Reading Eggs Review

I try to help my kids keep their brains in tip-top shape during the summer months. So far I've been slacking a little, but they have started their summer workbooks, and Lucy has been working hard on an Online Learn to Read program called Reading Eggs.

If you've had a kindergartener in the past decade or so, you are well aware that kindergarten is a whole new ball game these days. By the end of the year, Lucy had some pretty good basic reading skills under her belt. The last thing I want is for her to lose that over the summer. What I want is for her reading ability to increase while she's on hiatus. For this reason, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to review the Reading Eggs program.

Reading Eggs is designed for children 3-7 years of age. A 12-month subscription costs $75, which works out to only $1.40 per week. There is also a 6-month subscription available. If you're unsure whether Reading Eggs is right for your child, you can sign up for a FREE 14-day trial, and no credit card is required. 

Here's a brief rundown of how Reading Eggs works once you've registered your child:

1. Sign in with your username and password.
2. On the next page you will see your child's name and current lesson. Click Start Reading, right under the lesson number.
3. Click Enter on the left side, under Reading Eggs.
4. Click My Lessons.
5. At this point, you will be taken to whichever map your child is currently on, where you can choose the next lesson for your child. It is set up like a colorful board game with 10 lessons on each map. When each lesson is complete a new egg hatches, revealing an animal or character. At the end of each map, there is a short quiz and your child earns a "diploma" before moving onto the next map.
6. Earn eggs along the way for use in other activities on the website!

Besides the maps with the reading lessons, Reading Eggs offers other fun activities too. On the left side of the page you will see a menu with other options, for example the Playroom,  Reggie's Shop (where your child can "spend" accumulated eggs), the Arcade (where your child can "spend" her eggs on playing games), and Driving Tests, where your child can take reading tests. Some options are locked until a certain number of lessons have been completed - another incentive for your child to keep working!

The best thing about Reading Eggs, hands down, is that Lucy loves it! It's fun. There are no arguments when I tell her it's time for her to do her lessons. In fact, I would like her to do one lesson a day - but she usually goes beyond that and does two or three. Furthermore, it is very user friendly. I don't have to sit with her and go through each question with her. With her limited computer knowledge, Lucy is able to get through her lessons with very little help from me. I sign her in and open the first lesson for her, and she takes off from there. This is nice because she wants to be independent, and Reading Eggs helps her feel that she is.

Lucy is currently on map 5, out of 12. So far she is really motivated and enjoying herself quite a bit! Making learning fun is so important, especially for kids just starting their academic careers. I am very happy with Reading Eggs, and I highly recommend it! I've noticed that Lucy seems much more confident in her reading since she started the program. If you're looking for something to help your child continue learning during the summer months, or complement school lessons during the academic year, check out Reading Eggs!

I received a trial membership to Reading Eggs. All opinions are my own.

That's What Friends Are For

I am having a crazy busy but fun week. But wait, that could probably describe every week of my life. Because with 4 kids, how can life not be crazy busy and fun every single day?

I had coffee with a friend one day, which was fun because I got to talk to a grown up, but also because I got to chase Mathilda around Starbucks while half the people in there gave me dirty looks and the other half thought it was cute that she was running from me while looking over her shoulder and laughing at me. Another day I had lunch with a friend, which was fun because I got to eat a meal and talk to a grown up without any of my children present. I also had a fantastic hour and a half long walk and talk with yet another friend, which was fantastic until my hand and arm started going numb and then my chiropractor told me the next day I shouldn't do that anymore. I worked in Lucy's preschool class, which is always fun because I get to hang out with my kid and a whole bunch of other sweet preschoolers. I hosted a preschool board meeting at my house, which involved lots of cleaning and shuffling children around, but was also fun because I enjoy spending time with the preschool ladies. I went to parent teacher conferences for Bethany and Connor, which were both great. I read a good book, The Atlas of Love by Laurie Frankel, which I also wrote a review on that will soon be published on luxuryreading.com. Mathilda and I did some more shopping at Macy's, where I bought $138 worth of clothes for $23. For myself! Tomorrow night Chris and I are going out, just the two of us. Overnight!

Those are the highlights I can think of at the moment. Well there are lots of others too. Like rainy Wednesday, when Lucy walked outside and said, "boy this sure is a lovely day" without one ounce of sarcasm. And Mathilda falling asleep last night while I read to her and Lucy - a first! (the falling asleep part, not the reading part) Like getting an email from Connor's teacher letting me know that several of the grades on his report card were wrong - the real grades are better. Like Bethany and Connor making their own lunches Thursday morning, without being asked, even though it was a half day (they had forgotten, but they had lunches ready to eat when they got home from school). Like convincing Chris we should go to IKEA soon because I think we finally figured out where I can have a sewing area but we need some stuff to facilitate our plans (might not seem like a big deal, but IKEA is Chris's nemesis. seriously).

So back to that book, The Atlas of Love. I won't give away too much, but it's a story about friendship that has really had me thinking about friends this week. I am blessed to have some wonderful friends who are supportive and generous and fun and loyal. Making friends is not easy for me. It just isn't . I'm not an open book. I'm quiet, very quiet, around people I don't know well. Not everyone is patient enough to get to know me. It's hard for me to be comfortable enough to open up and let down my guard. I'm doing slightly better nowadays, but I missed out on lots of opportunity for friendship in college, which is when the book takes place. I don't think I made a single friend in college. Not one. So reading about college friends who made a commitment to raise a child together made me nostalgic for a time that never existed for me. Not that I didn't have any good times in college...I just never met anyone during that period of my life who would have happily and lovingly stepped up to help me raise my baby, had I become pregnant during that time, which of course I didn't. I didn't let anyone get to know me well enough to care enough about me to be willing to make sacrifices for me. I was on lock down for a long time, and I'm not sure why. Sometimes I feel like the lone introvert in a world of extroverts. Spending time with friends does makes life richer and fuller and generally more worthwhile all the way around. For awhile I kind of forgot that, but I'm glad I've remembered now. Maybe this is just a super long-winded way of saying I love my friends. Thank you for all the wonderful ways you complement my life.