K5 Learning Review

K5 Learning is an online afterschool study program for kids in kindergarten through fifth grade.  It helps to build reading, math, and study skills.

K5 includes 4 reading and math programs

K5 Reading helps kids become strong readers and develop a love of reading. This award-winning program covers phonemic awareness, phonics, sight words, vocabulary and reading comprehension.

K5 Spelling is an advanced vocabulary program which improves language skills one word at a time. We feature adaptive instruction, automatic word generation, an optimized visual interface, and a 150,000+ word database. K5 Math is an award-winning program which builds self confidence and a deep understanding of math concepts. K5 Math covers numbers and operations, geometry, measurement (including time and money), algebraic thinking and data analysis. K5 Math Facts uses adaptive technology to help kids develop instant recall of basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts. Progress on each and every math fact is monitored until mastery is obtained.

K5 makes this program extremely user friendly.  There are video tutorials covering almost every aspect of using this program.  They also make themselves available by phone in case you cannot find the answer to your question.

This is a welcome video:

When you create your account, your child is given an assessment in math, spelling and reading to check their placement.  By doing this your child will be placed in the perfect set of review materials for their learning level.  I liked this, since I do have children that work below their technical "grade" level in some subjects.  So just to type in Fifth grade for Joey, does not mean that he works at a fifth grade level in math.  The assessment helps to keep the review fun and as unfrustrating as possible for the student.

After the assessment, you can see where your child stands and they can get started.  

The child can work in 4 different areas daily.  They can work in spelling, math, math facts and reading.  Each lesson is interactive.  So it provides a hands on approach for your child to learn.  The characters make the "boring" learning fun.

The child sees where they are improving and what areas they still need to work on.




So why does this work?  

For your child 

Develop study habits early

K5 kids learn to focus and work independently.

Progress at own pace

K5 allows kids to progress, unrestrained and unpressured.

For busy parents 

A ready-made program

K5 organizes, instructs, and quizzes your child and provides reports to you.

K5 kids work independently

We use simple interfaces, spoken instructions and bite sized lessons.

Total safety

No ads, no chat, & no external links.

Convenience

100% online. No downloads and nothing to install.

Award winning content 

Over 3,000 tutorials and activities

Our content is award-winning, research-based and aligned with national standards.

Personalized learning

We personalize our program to each child’s skills, not their age or grade level.

Full instruction, not just ‘review’

We provide full instruction, allowing kids to tackle topics they have not seen before.

Interactive learning

Kids don’t watch our lessons, they interact with them through our animated 'role model' characters.

Learning not “edutainment”

Our priority is developing reading, math and study skills.

Value 

4 programs, 1 price

K5 Reading, K5 Math, K5 Spelling and K5 Math Facts all included for one price.

What does this program cost?

One month:

• First Child: $25.00
• Additional Children: $15.00

Annual Subscription:

• First Child: $199
• Additional Children: $129

Our family enjoyed the trial.  We are going to try and continue using this program, but our only obstacle is the price.  With more than one child using the program, it will be a stretch on our budget.

Our experience was positive though.  I enjoyed that they could earn time in the game section.  They had to do the "work" to earn even more fun.  It was a great payoff for them.  The games also were educational as well and kept right in line with reinforcing skills.  The children can work independently and yet, I know that they cannot hide out in the game section the whole time they are logged on.  There is a time limit for their earned game time.  That is a huge positive in my book.

Joey did see some improvement in his math facts.  That was one of the sections that he liked the most.  Of course his favorite was the games, as usual.  

Lydia liked this program also.  She liked doing the math lessons and phonics items.

Why don't you check out this educational opportunity for yourself.  You can view sample lessons here.

Or why not try a free trial...They are offering a free 14-day trial that requires no credit card.  See if this is the right fit for your family also!!!


Check them out on Facebook.
Check out what other Crew Mates thought of K5Learning.



*****I received a 6 week trial from K5 Learning free of charge for the sole purpose of this review. I was not required to write a positive review. The views I have expressed are my own and are real experiences with my family. I am disclosing this is accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html>:"Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

FIAR--Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening

This week we rowed through Robert Frost....Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.  Joey even got in on the fun this time.  I wanted to introduce a bit of poetry with him.  And he seemed to enjoy it.

These are the books that we used this week.

Here are the girls covers along with their animal track match-up sheets.  

 They enjoyed looking at all the animals and tracks in the story.  They liked finding all the animals in the pictures.  It was cute to see an adult having fun in the snow.

 We made snow globes that kind of turned into lava lamps.

And then we read Snowballs by Lois Ehlert and they created their own snow people using all kinds of different materials.

 Here's two of the finished snow people.

Lydia and Joey created color poems.  I sat down with the both of them at one time to create these.  They each took turn, and they were not allowed to copy the sentences.  It was fun.

