*I was not financially compensated for this post. I received an online subscription for review purposes. The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.*
About a week before the baby was due, I was accepted to write a review of the Reading Kingdom online reading and writing program. I thought for sure that this was the perfect solution to balancing a new baby and preventing the dreaded summer learning “slide” at the same time. Unfortunately, I didn’t take into consideration having a entire week delayed due to my computer hard drive crashing nor did I think getting these kids to sit down at the computer just four times per week was going to be such a challenge.
I don’t normally do this but I have to admit that I kind of flunked at this review. I even asked for an extension to give both kids a little more time with the program, however even bribes made it difficult to get them on (and focused). That is one of the problems with depending on children to be your review guinea pigs. With that being said, I want to give you a really honest review based on the limited time that we have had with the program.
As you know, Eph has both ADHD and a diagnosed unspecified language disorder (that is a fancy was of saying, “we think he has dyslexia but we aren’t going to give him an official diagnosis.) Those two issues combined make our reading time a HUGE struggle. Even though he reads slightly above grade level for his age, he is limited in his ability to comprehend and regurgitate the information. He can read the “words” of almost any book that is placed in front of him but he doesn’t understand what he has read. That is why I was very excited about trying out the Reading Kingdom program.
Reading Kingdom is an online reading and writing program geared for children from preschool through age 10. At the beginning of the program, each child is evaluated and then placed into the appropriate level. The program then customizes itself based on your child’s level. That means it will be great for both the struggling or accelerated reader.
Over the past several weeks, Eph has been completing the skills assessments. He does not seem to be having any difficulties with the assessments other than the fact that he is not very familiar with the keyboard. His biggest problem is that he does not listen to the complete instruction before just impulsively starting to type. The assessments are paced at 8 activities and when I have him work for 15 minutes at a time, he can complete about 3 of them at a time. Currently he is in “Letter Land” and has not quite made it to the actual Reading & Writing part of the program.
Now, Lu and I had a bit more difficulty. There are many kids at age 4 who have mastered a mouse and keyboard. Since the program encourages parents to allow the child to work independently, Lu was really frustrated. She has never really used the computer at all so she was missing every answer and quickly became disinterested. I am certain that if I could help her become more familiar with the computer, she would really like the Reading Kingdom activities. When I was sitting with her, she really liked the images and sounds rewarded her with each correct answer. She would dance in her seat and giggle. I just need to figure out some techniques for helping her become more familiar with the actual computer skills.
As a parent, I really like that the program adjusts and customizes itself to each child. As I watched Eph work, I could see that the program would repeat or review errors that he had made while at the same time not repeating parts that were correct. I also like how you can click on each child’s name and get a complete report for each reader. Plus their website and blog offer extensive information and support. I was also impressed with the information on got from Reading Kingdom’s representative about how other parents with kids with dyslexia have used the program.
I wish that we would have had more time to really invest into the program before writing this review. However, even with the limitations, I am very impressed with how the program works and I am certain that I will see improvement with both children as they continue to use Reading Kingdom over the next year. I highly encourage you to consider signing your child up for Reading Kingdom’s wonderful online program.
If you would like to learn more about Reading Kingdom, you can visit their website, Facebook and Twitter pages.
I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.
I wish they would’ve had this for my son. he had a language delay and we didn’t have the internet back then. it would’ve helped a lot. I think it sounds like an amazing program.