Is Reading Eggs worth it? And if not, what might work instead?

[Jenny in GA]

My youngest child, who will be six next month, just started the 14-day free trial of Reading Eggs this week, and he definitely likes it.

 

This may sound awful, but I like the fact that he can happily go play for it for an hour while I do schoolwork with the older two kids.

 

I got an e-mail saying that if I order in the next few days, I can get a slight discount -- I believe a year for $63.

 

I see in another thread many people saying their kids liked the free trial, but no way is it worth the cost.

 

Is there anybody who did subscribe and thought it was worth it? Did your kids learn enough to make it worthwhile, or was it mostly just entertainment? Did your kids continue to like it, or did the novelty wear off after the first few weeks?

 

Also ... what ELSE could a six year old boy (who only reads three-letter words right now) subscribe to that might be a better deal? It doesn't have to be just reading software, but definitely something educational that they would really enjoy for several months?

[boscopup]

I think they are overpriced, BUT... my 5.5 year old is actually learning from it. He has needed that repetition that it provides, which is excruciating for me to provide. :tongue_smilie:

 

I'm debating myself whether to purchase a year or not. We did the 4 years of codes thing, and they just took it off last night, so we have 10 days left on our trial. We've been using it since February, and the kids still enjoy it. My oldest hasn't played it as much (he likes it, but I wouldn't pay for him to use it at this point - he was doing the Eggspress section). My middle son is learning from it, and my youngest LOVES it and is learning from it (though I'm not *trying* to teach him to read - and we don't do any reading practice outside of Reading Eggs).

 

I suppose if I got one year's worth, I could let my younger son use the middle son's account for fun, since you can go back and do old lessons again. And I could let the oldest son play Crayon Physics (my dad gave it to him) while the other two get to do Reading Eggs.

[KristenR]

I had my dd try the free trial awhile back because everyone had recommended it. My dd HATED it and I didn't find it as easy to navigate as Starfall. We pay the annual fee for More.Starfall.com and love it. It's very easy for young kids to navigate on their own. We have a touch-screen laptop so even my youngest child can get a lot done on her own.

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

I found the "fun" factor wore off after a few weeks. Then it was just redundant. I still have time left on my free trial and dd is not even interested anymore.

[boscopup]

I had my dd try the free trial awhile back because everyone had recommended it. My dd HATED it and I didn't find it as easy to navigate as Starfall. We pay the annual fee for More.Starfall.com and love it. It's very easy for young kids to navigate on their own. We have a touch-screen laptop so even my youngest child can get a lot done on her own.

 

We used to have more starfall membership, but my kids didn't learn as much from starfall because it lets you do anything, whether you're ready for it or not. That's actually how my oldest started sight reading. :tongue_smilie:

 

My kids figured out the navigation on Reading Eggs pretty quickly, but yes, it was a bit confusing at first. My littlest still asks to play it. Today, we'll try out Ooka Island and see how that goes.

[shan.non]

My daughter loved it. We started it around Thanksgiving and she finished it in January. She was already reading when she began using it but it really made her reading take off. I noticed more of an improvement in her reading from RE than from anything else. Even though we only used it for a few months I would totally pay $60 for it. At first I let her do it however she liked but in January I made her do one lesson per day. She'd often do more though. She hated the Reading Eggspress, the section for older kids. She also hated the spelling part.

[stripe]

There's PBS Kids' Island, which is free. I haven't signed up for it though.

 

My kids used to play games on PBS kids' site with Super Why stuff but it's not so organized as a program.

[Karen in CO]

There's PBS Kids' Island, which is free. I haven't signed up for it though.

 

My kids used to play games on PBS kids' site with Super Why stuff but it's not so organized as a program.

My dd and nephew both loved the pbskids site long before they could read. They'd occasionally get "lost" on the page, but it has plenty of fun games and is free.

[stripe]

CBC has a similar website, too. They have for both little and somewhat older kids. They update and add new things quite often.

 

There is a more specifically educational one for preschool called Wonder World but only for those in Canada. The regular site is unrestricted.

 

BBC has several also:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/ for under 6 yo

http://www.bbc.co.uk/children/

And through the schools section http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/games/

[momma2three]

We love Reading Eggs here... my daughter fully learned to read from it. She hated Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Lessons so much she balked at any reading instruction for months. We did the more.Starfall.com curriculum for a while, and she liked that but again hit a wall. (Not just her playing on the site, but me actually working through the classroom curriculum with her). She's made it through 8 maps since October or November or so... she really didn't know much of anything when she started, and now she can read step 1 easy reader types of books.

 

It is expensive, but I don't regret spending the money. My kids love more.starfall.com, but I don't think they ever learned anything except nursery rhymes and a few letter sounds from it. They just like to play around on it, and never had any interest in the Zack the Rat type lessons.

[beth83]

We LOVE reading eggs over here!!! I am not even going to tell you how much money we have spent on it. I was being cheap in the beginning and only paid for one month after our free trial expired. It has been 6 months since then and I am STILL paying monthly. It automatically renews and I haven't had enough time (or interest) with a newborn to change around those settings. Someone come and shake some sense into me! I haven't worried too much about it, though, because my daughter is progressing by leaps and bounds!

 

We used to have more starfall membership, but my kids didn't learn as much from starfall because it lets you do anything, whether you're ready for it or not. :tongue_smilie:

 

:iagree: I exposed my daughter to 100 EZ Lessons right after she turned 3. She has a longer attention span and loves "school" stuff, so I thought we would take a stab and shelve it if she wasn't ready. She ate it up. It has been 6 months since then and Reading Eggs has been the perfect supplement. Starfall was a flop for us. Being so young, she would click around and get into material that was too difficult. I like reading eggs because I set her up in the map section (versus the free play, which she likes, as well) and you can only progress one way -- step by step. It has really helped her reading fluency. She only sounds out about 25% of words she is reading now in books.

