Starfall is a wonderful program for any young child whether they are in public school or are homeschooled. It can be used as a supplement to help reinforce what they are already learning or for the youngest ones, it can be a stand alone curriculum. The program is for Pre-K to second grade.
The difference between the free version and the home membership is that they offer SO much more with the membership program. Not only are there more activities but there is also a parent/teacher resource center that offers a wealth of printables and downloads! They offer printables that cover everything your child is learning about with the games. You can even make your own custom printables as well.
Starfall can be accessed both with the computer or using an app. The app is available for both Apple devices as well as android. My girls used the program on both my laptop and my kindle. The parent can be involved in as little or as much as they want to while the child is using Starfall. My daughters found it very easy to navigate the program on their own so this made it handy for them to play with it whenever they wanted. And by "play", I really mean they were learning ALL the time! Because the program is so fun, they think they were getting electronic time but they were really learning a lot.
Starfall uses a variety of games, activities and songs to teach children to learn colors, read, nursery rhymes and so many other things. The younger children start off with learning number recognition and letter sounds. The older children can work on learning phonics as well as practice math and math concepts such as algebraic thinking, measurement and geometry. There is even a talking library so even the younger ones who aren't reading yet, can have books read out loud to them. It highlights the sentence being read so they can follow along. My daughters really enjoy this section.
Unlike some learning programs where you have to work on things in a certain order to be able to advance on, Starfall is an open ended program meaning you can pick and choose to work on whatever you would like. My girls liked this aspect of the program as it meant they choose to go wherever they wanted and they could redo a game that they enjoyed.
I would hear my 4 year old going around the house singing different nursery rhymes that I don't remember teaching her. I asked her where she learned that from and she said "Starfall!" She has also been practicing writing 3 letter words and can read some of them. My 6 year old has really been practicing her math facts to the point she recites different addition and subtraction facts at the dinner table for us all to hear. She also learned the concept of different ways to count, such as in 2's, 10's, etc. My 4 and 6 year old often include their 23 month old sister by having her sit with them and they show her what they are doing so I have no doubt that SHE will be picking up things in no time!
The Starfall Home Membership comes highly recommend from my children and I and will be something we will continue to use until my youngest outgrows it.
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