Reading Kingdom is an online reading program that utilizes games to teach children to read. They focus on sequencing, motor skills, sounds, meaning, grammar, and comprehension. By using this program, the company states that children can learn to read and write up to a third grade level. The website states that this program is directed towards 4-10 year olds.
We were given a one year subscription to the program for this review.
How We Used It:
We used Reading Kingdom at the start of last year and it didn't work for us. Josie had just started to figure out how to put sounds together to make words and wasn't reading at all yet. She had also never used a computer before which made it difficult for her to maneuver the mouse to play the games.
Now that she is reading pretty well, I thought it would be good to give it another try.
The program starts out by having the child take a placement test. They ask that the parent not offer any assistance in taking the placement test so that they can accurately place them. The test was long, but Josie got through it much faster this year then last year. However, they still placed her at level one, which was way below her reading level. This level basically as the student find letters on the keyboard to match what's shown on the screen. I didn't feel like there was much reading instruction. She worked a couple days a week and never got past the first level. Josie just did not like this program.
My Opinion:
This program did not work well for us. Being placed at the lower level and then having the levels each be so long was frustrating for Josie. I would say level one was more of a typing style class then reading instruction. I do think that typing is important, especially for this generation, so she did get some good material from it.
I feel that I should also mention that we don't do a lot of computer games. While she likes a couple of apps, she just isn't really into online learning. I think this was a big factor in her not enjoying the program.
I did love that she could work on it independently. This was especially great since it is Summer and we don't do school everyday. It did also show me that I'd like to spend some time teaching her keyboarding skills.
I have friends that also tried this program and their kids really loved it so I recommend reading some other reviews on The Crew website before making your choice.
Product Details:
www.ReadingKingdom.com
Subscription: $19.99 per month
* free 30 day trial on the site as well
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