As a homeschool teacher, I am always on the lookout for educational games that will be fun for my daughters. Therefore, I was excited to review The Starfall Home Membership from Starfall Education Foundation. Teaching a child to read is not always easy- in fact it can be one of the most challenging and rewarding things you will ever do in your life! With our children we had one who was an "easy reader" and it came naturally to her. Our other daughter has had an uphill battle all the way. In fact, for her, reading has not been a fun task at all, rather something she has always dreaded. So, if, as a Mom, I can find a way to make reading more game-oriented and rewarding - I am all in!
The Starfall Home Membership from Starfall Education Foundation allows your entire family access. You have one email and password that can be used from multiple computers or as a downloadable application for a tablet. So, if you are like our family- you can switch out locations and devices for travel or home use. I mentioned the words game-oriented to describe this program previously. When many parents hear the words games or "computer games" images come to mind that are not necessarily positive. This membership, however, lets your child play and the learning part sneaks up on them. That is perfect for the child just learning to read or that is a bit older and has anxiety about reading. Most of the activities are targeted toward pre-school to kindergarten ages. Your child can learn ABCs, vowels, phonics, "Learning to Read", and progress to "Its Fun to Read". One of our family favorites is the "Reading Library" where your child can read along with the Starfall story-teller for the book they select. Little ones will enjoy the sing-alongs where they can focus on phonics, sounds, rhyming, and folk songs.
If your child is already in grade school there is a section devoted to "First Grade This Way!" and 2nd Grade Math Skills. In the 1st Grade section your student can focus in on more advanced reading and phonics, while also exploring new math concepts (like algebraic thinking, measurement, and geometry). There is something for 2nd Graders also- select math functions like multiplication and place values. The animation and graphics are engaging- my daughters love dogs so the dog multiplication tables (see image below) were a hit.
The parent- teacher center within Starfall even has supplemental resources you can utilize to enforce learning concepts. Some pages are pre-developed and you can also utilize a worksheet generator. Topics range from handwriting, to grammar, journal writing and vowel practice. We found the math printable downloads helpful as well!
In summary, our family not only used this product recently, but also in the past when my oldest daughter was younger and just learning to read. It is a wonderful product for laying the foundation of reading and math concepts in a fun way. We also found a lot of benefit for my struggling reader as she would cringe when I took out traditional learning tools for reading. She was able to "play" on The Starfall Home Membership without realizing she was R-E-A-D-I-N-G. The annual membership is offered at a very economical rate (that just happens to be tax-deductible) and is a great learning tool to have for the family.
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