Review ~ Reading Kingdom

 Reading Kingdom is an online program designed for kids ages 4-10 and also offers help for struggling readers.  We were blessed to be able to use this program with 3 kids so I chose my 7, 8, and 10 year olds.

There is nothing to download, it is a subscription to the Reading Kingdom website and everything is done online. You must have internet to use it at home, but you can use it anywhere since you can log in anywhere. We can use it at the library, grandmas house, etc. I can even make them do a little school on vacation!

Dr. Marion Blank developed the Reading Kingdom program using what she calls the "6 SIM" 6 Skill Integrated Method which includes sequencing, writing, sounds, meaning, grammar, and comprehension. Read about why this method works here.



Each student starts out with a skills survey to determine the level they should start at based on what they already know. All 3 of mine started out in Letter Land because they had weak keyboarding skills, but they advanced pretty quickly once they got better at it. You can choose to use a keyboard on the screen or the physical keyboard. They tried both ways and preferred the actual keyboard.

If using this program daily a child can finish it in 12-15 months. More advanced users can complete it much sooner. Each lesson lasts an average of 15 minutes, so it is possible to do more than one if a day is missed. I had no problems getting the kids to use it every day, in fact most mornings there was a fight going on about who got to go first!  

I like that the program adapts itself for each student, so they are less likely to become bored by repeating things over and over again. I also love that I get emails with progress reports for each child weekly, so I can let them use the program by themselves and still keep up with what they have been learning. This frees me up to give attention to the million other things going on here daily.

In addition to reading the kids kept telling me that they were learning how to spell better as well. I also noticed that when working with sentences they were required to use a capitol letter at the beginning and punctuation at the end. YES! I feel like I repeat myself daily on that one, perhaps once we start full time school again next week they will be better at that when writing as well!

Below are screenshots from the program, there are many levels so your child may never encounter these particular ones.

 

I asked each of the kids what they liked about Reading Kingdom and if they enjoyed using it. These are their comments.....

Skye 7 ~ Its really fun! Even when you get questions wrong its ok. I want to use it every day!

River 8 ~ I like using it because it teaches me to spell and read better, the lessons aren't too long, and its not too hard.

Braeden 10 ~ I like everything about it, I have learned a lot. Especially the spelling, I want to spell better. Im glad we got this!

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You can try Reading Kingdom for FREE for 30 days to see if it would be a good fit for your family. You will be asked for credit card information but you will not be charged unless you decide to subscribe after the 30 days are up. They do this to make sure you are a real person. If you decide to subscribe the charge is $19.99 per month or $199.99 per year. Additional students on your account receive a 50% discount ($(.99 per month or $99.99 per year) and you can cancel at any time.

If this sounds like a program that would benefit your child but it is simply too expensive they do offer a scholarship program. Read about that program here.