Sunday, August 18, 2013

Reading Kingdom, an online reading support program

Reading Kingdom logo photo readingkingdomlogo_zps9012735a.jpgWe received a subscription to Reading Kingdom to review and share our thoughts with our readers. We previously reviewed Reading Kingdom with the Schoolhouse Review Crew, so we were familiar with the program going in. Nathan was eager to start the program and began using the program with very little encouragement


Reading Kingdom is a subscription based program retailing for $19.99 after your first 30 days free trial. You can also purchase an annual subscription for $199.99 a year for the first child and $9.99 a month for each additional child.The program is designed for children between the ages of 4 and 10. Nathan is nearly 8 and familiar with the program.  The program teaches basic reading and writing/ spelling skills needed to be successful readers. 
While Nathan isn't the strongest reader he is a willing student and will try something new if it means he can improve his skills. He is also willing to try something again after a break. Since we had not used Reading Kingdom lately he asked me to give it a try again. Of course we had a computer system crash during our review period, but thankfully since the program is online it didn't effect using the program. 
We did find a couple of minor issues related to successfully using the program. Our computers aren't new machines (actually most of the machines in this house are at least 7 years old), older machines don't always respond as fast on webpages as newer machines. We found that even with a high speed internet connection, we still experiences some delay in the response to answers with the activities; that delay caused some frustration for Nathan as he was always waiting for the next question or waiting for his answer to appear on the screen. (I am working on fixing some of the issues on our end). 
The other thing we found frustrating was the story books seems slow to respond and they seemed to have a lot of graphic effects that we had to wait for to move on. 
Both Nathan and Mommy really wanted this program to be a huge success and I think it can be as we improve our computer situation. We are both enjoying the time on the computer and the colorful images that go along with the program. Nathan is nearly 8 years old and reading below his marked 3rd grade level, however is comprehension level is far beyond 3rd grade at nearly a 6th grade level, so we are working toward improving his reading through computer games as well as focused reading time . We are also using flash card and sight words to improve success with the basics. Thankfully we found a free resource on Reading Kingdom  with their Super Sight Word list. Nathan also has a magnet for his activity scheduler featuring Reading Kingdom, he still insists on putting his Reading Kingdom magnet on his schedule and is determined that we will use the program at least 3 times a week. I am grateful for his determination and drive to improve his skills .
You can follow Reading Kingdom on Twitter, and even check out their Facebook page.
You can even read what other members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew thought of the program by clicking on the button below.

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