of a book"....the cutest thing ever.
Week 5
My kids are pretty sad about this being the last week of Reading Eggs and so am I. My children at least the 7 & 4 year old) have learned so much! My youngest knows all of his sounds and feels more comfortable blending sounds to make a word (all smiles). My daughter's vocabulary & spelling has increased. Any my 11 year old spelling & vocabulary has increased just a tiny bit, this program was more of a refresher for him.
Overall, I love the Reading Eggs Program. I recommend this program to all homeschoolers that have children in the range from 3-8 that need a supplemental curriculum. This program is very affordable. I definitely plan on investing in the Reading Egg's program. It has even help me! I have learned that learning through play is the best way! I love Reading Eggs!
I am participating in a sponsored campaign hosted by The Homeschool Lounge Review Team. I
received a 5 week membership to Reading
Eggs to facilitate this review. All opinions stated are my own.