White by Joey

White looks like clouds

White sounds like crunching as I walk on snow.

White smells buttery and salty like popcorn.

White tastes sweet like coconut ice cream.

White feels soft like cotton candy on my thumb.

White is the color of fun.

White by Lydia

White looks like snow.

White sounds like pitter pat of snowflakes falling.

White smells flowery like a snap dragon.

White tastes cold like a snowflake on my tongue.

White feels soft like a snow bunny.

White is the color of winter.

Have a great week.  We won't be rowing next week, but the week after we will be.  Not sure what one yet.

Wordless Wednesday...nothing more needs to be said!!

Saw this on Facebook...had to repost it!!!

Reading Eggs--Where children become great readers!!!

Lydia has been a real challenge to learn her phonics and site words.  We have tried so many programs with very little success.  So when we first started Reading Eggs, I did not have my hopes set too high.  In fact, I was trying to explain how we were going to try this cool new program and she got an immediate attitude that she was not going to like it at all.  But I convinced her to give it a shot.



Reading Eggs is made for children from Ages 3 and up.  You start the program out by learning basic site words and letter sounds.  There is lots of repetitive matching, which is not a favorite activity of Lydia.  I was blown away how quickly she took to this program and how well she progressed.  You follow a map and watch Reggie movie along as you complete each level.  After you have completed so many levels, you begin to open up new games and fun activities in the Playground.

At the end of each map, the child is tested or quizzed on what they have learned so that they may "unlock" the next level.  The parent will receive an email when they are done showing the child's progress and what skills they have mastered and what still needs to be worked on.

This is an example of some of the questions that may be asked in a map.  The sentence is read to the child and they choose which option is the right sentence.






Each lesson has several activities that continually build upon previous lessons and teach new words, skills, and sounds.  This is a picture of Sam the Ant.  He is reading a sentence and the child would drag the words into proper order.  They are learning sentence structure!



Each level on Reading Eggs has a free printable worksheet that you have the option to use so that you may reinforce the skills with your children.  I pick and choose which of these we actually use for Lydia.  Caty has taken so well to the online portion of the program that we have added the worksheets to her day also to help reinforce what she is doing online.

They now have opened up 100 lessons on Reading Eggs to help children who are learning to read.

There are book packages that you may purchase to go along with each level.  These include print copies of the books that the children are reading in each lesson.  As well as posters, stickers, activity books, flashcards, and all the extras for this reading program.  You can purchase each set separately for $65.00 for each set (there's 2), or as a megapack for $110.00.



Lydia has done so well with the program that we have already started Caty on the program. At 4, even with a speech delay, Caty is progressing well with this program.  I am very happy with our decision to go ahead and start her before she's officially in "school".  This program really does a wonderful job at exposing and teaching kids the essential skills for reading.

 It is a great deal of fun for the kids.  Both girls get very excited with the eggs that they earn and all the things that they can "purchase" in the little virtual world for their homes.  Caty was super excited when she finally earned her home.

We have not purchased any of the book packages, as they are our of our budget.  We have not found the need for the extra books yet.  I have found enough substitutes at the library to help out in that area.

Now since we have loved Reading Eggs so much, we have also signed the boys up for Reading Eggspress.  This new addition to Reading Eggs is a reading comprehension program for kids ages 6/7 and over, depending on their literary levels.  Our oldest is over this age level, but the whole idea of reading comprehension reinforcement is what drew me to this program.

When your child signs in, they are welcomed into their world.  It contains a game stadium, library, mall (for making purchases with their earned eggs), an apartment, and of course the Comprehension Gym.




When they enter the Comprehension Gym, they can either play a daily specialized activity (which you can see to the left in this picture) or they can enter their lesson right away.  The lessons are laid out pretty close to the way that Reading Eggs is laid out.  There are several levels to each lesson.  The child can choose a book that they would like to read and do their test on.  There is a wide selection of both fiction and non-fiction.

The child works their way through each level.  These include questions about vocabulary in the story, as well as use of reference materials such as dictionary and thesaurus.  Sometimes questions are asked about main idea, supporting details, and even parts of speech is covered.  I absolutely love!!! love!!!  love!!! the way that each lesson is laid out.

It is easy for each child to look back at material or the passages are provided to help them out when questions are asked.  I really like that they make it as frustration-free as possible.  And with Joey's unique frustration issues, it has made a huge difference in him wanting to complete his Reading Comprehension/English practice.  At the end of each lesson, there are games and they can also shop at the mall.  

All 4 of our kids like this program and we will be continuing this program after our trial is up.  In fact, we have already paid for accounts for some of the kids already.  I really consider this to be a valuable educational tool in our homeschool.  It is really allowing the kids to learn without it being "mom" talking all the time.  All the kids keep benefiting and I just keep recommending this program to all my friends that have younger kids.

