GoGo Kabongo!!

Start the school day with computer games?  No way!  But as reading is our first subject of the day, usually, GoGo Kabongo quickly became a favorite warm-up.  Designed to foster skills such as attention and focus, working memory, processing, successive and simultaneous processing, visualization, planning and comprehension, Kabongo captivates children with colorful alien guides, fast action roller coasters and frequent interactive rewards.



Three "habitats", Laughter Lake, Galaxy Garden and Twister Top feature three games each, with 6 skill levels each.  As children master skills they earn rewards such as a sticker for their comic book, ramps for their skate park, and cool collectibles to put in their treehouse.  Coloring and activity pages can also be printed out.  Ages 4-7 will benefit most from this program, as it teaches and reinforces pre-reading skills. 

My seven year old son is already an enthusiastic reader, but he still enjoys the games.  His favorite habitat is Twister Top and he has mastered level 6 of Crazy Maze!  I receive weekly progress reports, so I know what games he has been playing and what level he is on.  Also included in the emailed progress reports are helpful tips for reinforcing the skills he is learning.



Right now, Kabongo is still in Beta format, some of the games load slowly, but Laughter Lake and Galaxy Garden are FREE for a limited time, and Twister Top is only $4.95!

See what other Homeschool Crew members have to say about GoGoKabongo.

We received all three Kabongo habitats FREE in return for reviewing this product.  No other compensation was received.

Tiny Planets - Science and Space Exploration

Tiny Planets websites are a complete learning tool for 3-5 year olds and an exciting enrichment experience for older children.  Co-created by Sesame Workshops, the producers of Sesame Street, and endorsed by Montessori Centre International, Tiny Planets uses games and safe social interaction to provide an engaging science and space exploration experience. 

Tiny Planets encourages stewardship of the earth as children adopt and care for their own planet, rid the universe of trash and go on space missions with their alien friends Bing and Bong.

After I set up my Parent Account, which manages all child accounts and purchases, we began to explore the websites.  The Tiny Planets Books and TV shows offer preschoolers gentle lessons in social and emotional development, such as fear of the dark.  Other episodes treat weather cycles, patterns, music and shapes. The companion books are designed to be read online by parents and early readers.  Lesson Plans on Tiny Planets Learning tie TV and Books together along with critical thinking exercises, games and art and craft projects.  It also includes printable worksheets for letter and number recognition, as well as online puzzles and printable craft project directions.  

My seven year old son went straight to My Tiny Planets to begin his missions, get his own spaceship and adopt a planet to design and care for.  He can name his planet, grow oxygen-releasing plants to keep it healthy and choose landscapes, buildings and scenery to make it attractive.  More games are available on Tiny Planets Labs, where new content is created and tested.  Tiny Planets Fun has puzzle games, coloring books and comics for all ages to enjoy.

I enjoyed the Tiny Planets Blog, where more detailed postings cover such subjects as the planet Jupiter, Mirrors and Math, and making a Winter Scene under a clear plastic drinking cup.  I also like that Tiny Planets is designed to be a "safe" online experience for children.  There are no ads to distract from the desired content and "accidentally" click on.  All "chats" are through pre-set blurbs, programmed into the games.  Most of the content is free, although with the purchase of "keys", 10 for $1.95, parents can allow children to "buy" extra television episodes of Bing and Bong, as well as extra features for their games.

See what other Homeschool Crew members are saying about Tiny Planets:  Homeschool Crew

No compensation was received for this review.

Talking Fingers - Learning to Read, Write and Type

I taught myself how to type on dad's old Royal portable typewriter using an ancient college typing text. I was about fifteen years old and I remember how much it hurt my fingers to strike those keys. Now I tend to type too fast for the computer to keep up. (Ya, that's it, not my accuracy problem, the computer's.) My son has been using the computer, under supervision, of course, for at least two years already. So that makes him ten years ahead of me there. Still, he is benefiting by leaps and bounds with Talking Fingers.

Talking Fingers “Read, Write, Type” is an online program that teaches proper qwerty hand position and typing technique through interactive games and stories. At the same time, children learn letter sounds, spelling and reading, as well as composition. My son is reading well above his grade level, but does not get bored. He looks forward to his daily session on Talking Fingers and proudly prints out every certificate he earns.



