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3 of the Best Tools for Online Learning – and don’t miss the free demo download for the first level of the Rosetta Stone Kids Reading program.
I’m a big believer in letting each kid learn at their own pace. Especially, the little ones.
I’ve never liked engaging in the “my-kid-is-smarter-than-your-kid” mom-battle. They all learn to crawl, walk, talk and go to the potty. And, seemingly, they also learn to read.
Recently, however, I had a chance to see my son Graham, age six, and his peers read. The degree to which their skills vary is incredible. Some were reading chapter books, some were struggling with basic sight words. Mine? Right in the middle. And, I’m cool with that.
Even if though I’m not trying to win any best-genetic-material awards, I do want Graham to feel comfortable learning and be excited to read. I also want to foster that same interest in his brothers. Will, at age three, is desperate to do anything his brother can and is ripe for learning.
In the world we live in, I’ve found that teaching through technology is the easiest way to get the kids . I’ve found several applications and websites that make learning fun, and disguise math and reading exercises as games.
When the kids are begging to play a learning app, I feel like that’s a major parenting win in my book. Here are some of my favorite learning tools available online.
1) Rosetta Stone Kids Reading –
The Rosetta Kids Reading program is designed for kids ages 3-7 and helps them develop core literacy skills. My three year old isn’t quite ready for this program yet , but my six year old is able to use the Rosetta Kids Program independently. I love that it focuses on all aspects of being a good reader including sight word recognition, phonics and comprehension.
Rosetta Stone partnered with literacy experts at Lexia Learning to design the program. But, my kid thinks of it as a “video game,” which is all good by me. Try it for free here: www.rosettastone.com/kids.
2) Letter School –
This program came recommended to me by my neighbor (Thanks Mae!). You see, Graham at age three was an eager user of flash cards. And, although Will, now age three, also loves the one-on-one attention he gets while doing flash cards, I don’t think he learns from them in the same way Graham did. Hey, no problem. I’m learning what my kids’ learning styles are. It’s a process. Letter School, which you can download to your smart phone, is really engaging for the little guys. My three year old is working on letter identification and phonics with Letter School.
What’s neat, though, is that it also works with them on proper letter formation. Graham is still writing a lot of his letters backwards (from right to left as opposed to mirrored). This app allows kids to trace letters using a stylus, and forces them to draw the letter correctly. So helpful!
3) IXL – Math
I can tell my boys are going to be more math-oriented that I ever was/am/will be. That’s great. ‘Cause I struggled. Whereas reading and language skills need to be disguised for them, they devour straight up math challenges. That’s why I love IXL, and particularly their Math program. There are endless math problems for them to solve by grade-level. I can work with Will on recognizing shapes and basic counting skills, and Graham can do basic word problems. They are so into math that the new thing to do in the car is try and stump one another with our math skillz. Yeah, that’s how we roll….
What other programs do your kids enjoy? Let’s hear it!
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