We’ve always wanted to build a love for reading in our kids. Now that we’re down to just one child in early grades, we’re pretty much done with teaching early reading skills.
No more phonics, no more decoding, no more CVC word practice. All four of our kids are off to the reading races.
Our youngest, though, has taken this to a completely different level.
She’s five and she’s in first grade this year. But she’s reading on a fifth grade level. She wants to read everything, and I mean, EVERYTHING.
So when it was time to work on reading for this school year, I was a bit stumped. How do you help a child who’s reading four grade levels ahead to improve her reading skills? Was an online reading program the answer?
Which is why I jumped at the chance to try out Reading Eggs from Blake eLearning, even though I didn’t think our child really needed it. A couple of days in, I found out I was wrong. She did need help – but not in the ways I imagined.
Read on to find out how we’re using Reading Eggs to strengthen our gifted reader’s skills and how you can get access to this program for free! Plus, score a discount on Reading Eggs’ new math and reading workbooks too!
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post and I was compensated for my time. All opinions are my own. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.
Does Your Gifted Reader Really Need Help with Reading Skills?
Honestly, before I tried Reading Eggs by Blake eLearning with our daughter, I thought it was just for very early readers. I didn’t know that the program contains several levels, including lessons for kids all the way to age 13.
We’ve used several reading programs with our kids over the years. But after just a few days, I could see why Reading Eggs has won so many awards.
Each of the levels are designed for kids of different age groups:
- Reading Eggs Junior: for children aged 2 – 4 years
- Reading Eggs: for children aged 4 – 7 years
- Reading Eggspress: for children aged 7 – 13 years
- Mathseeds: for children aged 3 – 9 years
But those age ranges are only a guide. You can let your child take a placement test (more on that in a bit) and then start working at the level that is best for him or her.
Each level of Reading Eggs is loaded with hundreds of reading lessons. And each of the lessons includes multiple interactive activities to help kids practice their own reading and comprehension skills.
Plus, they can read along with over 2,500 ebooks. It is truly a comprehensive literacy program.
Since our little one is such a bookworm, I was glad to see that Reading Eggs evaluated, not just her reading ability, but her comprehension.
She’s pretty good about asking for definitions of words that she doesn’t understand. (I can barely get through a sentence of a read-aloud before she’s asked to get the dictionary.)
But I like to see her show what she understands about a story she reads on her own. And Reading Eggs is awesome at that.
As you might be able to tell, she aced this particular storybook quiz. Only 2,499 ebooks left to read!
How We’re Using Reading Eggs to Boost Our Child’s Math and Reading Skills
So – Reading Eggs is great, but how does it help a child who’s already reading well?
Since the program includes lessons for so many reading levels, you can let your child take the placement test to see where he or she needs to begin. But then you can still adjust the level as needed.
As your child learns, you can track his or her progress and read reports to find out how many books they’ve read, lessons they’ve done, and even their estimated reading age.
Here’s what happened when our gifted five-year-old took the placement test.
The program placed her one-third of the way through Reading Eggspress – on the level of a 9 or 10-year-old.
While I was initially pleased to see that kind of score, I wanted to know more about the level of work that would be expected at that place in the program.
And that’s when I learned that, while she could read and answer questions at that level, she was still missing some basic grammatical concepts she would be expected to know at that part of the program.
Even though she reads fluently a few grades ahead, she still needs ELA help to understand language before she can complete lessons at that level.
So, we went backwards and began toward the end of Reading Eggs and started her lessons from there. Her level of mastery went up and so did her understanding of the concepts.
Now when we come back to that part of Reading Eggspress, she’ll be ready!
Mathseeds works exactly the same way as Reading Eggs.
Kids begin by taking a placement test, called a “Driving Test”, to see where they should begin learning math.
There are tests for each grade and each mathematical concept.
Fair warning here: The tests are super cute. As students answer each question, they drive around a race track. The goal is to complete the entire track and finish the test.
Once they get enough right, they get to play a racing game for 60 seconds. That was definitely her favorite part of the exam.
Reading Eggs Reading and Math Workbooks
One of the biggest drawbacks to using reading apps and online reading programs is that they often don’t have enrichment activities that you can use without screens.
Since some of our children have ADHD, we try to limit screen time as much as we can.
Guess what? Reading Eggs now has print reading and math workbooks that kids can use as they work through the program!
The workbooks are designed to be used with the online lessons in the program: reading workbooks for Reading Eggs and math workbooks for Mathseeds.
Each of the workbooks has a explanation of how to use the materials along with the program, as well as a year planner to help you get an overview of how you can complete the workbook in a single school year.
And they’re available by level, so your younger and older students can work on practicing math and reading skills they need!
Ready to try Reading Eggs for yourself? You can get a FREE four-week trial to everything the program has to offer, including Reading Eggs Junior, Reading Eggs, Reading Eggspress, and Mathseeds!
Just visit Reading Eggs and sign up to get started!
You can also save 10% on the new Reading Eggs math and reading workbooks for grades K-5! Check out the Reading Eggs shop and enter promo code WK10A40CWG1 to claim your discount!
Want to find out even more about Reading Eggs? Check out the program on these networks!
Get your little ones reading with these fun booklists featuring beautiful children’s books you can share with your family!
