Reading Kingdom - Review

My 6 year old has really taken off this school year with reading and writing. She loves mirroring her older siblings by being able to do some of her school work on the computer. Recently, we were given a subscription to Reading Kingdom.

Reading Kingdom is not a phonics based program like many of us are used to. It was founded by Dr. Marion Blank who has a patented 6-step approach that she calls a Skill Integrated Method. That approach covers sequencing, writing, sounds, meaning, grammar & comprehension. This program doesn't focus on one specific area at a time but combines several of them at a time as your child works through the lessons. This program is geared towards ages 4-10 to help them reach a 3rd grade reading level. They also offer a reading program geared towards Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) to help with reading, writing & comprehension.

While working on learning reading skills, Reading Kingdom also helps build keyboarding skills. This program fully customizes itself based on where your child is at with their skills. Before starting any lessons, they take a skills assessment test. They have the option of using an onscreen keyboard (using the mouse to click on the letters) or if you have an iPad, you can use a touch screen keyboard. You can also use the actual keyboard on the computer or laptop.
It is important to note that because the program is always customizing itself based on the students answers, if they accidentally hit a wrong key (or 2 keys at once), don't press the key down all the way when they think they did or take too long to answer, it will assume they don't know that particular skill and will repeat itself. This program is fully hands-off for the parent as it dictates all the directions for the student (in fact they mention at the beginning that the parent is not to help the child at all as it would mess up the placement & customization of the program). So if you are busy working with other kids, this is a bonus! 

There is a parent section where you can check out the progress report and see how your child is doing. There is even a place to download a report in excel.
This program really holds your child's attention due to the colorful and interactive graphics. My daughter was able to fully navigate the program on her own. There are many different activities the child does. Picking out the words that is said to them, typing full words or missing letters are just a few of the variety of activities they do. My daughter felt like she was playing games and was eager to do her lessons. They do recommend doing the program at least 4 days a week. The lessons are short and you can do up to 2 lessons a day. I could tell over the several weeks of Olivia using the program, that her keyboarding skills got better and she increased on speed as she worked through her lessons.
We definitely plan to continue to use this program as I can see the difference it has made in my daughters reading and typing skills
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