 

Someone said on another thread that their son just clicked things until he got the right answer, so he didn't learn anything. I am usually around her when she does it, since she is the oldest, so if I see her losing interest and not caring we stop it for the day. Maybe that is why she is still loving it 6 months later?

 

Obviously, it doesn't work for all children, though.

 

I don't know how this works if you don't live in Jacksonville, but you can get a years subscription at Half-Off Depot for $37 right now. I'd assume it doesn't matter since it is online? http://halfoffdepot.com/jacksonville/one-year-subscription-to-reading-eggs-8903.html

[MomatHWTK]

My kids like JumpStart online.

[thegirlwhopaintedtrees]

My DD loved Reading Eggs and got to practice reading in a fun way there. I don't care for Reading Eggspress as much, but she still enjoys it. We got the great deal through HSBC for a whole year for around $20. But prior to that, we had paid the full amount. We felt it was worth it because she enjoyed it so much. I had to help her a lot at first though because she wasn't good enough with the mouse, but that's because she was only 3 at the time. I like Starfall as well, but Reading Eggs made a huge difference in her reading fluency.

[momma2three]

My DD loved Reading Eggs and got to practice reading in a fun way there. I don't care for Reading Eggspress as much, but she still enjoys it. We got the great deal through HSBC for a whole year for around $20. But prior to that, we had paid the full amount. We felt it was worth it because she enjoyed it so much. I had to help her a lot at first though because she wasn't good enough with the mouse, but that's because she was only 3 at the time. I like Starfall as well, but Reading Eggs made a huge difference in her reading fluency.

 

Have you seen the Storyland section? Not sure exactly what it's called. They just added it a few weeks ago. It's in the Reading Eggs section. It seems to be for younger kids with some fluency who maybe aren't ready for the pre-tween vibe of Reading Eggspress.

[Mommee & Baba]

My daughter loved it. We started it around Thanksgiving and she finished it in January. She was already reading when she began using it but it really made her reading take off. I noticed more of an improvement in her reading from RE than from anything else. Even though we only used it for a few months I would totally pay $60 for it. At first I let her do it however she liked but in January I made her do one lesson per day. She'd often do more though. She hated the Reading Eggspress, the section for older kids. She also hated the spelling part.

 

I would've paid $60 a year per child until we got to reading eggspress! My dd's hated it that it was bringing on tears! So glad I didn't pay for it once they reached that level. I wish they kept the lessons and map the SAME for old kids too!!

[boscopup]

I would've paid $60 a year per child until we got to reading eggspress! My dd's hated it that it was bringing on tears! So glad I didn't pay for it once they reached that level. I wish they kept the lessons and map the SAME for old kids too!!

 

DS1 LOVED doing Eggspress... only after he had completed the story so he had enough eggs to buy more cats so he could have his cat army with Commander Jellyfish in charge. :lol:

 

Yeah, Eggspress is not that fun as far as it's actual learning goes. Also, the placement test wasn't very good. DS placed into level 4 or 5 (I forget which), but he's 7, and he really didn't understand the questions they were asking in the comprehension gym. It was stuff like inference that he'd never been exposed to, and it didn't exactly TEACH this stuff. It just asked questions and expected them to know what it was. Thankfully, I was able to bump him down to a 2nd grade level, so the questions wouldn't be so weird (for a 7 year old).

[stripe]

I just deleted my child (with 9 days remaining, no less) from Reading Eggs and sent them an email telling them to delete my account.

 

I went to PBS kids' island, and lo and behold, I already had an account? Who knew??

[My3Monkeys]

 

I don't know how this works if you don't live in Jacksonville, but you can get a years subscription at Half-Off Depot for $37 right now. I'd assume it doesn't matter since it is online? http://halfoffdepot.com/jacksonville/one-year-subscription-to-reading-eggs-8903.html

Has anyone done this deal? Our subscription ends in a few days and dd loves it. I'm not paying $75 but $37 I can live with.

[thefragile7393]

Both my kids love it here...we've bombed out of two phonics programs but RE is still going strong. My daughter loves it but I think she is too young right now.One thing I don't like is that some of the games appear to depend in how fast you can do something in a certain anoint of time...my son isn't that coordinated yet and it wouldn't let him past the game until he finished it. I had to do it for him since he just wasn't fast enough.

[Jpoy85]

We have the trial. i wouldnt buy it. We do LOVE LOVE LOVE Zoodles.com though. Very worth it!

[DawnL]

:lurk5:

[Pamela H in Texas]

Homeschoolbuyersco-op.com has it for cheaper. My little guy loves it. I am glad I did it even after they took our extra codes away (we didn't have 4 years like some people, but...)

[Tanikit]

My DD found that there was too much repetition and while she seemed to enjoy it at first and learnt from it, she was tired of it before the end of the trial and didn't ask for it again after the trial ended. I think it just became too much of the same thing for her - but then she likes to jump around a lot in any program/curriculum that we do.

[Seeking Squirrels]

My DD(3) loves it, but she only does the lessons about half the time. She often just plays in the playroom. The lessons are too repetitive for her, she gets bored. I actually did part of one lesson for her yesterday because she opened it, saw where she was and said nevermind. I knew she knew it so I just clicked through for her so she could go on.

 

We bought our subscription through HSBC for much less than normal price. That was definitely worth it. I don't know if I would pay full price. At least not at this age when she doesn't consistently do lessons.

[mom2koh]

We just started it here with ds who's 5. He LOVES it and begs to do his "schoolwork". We are on a 40 day trial but I think I'll check out HSBC to see if I can get it cheaply! :auto: