With children in elementary school, middle school and my youngest entering pre-school this fall, finding something that worked for everyone was a bit of a challenge. We've tried iXL and ABC Mouse and I wasn't sold. iXL was great for enrichment and following up skills with repetition. However, it didn't move quickly enough, and the process for completing a level was daunting and often times lost the child's interest and resulted in careless mistakes. ABC Mouse on the other hand, I hated it from the beginning. We tried a year long subscription a few years ago, and I felt the website wasn't user friendly. While this may have changed, I can't imagine they have drastically changed their program enough to make me comfortable with my 2/3 year old using it.
With all that being said, I couldn't find one thing to work for everyone. For my Middle Schooler, we are using Read Theory. I really like this particular website, it's free, and has a very in depth scoring method, and allows you to see how your child is answering comprehension questions, and at what reading level the articles are written for. For reading, I've also found Newsela to be a fantastic way for children to learn about current events at a proper reading level. You can select an article of interest, and decide if you'd like to read that article at a 3, 5, 7 , 9 or a 12th grade reading level. It's also quite interesting to have your child read at varying levels to see the different ways authors write to inform their target audiences. My son began a foreign language in 6th grade, and will continue on with the foreign language this year. To keep him up on his Spanish, we used a website his teacher recommended, duolingo. For Math, this was the one area I struggled with finding the perfect resource. I found Khan Academy to be the best at allowing a child to refresh old skills, but still have the ability to learn new information.
For my rising 2nd grader, I really like the Complete Curriculum series. I enjoyed how the books are broken down into skills; Reading Skills, Spelling Skills, Math Skills, Language Arts and Writing. At the end of the book are a few tests that can be given to evaluate the child's progress, but also allows the parent to glimpse into their child's test taking skills a bit. This book at almost 800 pages long wasn't something I planned for my daughter to finish over the summer, but instead be used as enrichment throughout the year, on weekends, days off or days she doesn't have homework, but her brother does. I have been happy with this book thus far, and would definitely purchase the 3rd grade series for her next summer. However, with my son, I've used Summer Bridge Activities in summers past and was very happy with the series, and will likely revert back to this when my daughter enters 4th or 5th grade. I didn't find these books to be as fun as the Complete Curriculum series, so they are better geared towards older children. I'd also like to mention, for days when we are on the go, I have an app, XtraMath, that I use for Math Facts just to make sure she stays caught up on her skills.
Lastly, for my youngest. At 2 1/2, keeping her quiet and occupied while the older kids complete their activities is quite the challenge. I've found the MyPlayHome and TocaBoca apps to be both enriching and engaging. However, If I am saving screen time for later, I like Paint with Water Activity Books, and Kumon First Step Books. A few of our favorites are Sticker & Paste, Let's Cut Paper and Let's Color. Although the workbooks are targeted at 2 & up, I definitely think they are geared more towards 3 year olds.
I'd like to know, what have websites/apps/books have you found helpful?
No Comments Yet, Leave Yours!