There are 40 levels for students to work through, learning finger placement, building sentences and stories, with certificates awarded for every 4 letters mastered. The program keeps track of each student’s progress and starts them where they left off at the end of their last session. Parents can sign in and print out progress reports and see where their child is in the program. Students and parents sign in with separate usernames and passwords (student’s account is set up by the parent), so multiple children can each have their own record. Younger children may need help signing in, but should be able to work independently from there, as the animated characters guide them through everything.



Two options are available to take advantage of Talking Fingers. Online license for 1 student and parent is $39 and includes unlimited usage and printable reports. The Home Edition is $79 and is good for all children in the family, and has the same great games and interactive instruction as the online version PLUS progress reports, printable stories, clip art for stories, activity book, laminated practice keyboard and 2 sets of stickers. We test drove the online version and were very pleased, although being able to print out my son’s stories, which is a feature of the Home Edition, would be nice. For more keyboard-shy children the Home Edition would definitely be an advantage, though, as it includes a practice keyboard and other offline activities. Also, the Home Edition would be better for anyone with more than one child using the program, or families that would want to use it for several years, thereby saving the yearly license fee.

Once a child has mastered all the levels in Read, Write, Type, he is ready to move on to Word Qwerty, another program available from Talking Fingers. If you wish to purchase both programs, a K-4 Reading Bundle is available. Jingle Spells, songs to spell by, sounds like a great CD to have in the car for road trips.

One final feature of all these programs is the ESL option. Students learning English as a Second Language can click on a yellow balloon on screen for clarification of any portion of the program in Spanish, Arabic or Bahasa Melayu.

I am proud of my self-taught typing skills and look fondly at old portable typewriters in second hand stores, but I am ever so grateful for the light touch required of my computer keyboard. Talking Fingers has come along at just the right time for my son and I am glad that he is enthusiastic about Reading, Writing and Typing!

We received one free one year online license for the above product, for the purpose of using and commenting on it. No other compensation was received.

To see what other Homeschool Crew members are saying about Talking Fingers click:  http://homeschoolblogger.com/homeschoolcrew/783204/

Making Math Fun - Pyramath Cards



Making Math Fun



We've been having a blast with Pyramath Cards.  My second grade son is working on addition and subtraction right now, and of the several games that can be played with these cards, the one we play over and over is the basic 7 card pyramid.  It goes like this:  lay 7 cards face up, side by side.  Each player works their side of the line to form a pyramid by playing a card on top of pairs of side by side cards in the line, that equal the sum or difference of the 2 side by side cards.  The first person to complete their pyramid wins!  Multiplication and division can also be added into the game for older children.



Pyramath Cards

Pyramath, available from I See Cards for $6.95, comes complete with everything you need to start having lots more fun with math.  The deck of cards, numbered 0-9, instruction booklet detailing various uses and several games, and access to online play.  Another thing I like about the cards is that they each display the numerals in standard, Roman numeral, Arabic and Chinese.  The number words are also written out in English, Spanish, French, Arabic and Chinese.  Languages being another subject I would like to incorporate more into our learning program.

Detail of card with numeral, languages and symbols



Pyramath is designed for grades Kindergarten and up, I can testify that I am having fun with it myself, so I am sure it would be great review and practice for High Schoolers.  However, I See Cards also has 3 other great games available:  Fractazmic, which helps teach and review addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of fractions; Prime Bomb, which covers prime numbers and their operations; and a game for younger children called I See Cards, which introduces basic numbers and words (English and Spanish) with pictures.  Go to I See Cards for more info on these products.

Cards 0 through 9

I put together a "carschool" bag this year, as we are frequently on the go, and the Pyramath cards are right in there with the audio books and the field guides.  We frequently use the game as a warmup for our math lesson, but my son likes to work ahead as much as he can also, so after correcting the day's math work, if we have a few extra moments, we will take out the Pyramath cards for a few games.

For the same price as other educational card games on the market, this one stands alone in bringing new enthusiasm to math teachers and students, at least at the homestead school!  Although you can play for free online at the website, we highly recommend buying the game for one on one play.  It's a barrel of laughs!

Click here to see what the Homeschool Crew Blog has to say about Pyramath.

Disclaimer:  We received the above product free of charge, in return for using it and telling about our experience with it.  No other compensation was received.