This summer my 7 year old has been homeschooling with the aid of some great online learning
games/adventures and I just wanted to share them with you. These would be an excellent edition to any homeschooling home or any home or that matter where you want to show your kids how easy is is to have FUN while they learn.
Knowledge Adventure has several options in Educational Software but the series we have is called JumpStart World. They have games for toddlers to second grade. Honestly these games are so cool I think it might be hard to try any others…these are top notch. They are 3D and have VERY good graphics…not cheesy or cutsey at all. My hubby plays online role playing games and he was quite impressed with the quality of these.
They are also very educational and engaging. In JumpStart World first grade you have 12 levels of play and the first level begins in the learning arcade where you have 18 lessons to complete..of course they are so fun the kids never know they are lessons. One of my son’s favorite lessons involves swimming through the ocean collecting rubies and avoiding eels. This helps him with motor skills and hand eye coordination and then after one round he is transferred to a screen where you have to put mixed up numbers in the correct order. Once you do that you can go on and play the game some more.
Another lesson involves watching and listening to a story and then afterwards answering questions about the story. Other lessons require you to match objects, find the one that doesn’t belong, finish patterns and sequences, solve problems, and locate missing words in sentences. Disbursed among the lessons are adventures and they get better the further along you progress. You can unlock hidden caverns, look for treasure, and learn to scuba dive. You also collect gems (kind of like points) along the way and you can buy game gear with them to make the game more fun. The whole game world they have created is really remarkable and it is based on natural and state curriculum standards.
If you subscribe online the adventure keeps going too and more units, lessons, and adventures open up. I love the fact that they have really created a FUN, engaging way to learn. I also love that they provide incentive for kids to want to keep doing the lessons and progressing further. My son likes to play 1-2 times a day for an hour or so…taking breaks to do other things, play outside, etc. His progress and “grades” upload to the Jumpstart web site after every session so I can login at any time to see what he was working on and how he did…this helps me identify anything he is struggling with. In the parent area I can also create custom badges and awards if I want to. I can see why this game has won over so many parents!
Next up we might try the Math Blaster game they have…since I love Jumpstart World so much I know I can pretty much expect awesome quality and a great learning environment from this one too.
See also: JumpStart World Kindergarten
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