The nice thing about this program though is it can be used by parents who aren't homeschooling.  The lessons are short in both Reading Eggs and Reading Eggspress, usually my kids drag them out longer than necessary.  I am going to estimate them to be about 15-20 minutes long at max.

So how do you try this wonderful program....they offer a free trial.  Visit Reading Eggs, and simply sign up.  No credit card is required for the trial offer.  After the trial is up, if you decide that this program is right for your family also, there are a few options.  You can choose the monthly plan, $9.95 per month, per child.  Or you can purchase a year long subscription.  You can watch, they have been some great offers lately.  Currently a one-year subscription is $75.00 for the first child, and then 50% off for each child added on the same purchase.  There is a 6-month subscription also available.  It is $49.50 for the first child, and then 50% off for each child added on the same purchase.

Check out what other Crew Mates thought of Reading Eggs.







*****I received a trail from Reading Eggs free of charge for the sole purpose of this review. I was not required to write a positive review. The views I have expressed are my own and are real experiences with my family. I am disclosing this is accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html>:"Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

All About Reading - Level 1

Reading is one of the most important skills we can teach our children or learn ourselves.  I am sure someone can argue with me about that statement, but I would argue back that if they would not have learned to read...could they have even known my statement.  In our house, I was being too much of a panicky about Lydia learning how to read.  It has been a slow process.

So I was pretty excited to get to try All About Reading Level 1.  This program is a completely laid out program for parents and children to learn their phonics and reading skills.  The program is multi-sensory program that is perfect for those special learners who learn through all their senses.  Each new concept taught is used right away and children feel successful as they see their continual progress.



Lydia really liked putting her stickers up at the end of each lesson.  She really felt a sense of accomplishment and could see her reward every time she opened the fridge.

This series lays it all out for the parents.  I could literally just read the script to work with Lydia.  My only real prep was making sure that I had her review and new sounds cards ready and the letters that we would be using that lesson handy.  I liked that part of the series.

The activity book that goes along, provides a wonderful reinforcement resource to go along with almost every lesson.  Lydia actually enjoyed doing these activities.  The one thing she did not enjoy was using the letters that came with the set.  We just found a substitute that worked well for her and used those for the same activities.  She actually progressed pretty quickly through lessons.  And she was so proud as she applied each skill learned and read the stories.  I felt so happy for her.



These are really cute and super easy stories.  I only wish they were published individually instead of in volumes.  Lydia had trouble holding the heavier book open while she was trying to read.  She is used to lighter books, so she got just a bit frustrated.  She did like using a bookmark though.

You as the parent and teacher can decide when you feel the child has mastered each lesson. The nice thing about this program, nothing is left out.  There are no gaps in reading skills being taught.  Each lesson builds on the next, just as the All About Spelling program works.

All 5 key components to reading are covered:

• Phonological Awareness
• Phonics and Decoding
• Fluency
• Vocabulary
• Comprehension

Two different packages can be purchased:

All About Reading Level 1:  $99.95


and the Deluxe Reading Interactive Kit  $48.95

Items can be purchased individually, including extra student consumable workbooks.
Plus......From the All About Reading Site:

Our Guarantee

You'll get our "Go Ahead and Use It" one-year guarantee. You have one full year to try out our programs. If you find that any of the curriculums do not meet your needs, simply return the materials at any time within one year of purchase for a full refund of your purchase price, no questions asked.

In addition, you'll get lifetime support. If you ever have a question, we're here to help!

This is really a great program for kids who are multi-sensory learners.  I highly recommend it!!

You can view examples at the following link.

If you have a little one that is not ready to actually begin reading, All About Reading also offers a
Pre-reading program, which we are going to try with our 4 year old.

Check out what other Crew Mates thought of All About Reading.

What we are up to this week....

So here's what we are up too....

Science--Starting all over with different curriculum (They are not liking SuperCharged Science right now.) But still keeping with the theme of motion.
Math--Lydia is working on Time in MUS Primer, it includes counting by 5s.  Joey is finishing up his Teaching Textbooks level and Brayden too.  Caty is working on numbers 0 -5, since she will us MUS also...starting her with 0 like they encourage.
Five in a Row--Robert Frost poem, Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening
State Geography--Vermont
World Travelers--We are going to actually start our project.  It will be a joint project for Joey and Lydia (I think.) and we will also talk about some of the festivals of Thailand.  And hopefully make a lotus flower float like they use during many of the festivals.
History--We will continue talking about the explorers of North America.  This week will be Christopher Columbus.

All the kids will work on their various Reading Eggs levels.  And Lydia will continue her Headsprout Phonics.

The local library is also holding an essay contest and I am going to have Joey and Lydia work on their entry for it.  It's about superheroes, so I figure Joey will have fun working on that.

Everyone have a great week!!!!